Best downhill/mountain bike?

Question

What is the best bike out there?? I went to my local bike store. They have a good selection of (Fishers, Santa Cruz and some other brands I don't know much about). No Konas.

What is the best bike out there these days?

Answer 1

What's your budget?  DH bikes don't come that cheap.  

Santa Cruz has the VP Free or the V10 which are pretty nice, or the Nomad is a lighter version of the VP Free which are very nice, but cost above $3,000.   I don't think they're the best, but they are very good.  If you don't have that much money, SC also has the Bullit and the Heckler, which aren't as high-tech as the others, but pretty good.

Other brands worth looking at, Intense, Knolly (guetting one of them, yeah!), Turner, and others.  Pretty more expensive, though.

Some more economical are Giant (check out the Glory, or Reign X if you don't want to go that big), Specialized, and others.  

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Answer 2

Unless you're just looking to spend as much money as possible on your bike and then hang out on the hill and look cool, the best bike is the one that you like the best and feels nicest when YOU ride it. A buddy of mine has an Ellsworth he absolutely loves but I really dont much like the way it rides... its a personal preference thing unless you just want to pose for photos.

Personally, I like the ML8 from Maverick but I'm not much of a downhiller... great for all-mountain though.