New Bike Day :D

[ChrisEyles]

Well, not quite as I've had the bike for a little while now, but this is the first time I've actually got to use it in anger!

This winter I struggled with poor performance of V brakes in the wet and mud and have been lusting after hydraulic discs for a while. That was enough of an excuse to get on gumtree to treat myself after getting a new job, so without further ado here's my new ride, a 2010 GT avalanche

The bike's a large frame, whereas I normally take a medium. However it comes up quite short for a large so the reach is pretty much perfect. It's also pretty tall though, so I've struggled a bit to get the bars low enough:

But should be able to fix that with flat bars rather than risers. Might try a slightly shorter stem at the same time. I know it's a bit of a fad at the moment but I could get away with it without cramping the cockpit too much, and I'm curious to see what it does to the handling.

...not that much really needs changing there - I was initally a tad underwhelmed riding up and down the road outside my house at low speed, but out on the trail today it's probably the most natural handling MTB I've ridden yet, and surprisingly easy to throw around for a large-ish heavy-ish frame.

Itching to get out on the trails now!

 

[Big Dave laaa]

Genuine question but why do you want the bars so low? Most modern hard tail geometry sets the bars quite high, so that you don't dive too low when you compress the fork. Obviously it's a personal choice but I'd feel uncomfortable on steep descents with the bar set that low.

 

[Threevok]

I love an Avalanche. I had one or another in my life for so long, I miss having one.

Agree about those bars being low though

Look how high they were on mine for comparison

 

[ChrisEyles]

Haha, maybe I am still stuck in the 90s when it comes to MTB geometry.... on my old-school MTBs I've got on best with the bars being 1"-2" below the saddle at optimum pedalling height, and that's currently where I feel most comfortable on this bike too.

Because the frame is slightly larger than I usually ride, there's less seatpost showing (the pics show the seat just shy of optimal pedalling height), so although the bars look low compared to the head tube, they're currently roughly level or just below the top of the saddle when the fork's set at 85mm - 100mm travel.

When I put the fork on full travel (135mm, probably a tad longer than intended for the frame but I think the avalanche is burly enough to take it) the bars are sufficiently high that I feel like I'm having a little difficulty weighting the front wheel as much as I'd like going into turns. It feels awesome on descents, but slightly sketchy diving into fast flat turns.

I guess I could compensate for this by bending my arms a lot more and getting my chest down towards the stem - never really had to do that on any of my retro MTBs.

I'd also like to have a play with a shorter stem, and my thinking goes that if the bars are coming in towards you, they'll also need to go a tad lower to keep weight over the front wheel. Should still be plenty easy enough to shift weight back for the downhills though.

Does that sound halfway sensible... or am I missing the point of modern geometries here (entirely possible!)?

 

[ChrisEyles]

Been out for quite a few after-work blasts on this one already and other than the above niggles (which in practice are more minor than they probably read) I'm loving it

 

[Threevok]

Wider bars will get you lower. Shorter stem (on it's own) will not though. You would need to go longer with your existing bar size.

You can also try a stem with a lower rise, or use one that is reversible (so you get a minus rise)

I have wide bars and long stems on both my bikes - 780mm bars and 110mm stem (3 deg rise) on the Inbred, and 800mm with 90mm stem (5 deg rise) on the Virtue. Both have the saddles above the bars

PS : Don't run the forks above 120mm. That's how I killed the frame pictured above

 

[Crackle]

Have you been down the Widowmaker on it yet?

 

[ChrisEyles]

@Threevok thanks for the tip, I was wondering about this a little, will keep the forks to 120mm or below!

I'm running 720mm bars which I get on with really well. I've already flipped the (90mm) stem for a 17 degrees negative rise, which looks odd but I found it necessary to get the 30mm riser bars low enough.

I've found long stem and wide bar give a less responsive handling than I prefer, hence the wish to go shorter and lower with the stem. I've got a +/-7 deg 60mm stem, +/-17 deg 90mm stem and +/-7 deg 100mm stem to play with as well as some flat bars on order so should be able to arrive at a set-up that works for me.

The ideal would be a relatively bent-over riding posture for XC mileage, with the right weighting over the front wheel in my natural attack position, that's also easy to shift weight backwards for downhills. Don't know if that's all achievable with one set up though! Don't mind so much about manualling perfomance as I suck at that anyway.

@Crackle - not yet, but looking forward to it when I get the chance - been a while since I've ridden it on a hardtail, should be fun

 

[Threevok]

In which case the 60mm maybe the best although you may then find 720 bars a little narrow. It's all trial and error

It's very hard to keep the nose down on an AV - especially on steep climbs - even with the heavy beast of a fork like my Tora's.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Gonna try the 60mm stem with the 720mm flat bars and see how I get on. Would definitely consider going a bit wider if that doesn't do the job.

I do enjoy clearing steep and tricky climbs and so far haven't had any problems with the front lifting or wandering excessively (usually struggle with that more when I get tired and technique goes to pot).

 

[Threevok]

The Mill Road section of this climb was the biggest problem on the AV

https://www.strava.com/segments/10073581

I used to stand and lean forward with my hands basically 6 inches each side of the stem

The climb the other side is the same

https://www.strava.com/segments/4954743

That's the problem living in a valley - you have to climb out before you start having any fun

 

[ChrisEyles]

Just fitted the 60mm stem and took the bike for a spin around the local BMX race track, and it feels very nice indeed.

The bike still handles very nicely, both in and out the saddle. I'll have to get used to it, especially at lower speeds but first impressions are I like the 60mm stem more than the 90mm one. Will have to see how it performs on steep uphills before getting too excited though.

Bars still feel too high to achieve a nice efficient mile-munching posture but the flat bar's in the post to solve that.

I also ordered a dropper post the other day..... even though I got a bargain basement one it was still eye wateringly expensive for a seatpost! But having ridden a friend's bike with dropper post recently it was pretty awesome, so I grudgingly reckon it's just about worth the cost.

 

[ChrisEyles]

One other quick question - for those that can/do manual, is ease of this affected mainly by reach or bar height?

I pulled off my first ever proper manual (first time I've ever held the balance point over the rear wheel even for a second), which I guess must be down to the shorter stem. Sort of hoping that dropping the bars won't reduce my fledging manual back to my usual front wheel lift...

 

[Jody]

One other quick question - for those that can/do manual, is ease of this affected mainly by reach or bar height?

Higher rise bars and/or shorter stem will make it easier to manual.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Yeah, I suspected the higher bars were helping with the manualling too.

I'm having quite a lot of fun playing around with different set-ups to balance long-distance comfort & efficiency and playful handling.

And my inner nerd enjoys calculating sines & cosines of head tube angles to work out how much flipping the stem etc will raise/lower the bars