In reality that's not the case. The feeling I speak of at the hands in terms of stem length is to try and move the contact point of the riders upper mass back from the front hub because in my humble opinion the front wheel is too close to said mass with these numbers. Maintaining trail numbers from geometry that is at least three or four years old also doesn't seem right in the slightest. Different wheel sizes, suspension, angles (elsewhere on the bike in this case, as you make it clear you are comparing similar headangles) drastically change weight distribution, too – it doesn't really compare as simply as one would like in the same way that two bikes with the exact same numbers on paper won't ride the same. Geometry needs to be looked at holistically, with less of a focus on individual portions.
March 27, 2018, 11:05 a.m. - AJ Barlas
In reality that's not the case. The feeling I speak of at the hands in terms of stem length is to try and move the contact point of the riders upper mass back from the front hub because in my humble opinion the front wheel is too close to said mass with these numbers. Maintaining trail numbers from geometry that is at least three or four years old also doesn't seem right in the slightest. Different wheel sizes, suspension, angles (elsewhere on the bike in this case, as you make it clear you are comparing similar headangles) drastically change weight distribution, too – it doesn't really compare as simply as one would like in the same way that two bikes with the exact same numbers on paper won't ride the same. Geometry needs to be looked at holistically, with less of a focus on individual portions.