The below is a photo of me from a recent race. I think the photo may be a tiny bit distorted but I think it shows that when I get to go hard I end up riding quite far forward on a fairly steep seat tube. I have a relatively short torso so like a short top tube even if I end up touching my elbows and knees on occasion. Final point is that whereas most people seem to have an elbow angle of 90deg or more I’m at 90deg or less - all in all pretty compressed.
I find this position very comfortable and have had some good results with it but for next season I am overhauling the bike and wondered if ST had any suggestions for correcting the one thing I don’t like - the handling.
Basically it climbs fine and is comfortable on the flats but feels skittish and scary on downhills. On my road bike I get in the drops and even though I am far higher from the ground with bigger wheels and a big head tube my CoG feels lower and I am confident descending at speed. On this I feel high, too far forward and as though any pebble or crack in the pavement would start an uncontrolable death wobble! As a result I end up descending slowly and on the hoods and have to watch as everyone I pass on the hills screams past me for free.
I’m happy to try swapping out parts to help get confident but would any work? Longer or shorter stem? Slacker fork? (If so any suggestions the steerer is 1" and it’s for 650 wheels)
Yup, you’re bumping up against the same thing I found when I was looking at frames a couple years ago – no one out there makes a frame that’s balanced when you ride it aggressively positioned. Too much weight on the front wheel. I don’t know what it is that the manufacturers are afraid of, but it got pretty frustrating thinking I’d HAVE to go custom. And then my funds dried up in a divorce.
I just happened to catch a deal on an old QR here on the ST classifieds, that’s really a touch big for me, but it’s long in the front and short in the back (on 650s – might be what you need to get the back wheel tucked close enough). You might also need to go with a DE geometry (check Dan’s “Geometry Experiment” articles) from Yaqui. Custom might be your best option.
Thanks - I’m already on 650’s (I’d like to say this was a deliberate choice but they came on the bike and the bike was cheap!) but shortening the back just seems like the less important half of the equation - I really need to tweak something at the front which unfortunately can’t amount to buying a new bike (custom or otherwise)
.
You can’t really tweak either one (front end or back end) without going to a new frame. The only thing you can do is move yourself backwards and get your CG over the balance point. Higher rake fork will get the balance closer, but it’ll do other bad things to the bike’s handling, so don’t go messing with that.
