andy-eunson profile

My DUB press fit in my Trek has been stellar. I’ve never had a threaded bb last over two seasons. Mine is still smooth and silent. Good to know when I need to replace it that there are aftermarket options.

Yes. I think you are right about steeper seat tube angles being an accidental discovery. I sense the longer reach longer reach call increased top tube measurements which we all used to find a bike that fit so seat tube angles were steepened accordingly. That also allows room for wheels and suspension travel and the short chain stays we are told we love. DH out front, BMX out back. The ultimate mullet. I thought the longer reach allowed a rider to keep their weight more evenly balanced between the wheels. Slack angles and higher trail measurements give a more stable ride plus with a short stem allows us to weight the front end more without fear of going over the bars. Long stems of yesteryear forced us way back with little weight on the front and less traction than we wanted on the front wheel. Longer reach really helped that OTB thing go away but still I think the short rear centre is not really matching that front end. 

On many bikes you could keep the same wheelbase but slacken the seat tube angle by simply moving the bb location forward. Like a Pole. What would that do to weight distribution through the feet? We all move our weight back relative to the front end to allow for the forces of hitting things like braking  bumps, roots, braking forces, big rollers etc. To me that would seem to place more weight on the back wheel and if the chain stays are super short, too much weight bias to the rear. Move the bb forward and that changes that. 

Short rear centres are not as good for climbing. There’s a reason why hill climb motor bikes have ridiculous swingarms. In the olden days we used to say we needed a long stem to keep our weight over the front wheel on steep climbs but that was stated wrong. We didn’t want the weight the front wheel, we wanted our weight ahead of the rear contact patch. When we lower our body climbing, we aren’t just getting our centre of mass in a better place we are also pulling back on the bars to offset pushing a bit forward at the top of the pedal stroke. Look at just about anyone hammering a steep pitch and you’ll see forearms parallel to the ground. Sitting more upright doesn’t work for hard uphill efforts. For slow easy climbs sure, it may be more comfortable to sit more upright. But I don’t think it’s more efficient. 

Steeper seat tube angles will change your seated balance and may place more weight on your hands leading to comfort issues like Andrew mentions. You’ll probably need to raise your bars, or move your feet forward or saddle back to achieve balance. Shorter cranks will affect fit too. Lots of people moving to shorter cranks now. That moves to your saddle up to keep the same leg extension. All these things affect fit. 

I don’t know the answer. I’m not saying super steep is wrong but I’m just questioning it.

Tri bikes aren’t constrained by UCI rules otherwise tt bikes would have steeper seat tube angles. Tri and tt are all about aerodynamics. Flat back is optimal but that also has to be looked at with what that does to power output of the rider. There’s a story about Cancellara being stuck in the wind tunnel and it was determined that a flat back for him cost more watts than saved by raising his bar height a couple cm. In other words he made more watts than he lost by being less aero but more powerful. UCI goals are laudable. They want the best rider to win not the best bike. But the rules make fitting a tt bike to really tall and really short riders difficult.

Some time in the mid 90s the BC Cup final race was held up at Grouse Mountain. About 4°C and raining. Truly miserable conditions. A certain mud hole took a few shoes off feet. Most shoe Velcro was reduced to flapping bits. We were forced after the event to use the old blue gondola to download the muddy bikes. I helped unload at the bottom. I took a mental survey of grips. Probably 25% of bikes were missing one or even two grips. Nearly all had loose grips. My own had come loose. This was before lock on grips. I had wired on my grips but it was not enough. Hard riding and the pulling and twisting riders did in a race in the rain on forks with a token amount of travel proved something better was needed that day.

No good bike fitter uses knee over the pedal spindle anymore. The good ones use seated balance. 

https://youtu.be/OyE67jKp1To

https://youtu.be/SZhWVZq2qUc

This is just one guy but I think his approach makes sense. For road. Off road we tend to spin more slowly. I’ve seen some articles recently that suggest that a slower cadence is more efficient.

I’ve searched for mountain bike specific fit studies and found nothing. While mountain, road and tri “engines” are all the same the fit requirements are different. Road and tri have to factor in aerodynamics and tri have to factor in running and how muscles are affected by doing both riding and running. Plus road bikes are somewhat constrained by ridiculous UCI tech rules. For Mountain we have to compromise fit for muscle use and technical aspects like descending and uphill tech. 

One thing road riders look for too is being balanced on the saddle. You don’t want to be leaning on the bars. So if you get on your drops or hoods and you can’t take your hands off without pedalling faster or engaging your core you need to change something. Often moving the seat rearward provides the fix. 

Mountainbikers tend to ride more upright anyway for descending and there isn’t really much need to be aero. Plus most riders have their feet further forward on the pedals which affects the hip torso angle and balance. But when I see a mountain bike set up with a seat that tips down I think that’s a response to a too steep seat angle and too low of a bar. If the seat is horizontal and you’re leaning hard on the bars you slide backwards. The fix isn’t tipping the saddle forward but moving it back, the feet forward, raising the bar or a combination of the three. 

I also think having the same rear centre length for all frame sizes is stupid and lazy. Some manufacturers are varying the rear centre but most don’t. Being short, I don’t have much issue with short chain stays but I sense the fix for tall riders looping out is the steep seat tubes. That affects how bikes fit me in a negative way. 

I don’t think slack angles are good though because full suspension bikes sag and change that and more so when climbing. One thing that would be nice is for manufacturers to pride sagged angles and not static. Most bikes run more rear sag that front so static angles aren’t really relevant other than for comparison purposes. 

This is an interesting topic for me. I think mountainbike geometry is still in a state of flux with respect to fit. Other geo aspects are settling out such as head angles, trail and offset. Good stuff.

Didja know they made rowing shoes and cleat system? https://www.shimano.com/en/manufacturing/rowing.html

Yes. He passed away recently. Not that old either.

My second mountain bike was a Fisher Montare that came with the first Shimano mountain bike group. Deore with the deer head emblem. I recall their first mountain bike specific freewheel. At a product knowledge seminar attended by many shops the rep proclaimed that it was sealed. Pippin asked if we could inject grease with a Phil Wood injector when it got dirty. The rep said it was sealed. Pip said yeah but can you inject it with grease when it got dirty. This went back and forth a few times until the rep finally conceded that maybe Vancouver had different conditions than California where he was from. Still, those free wheels were good. And the brakes had toe in adjust dealies whereas the Mafac brakes we had been using you just bent with a bfw. Better retrofriction shifters too. And I think when XT came out there were grease ports in the hub dust caps.

Every time I change the internal shift cable and housing on my Remedy, I think I should get wireless shifting. This infernal insipid internal routing is a conspiracy I say.  SRAM paid off the manufacturers to make us buy wireless shifters and such. Like ski jacket manufacturer paid Apple to make iPhones too big to fit the old pockets.

Probably. Vaccinations have been made available to all adults over 18 living and or working in Whistler as of today.

Many skis now come with pre drilled plates and are pretty easy to set up at home. I just bought new skis and bindings yesterday. Mount in was included and the skis and bindings were on sale at 50% off. Now Whistler, where I live is closed. Home mounting even if you need to drill is always and option but you need some skills and tools. It’s not a difficult job with a jig. How much do shops want now?

Every two or three years here too. I figure all the little bumps from low branches, dropped helmets and slight blows in crashes add up.

That Castelli stuff is the shit. Love it. Part of what makes good cycling clothes is how badly they fit while standing bolt upright and how well they fit while riding. Castelli, Assos and 7Mesh to name a few know this. Endura do not.

Bikes with super steep seat tube angles though encourage a very upright and inefficient stance. So if a person prefers that then some road oriented clothes may not be to their liking.

Pretty sure I have the tool. But I also have an 988 freehub brand new that you can have. I’m never going to use it.

I use clear Gorilla Tape and/or the pre cut stuff that often comes with a bike at the obvious cable, shoe and knee rub points. Ride Wrap really only protects from cosmetic damage and in the meantime looks cosmetically crap like an old lady couch. By the time I sell my bikes they have become “obsolete” according to the manufacturers and I really don’t care about how much resale value is reduced by a couple scratches. I often put stickers over bad scratches if they don’t look out of place.

I do wash my bike fairly often. Just a simple hosing with the shower setting on my hose nozzle to remove the lumps before the bike goes in the garage.  When it’s dry I’ll often wash with a bucket of soapy water and car wash mitt because I sweat a lot.

Mike Mooney rides and I think owns one of the North Shore auto body shop. They did a good repair on my Element years ago.

Air in the damper? Something loose inside? I’d be inclined to at least drop the lowers and fiddle with the damper shaft and air shaft.

Posted by: taprider

Posted by: skooks

Well said. I feel like buying a motorized bike = capitulation. It will happen eventually, but hopefully not until I am old. I am only 60 now, so I will keep slowly pedalling my way to the top for as many years as possible.

I agree

use it or lose it

and by the time I can't pedal anymore, I likely will be too afraid of falling to bother with an ebike

My friend Gary is in his 80s. He hasn’t ridden off road hard for a few years because the downhills are too rough for his old bones. And he is really fit.  It’s not just the uphills that will be hard when you’re old.

I don’t think the through bolt needs to be massively tight. The ends are captured by the fork or rear triangle ends. I have had them come loose on rides though so doing them to spec should be what we do. I use my trail tool to tighten them because that’s what I’ll use if I need to pull a wheel on the trail for a flat or something.

To me the through axle thing was to address shitty quick releases which would not tighten enough and could allow the wheel to be levered out of the drop out with hard disc brake use. Shimano qrs seemed fine. Most other aftermarket qrs are shit.