I haven't gotten along with the new longer geometry bikes, and my riding has depreciated by riding these longer geometries. With that said, I do like the comfort of the longer geometry. My cornering is just not as good, because of properly weighting the bike. Therefore, I prefer bikes with modern geometry that have steep head angles to limit the front center.
Surprisingly I feel much more comfortable on Specialized Enduro - it is just a big bike. The longer chainstays makes the geometry feel much more manageable. Now I would like this in a shorter travel bike.
I actually have a hypothesis on this, and its contrary to the bike industry's current approach. When Leo and SteveM argued about bike length.... a number of valuable ideas were posed. The first by Leo which said weighting is associated with the vertical movement of your body, which I agree.
However, I have short legs and hence my weighting is a bit limited in the vertical movements, so I need additional horizontal movements, and this is takes a lot more work and muscles to control the longer front centers of bikes.
Most of the people that I know that have minimal issue with the new longer geometry tend to be taller or people with longer legs, which supports Leo's statement.
I actually feel the chainstays should be longer for shorter people (ie short legs) as front centers grow. At the moment, the CS lengths increase for taller riders, which I do believe there is a more comfortable feel. I feel taller riders can probably get by with CS with longer front centers will less issue.
Jan. 6, 2021, 9:14 a.m. - Dude@
I haven't gotten along with the new longer geometry bikes, and my riding has depreciated by riding these longer geometries. With that said, I do like the comfort of the longer geometry. My cornering is just not as good, because of properly weighting the bike. Therefore, I prefer bikes with modern geometry that have steep head angles to limit the front center. Surprisingly I feel much more comfortable on Specialized Enduro - it is just a big bike. The longer chainstays makes the geometry feel much more manageable. Now I would like this in a shorter travel bike. I actually have a hypothesis on this, and its contrary to the bike industry's current approach. When Leo and SteveM argued about bike length.... a number of valuable ideas were posed. The first by Leo which said weighting is associated with the vertical movement of your body, which I agree. However, I have short legs and hence my weighting is a bit limited in the vertical movements, so I need additional horizontal movements, and this is takes a lot more work and muscles to control the longer front centers of bikes. Most of the people that I know that have minimal issue with the new longer geometry tend to be taller or people with longer legs, which supports Leo's statement. I actually feel the chainstays should be longer for shorter people (ie short legs) as front centers grow. At the moment, the CS lengths increase for taller riders, which I do believe there is a more comfortable feel. I feel taller riders can probably get by with CS with longer front centers will less issue.