We Rode The Biggest Mountain Bike In The World

Today, we're riding what I believe to be the biggest full suspension mountain bike in the world. 36-inch wheels, twin front brakes, and front suspension longer than Rich's leg. Woo. Oh, goodness me. Okay, so for all of you wondering what on earth is going on here, let me explain, because over on GCN, I've delved into the topic of wheel size on a number of occasions. I'm six foot eight, and I've always wondered why wheel size isn't more proportional to the size of a rider. Now, El Alto, a 36-inch wheel drop bar bike, was created as a fun investigation into this. I've always found it a uniquely fascinating experience riding El Alto. It is just so different, but also as a side thing, I found it really interesting learning more about how people much taller than me find it hard to get on and ride a bike, and how bikes with larger wheels, larger sizes, it actually helps them get on and start riding. Now, there are brands out there that do cater for taller riders. Dirty Sixer is one. Now, they make bikes for people up to seven foot five in height, which is just incredible. Recently, they dropped me a line to say they'd created what they claimed to be the world's largest downhill mountain bike, specifically for Mega Avalanche. Now, when I heard this, well, I just had to give it a try, and this is it. I must say, this is a first prototype and still in production. I believe there are tweets coming mainly to the geometry, but let's have a little look at the spec. Yes, so brakes-wise, these are Tektro brakes, twin brakes at the front. This is actually the sort of brake you get on a cargo bike, which makes sense. Heavier riders need more stopping power. That is also why there's a handbrake on here. When it comes to travel, there's 80 mil out back and 120 mil up the front. Wheels, of course, are 36-inch in size. They are simply massive. Now, alloy rims on these, I was told they actually had carbon rims ready for this, but they felt they weren't quite ready enough to go in the bike. Tire-wise, these are made by V-Tire. These are actually the exact same tires that I've been using. I managed to find for my own 36-inch wheeled El Alto. Dirty Sixers say that this bike is built for all-out speed and especially in a straight line. You can see why with these monstrous wheels. The trade-off, however, is that when it does get tighter and more technical, it does get a little bit trickier. It's an absolute monster, though, isn't it? Look at it. Love it. Conor, now, this is obviously far too big for me to ride. I dare say you're not really a mountain biker. I'm going to give it a go today. I'm really interested to see what this bike's all about, but at the same time, as we know, my mountain biking skills probably won't do this bike justice. No, but luckily, I know a man who can. Conor, meet Josh. Josh. Hello, big man. Amazing to meet you. This is unique. I've never seen someone as tall as me. The six-foot-eight club. We're both six-foot-eight, am I right? That's right. Yes, love it. Josh, look, I hear you've already had a bit of experience riding this bike already. Back in the car park, we went through a few bits. This is the grand reveal, basically. I've not seen this bike. Bearing in mind the last time I rode a bike, the wheels were 26 inches. This is a full 10 inches larger. Here we go. Larger than, oh, it's pink as well. It had to be pink. Oh, my goodness me. Holy moly. It's massive, isn't it? What do you think of that though? Look at that. Massive, isn't it? That is actually massive. Look at the size of the pedals. That is actually massive. Yes, I was going to say, look at the size of the grips. Twin discs. Twin discs. Yes, buddy. It's so big. Maybe if I wheelie uphill, I have more of a chance. It's really hard. Look. What's slightly worrying though is there's not really a lot of rear brake. It's a long way to fall from. Weirdly though, you do make it look kind of acceptable. Let's see if we can get some air time on that. It's humongous. Oh, my God. The brakes don't exist. You've really run off the track already. You got to keep your speed around this bit. Oh, it's just such a different position. I am very small between two very large folk here. This is up in our game from what we just rode to our. This is a track called Launchpad. It's a blue run, but it's certainly going to get a lot faster, more rollers, jumps get a little bit bigger, and the technicality just grows a little bit. Conor, you've actually done this before. I have done this. If I can ride it, I think you can, but I'm going to be interested to see how you get on the big rig. I'll lead out. You can follow. Come on. You can follow, Conor. Come on, buddy. I'll try to. Oh, goodness me. How's the handling? I'm good at that, boys. I enjoy that. High fives. Come on. Hey, you're flying. You were flying, Conor. Going well. It handled the smooth track, so I think it's only fair we probably go find something a little rougher. More technical. Come on. I know just the track, actually. Bye then. Can I get a tow rope this time, Rich? I can give you one of these wheels if you like. I've got the perfect track for you. It's called Twisted Sister. It's a red-graded run. You've not done it before. I'm starting to get nervous now. This is definitely getting beyond me. I'm glad Josh is here. How are you feeling, Siobhan? So far, so good, actually. Okay. This track's got a good mix of rocks, roots, and some tight flat turns, berms. It's going to be a much better test, I think, of this bike and you. You want to follow me? Let's do it. Come on, boys. Yes, rolling. Nice. That was good, wasn't it? Nice, nice, nice. That was good. Where is he? Where's the big guy? I have just about survived. Just leave Siobhan hanging. Oh, fair play, boys. Yes. I mean, you dropped me on that one. That was too much for me. It was a bit rough. Yes. How did you find it? I tell you, the jump wide open and wild, the jumps were absolutely mad. At the end there. Trying to pull this carpet over those was- Aladdin's carpet was flying. And some of the tighter turns? And yes, the tighter turns, hooking it round, pulling it through. That's some effort, isn't it? Yes, but that trail there really, really tested the bigger wheels. All right. Nice one. It's good. Well, I was just going to say, it was a lot rougher. How did it roll over some of those bigger step downs? Yes, the root sections were almost non-existent. Really? It just skipped over the top of them. Because the 29 smooths them out. When I'm following whatever or ahead, it's like, oh, it's lovely, but that thing must beat it up. And then on the slower sections of that, it was like just- Was it harder? Yes, just trying to hold that speed through the faster sections and preempting what the trails, the slower section of the trail, trying to carry that speed over the slower sections. So slow speed requires a lot more effort, kind of thing. More thoughts. To keep it going. Yes. All right. Well, on that note, should we go get a brew? I say, I think, yes. And sort of wrap things up and discuss it a little bit more in depth. Let's do it. Nice. Good work, chaps. Glad to make it down in one piece. Josh, I've got to say, big thanks for joining us today. It was mega actually to see you have so much fun on the bike. And you definitely did a lot more kind of favors than I would have done. He's still got it, hasn't he? He's still got it, the old boy. 10 years later, still got it. But yes, it's been a pleasure today, chaps. The bike definitely surpassed all of my expectations. I mean, it's so unique. And I imagine you didn't have any kind of clue what it would feel like before you jumped on it. So after the day's done, what are your kind of final thoughts? It's certainly got its place. The bigger, wide open stuff is definitely where it comes into its own. So that faster like blue track that we did. Yes, for sure. Yes. And then is it something, if it became slightly more mainstream, and we did sort of speak about some of the components at the moment, maybe just holding it back a touch. Yes, and as you said, it's a prototype, it's developed. Exactly, especially on its intended use at the moment. But is it something you would consider in the future? Goes back to where the trails, the trails that you want to ride. I think if you're in and around the wide open trails or the blue runs, then it certainly has its place. Yes, definitely. And from someone like, because I'm coming from the perspective of being like, I've always been a bit of an outlier and I always hear from plenty of people who are super tall and find it hard to get on a bike. And like from that perspective, what do you think of the size of the bike and what it's catering for? I think taking it back to when I did used to ride full time, riding bikes when I was growing up that was slightly too small. My, you know, neck and back and that kind of thing would hurt after a full day's riding. And I've just ridden all day and not ridden properly for the last 10 years. And my back and my neck don't hurt, you know, so the bike did. So geometry wise? Geometry wise, comfortably fitted me, you know, so therefore there wasn't strain and stress on the areas that there shouldn't be with my body. And what about like, because that's super cool to hear, but I was just interested to hear your thoughts on where the potential drawbacks of going to like a bigger wheel size are, like we're on that more technical. So you need a big van to get it. I can tell you that. That is true. You need a long wheelbase van, don't you, to get it. You need a long wheelbase van, first of all. And you need a large human. But I suppose, yeah, the generic drawback would be on the slightly more techier kind of switchbacks. Steep in tech and earlier trails maybe. But again, that comes into kind of learning the line of commitment on, you know, your angles and that kind of thing. I think it's easy. It would be easy to blame the bike for its downfalls. But I think until you've spent a substantial amount of time on it, then you could start to pick the bike apart instead of yourself. Yeah, I agree, yeah. Okay, so you need to like adapt and catch up to the bike. Yes. Because it's such a new concept, new sizing, new way of riding. Well, think back to the 29 era when that kicked off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, there was just... Go from 26, or 27, 29. It was a massive thing when we jumped to 29. It was huge. Yeah, you know. So, yeah, there are slight drawbacks with the more techie side of things. But, you know, it's not necessarily designed for that. So, but we pushed it today to see if it could do those sections. And it did. It kept up with a 29-inch, didn't it? So... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. I'm flattered, by the way. Yeah, I think you did do well. I think it did surpass, as you said, all expectations. And me and you gave it a little spin at the end there. I could barely touch the floor. It was interesting. I see what you're saying as well about, like, getting used to it. That's the experience I've had of riding these massive, weird bikes. It does take a little... It's different. It's like the handling of it's different. It takes that adjustment period. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's not for six-foot people, that size bike. Like, it's not made for it. It's not designed for someone my height. It is designed for you guys. And I think weight is a contributing factor as well. You know, talking about the commitment of coming into turns. I think having your weight to throw into corners, you know, is... Okay, so you're implying I'm not wet heavy enough? You almost need the weight to carry yourself through the corners. Yeah, to have that centrifugal force stay where it needs to be, you know? Okay, well, final thoughts then, guys. I suppose let's ask the audience. Would you consider a 36-inch wheeled bike if you're as tall or taller than these chaps either side of me? And I suppose, what would you like to see us do on the bike with Sjoerd next? Where could we possibly take it? Where could we take Conor? Let us know in the comments down below. But as always, thank you very much for watching. And until next time, from the three of us, we'll see you later. Be fast, Josh. Nice one, boy.