I used to be a relatively good descender. I had a Kona Deluxe and was pretty confident going downhills. I had a crash in the wet descending, albeit one which was not TOO bad. Also had a couple of close calls with cliffs etc (hehe). Anyway I now have a Cervelo Soloist and my descending seems to be worse than ever, even when I am relaxed and trying to gun it, I am still nowhere near as fast downhill as I used to be.
Could it be my Kona Deluxe descended much better than my soloist?
ps i really like my soloist. awesome at accelerating and climbing.
Yes!
With all the suspension and big tires working for you and a relaxed head angle the Kona is far better at decending.
So now you need to climb w/ kona on your back and swith to kona and throw the cervelo on your back for the decent.
haha…they make road bikes too ya know. just wondering if their mountain biking expertise is paying off in descending abilities of a road bike.
I’m thinking that if you looked at the geometry of the two bikes you’d find a difference. Maybe wheelbase, hta, sta, but it’s probably there.
The differences in steering geometry are minor in the mid range sizes, if you’re at the extremes they are different. Any frame difference is likely related to material - Deda EOM 16.5 will be a bit different to Ally.
Explanation is more likely to be a change in position that has shifted your weight distribution. Or just that you’ve become a nana. I’ve been through that phase before and my brother is doing it now. I expect to gain several minutes on him at rotorua when the road points down.
I would suggest having your setup checked out to make sure that is not a contributory factor and then practice. Find a good downhill with corners and go down keeping relaxed and off the brakes. I understand there are a couple of hills in your neck of the woods you could do this on. Hammer back up to get some training in and repeat.
I had my soloist set up in the slack position during winter but have now changed it to the forward position in prep for 1/2 ironman/ironman races. previously on the kona i had my seat quite far forward. i think i have lost some balls, with all the traffic on the roads around wellington…
first time i actually rode my soloist properly was last years k2…some of those descents were damned scarey…(not to mention the fact that my reynolds wheels are not the best for braking on)
I had my soloist set up in the slack position during winter but have now changed it to the forward position in prep for 1/2 ironman/ironman races. previously on the kona i had my seat quite far forward. i think i have lost some balls, with all the traffic on the roads around wellington…
try shifting your butt back on the saddle when descending to get the weight dist more similar to road setup.
I found my cannondale tt bike a bit scary down the waioeka gorge in gisborne, far too much weight up front for that kind of descent. will just hang on at rotorua
on my kona i seemed to be able to motor downhill even when my weight was relatively forward. you doing the vegas 1/2 then? or is that the bike the lake race?
and yeah i do move back on the seat when descending in forward position.
The first time I ever took my disc out on any big descents was when I pre-rode the IMC course. It was hella sketch - so much so that I was riding the brakes HARD and sitting way up for many descents (with big-time gusty crosswinds). Turns out me headset was loose.
Yeah, I know… it’s in the tagline.
on my kona i seemed to be able to motor downhill even when my weight was relatively forward. you doing the vegas 1/2 then? or is that the bike the lake race?
vegas half - 3 weeks to do some running (bike is sorted after doing 317km in taupo enduro on the weekend). Bike the lake has been and I did that on the roadie, stayed with the front group but hadn’t done enough riding (ie almost none) to make my attack stick.
Would have to know more about size and setup of the 2 bikes to draw conclusions on that front.