guys, i've been lying low for quite sometime on Xbhp. was stuck ( and still is ) stuck up wid tonnes of work !

this picture is of my dirt jump bike. the fireeye shortfuse 380. sold off my viper and got this, something thats a lot more pro level.
the frame is made from 4130cro moly steel ( chromium molybdenum steel). now this stuff is way more stronger than aluminum alloy. and since dirtjumping is such an abusive sport, very few manufacturers in their dirtjump lineup make their frames out of aluminum, its cro moly all the way.
cro moly incidentaly is also used to make rally car roll cages, and the highly stress components of an aircraft landing gear, also the ducati monsters trellis frame is (was? not so sure about mobikes much. stoped lookin at them when i was in college! bicycles are way more cooler. we'll debate on that later!) made of the same stuff.

its strictly single speed. no fancy schmany gears. you might be wondering why?
mountain biking has evolved a lot over the years. back in the 90's there was the 'mountain bike' which handled all the duties.goin' up, comin' down, jumping etc, etc.then came the era of suspension. then the bikes were classifed as cross country and downhill bikes
..today however, there is a plethora of categories..

dirtjump bikes- its a cross between a mountain bike and a bmx. bmx has single gear. so you can see the similarity there. and dirtjump bikes are built for only one purpose, jump off huge mounds of dirt. period. you dont need to shift gears while in the air ! some purists go as far as using a totally rigid fork, and entirely brakeless !!!! and incase of suspension forks max 100 mm wheel travel frame material : 99% of the time its cro moly, and very few aluminum frames.

slopestyle bikes- built for jumping again, on a downhill course with man made obstacles. similar to a dirtjump bike, but it has gears, and suspension with 3-4 inches of front and rear wheel travel ( similar to cross country bikes), but with frames designed to be super stong to handle 20+ feet of air . frame material is aluminum or cro moly

freeride/blackdiamond bikes- built for nothing but jumping of cliffs and canyons, built stronger than a tank, can handle jumps in excess of 40-50 feet . with 6-9 inches of front and rear wheel travel. it weighs like a tank too! my rockymountain rm7 is from this category. ( type redbull rampage 2010 in youtube to see the action) frame material is aluminum, cro moly

downhill bikes- similar to freeride bikes, but a little lighter. built for riding down a mountain in record time, with a little bit of jumps and stuff thrown around the course. wheel travel is between 7-8 inches. frame material is aluminum or cro moly

all mountain bikes- all mountain bikes are a cross between a slopestlye and freeride bikes, strong but not as strong as freeride bikes. used for riding over harsh terrain, with jumps ofcourse. wheel travel anywhere between 5-6 inches. frame material, carbon fiber, aluminum, cro moly

cross country bikes- built for climbing, descending etc.. these races are usually a pain to watch, kinda slow for my tastes, and pro level cross country bikes are usually very delicate machines, if you jump them often, you mite want change your bike in no time ! wheel travel is around 3-4 inches +/- an inch or so
frame materials of choice,- carbon fiber, magnesium, titanium, aluminum

you must be wondering why i go blah blah blah all the time in my posts, when i could keep it simple and short.. m sorry guys, believe me, i cant stop talking about bikes, i love em more than i love the entire planet. i just dont ride bikes because these days its cooler to be riding bicycles or because i've suddenly gone all 'green' with the environment issue, nah, its nothing of that...its pure obsession bordering on insanity.