Just curious as to how much people fiddle with bikes... Today i've just dropped my bars 10mm with 2 5mm spacers moved to the top... More just out of curiosity than anything else, just wondering if other people do things like this or just ride it as it is and leave things.
yeah, mid-ride fiddling for me. just the contact points, saddle up a bit, bars rotated round a bit, flip stem, that kind of thing. Generally at the same time as stopping to eat, look around etc.
The thing that never makes sense to me is when I tweak until the bike feels 100% right for the last half of a ride, but a couple of days later I jump on again and it feels all wrong.
I've just bought a new road frame. Previously I've always thought I'll leave a bit of spare steerer initially and then chop it later, but I never get round to it. So this time I've just slammed it from the off.
When I build the bike I loosely throw everything together so see how it looks, sit on it, realise it’s all loose and tighten, do a test ride then forget.
1-2 years later I may move a spacer around after something pops up on YouTube telling me it’s remarkably better to be higher/lower. I try it, can’t tell the difference, forget and repeat 1-2 years later.
I go through phases of trying little tweeks, in the search for more comfort on longer (50mins+) turbo rides, longer outdoor rides or dealing with a relapse of my old lower back issue that largely vanished a few years back.
This is one of the reasons I can’t handle full suspension bikes. Just too much to mess with and that voice at the back of my mind saying “is the shock right? Are you 100% sure it’s right” I also tweak saddle, bar, brakes etc all the time
I always leave quite a bit of steerer and have a play about, I'll also try a few different stem lengths just to see if something feels better
Yes but not when riding with a group when I always try to apply a "3 strikes" rule for obsessive tinkerers who can spoil the flow
When I first build / buy a new bike, lots. I definitely have an optimal body-shape in mind that I'm trying to achieve on the bike and can't work out whether I've found that when I'm propping myself up in the kitchen and spinning the peddles backwards. Normally though I've found that sweet-spot within a handful of rides and it'll get left that way until a new contact point is fitted.
For what it's worth, I find that small tweaks can make a big difference. I re-built a bike recently that I'd spent the whole winter riding in an effort to track down a rogue creak. Problem solved, I went for a long ride a few weeks back and came home with a very sore lower back. A quick tweak to the bar-roll and it feels great again.
Always play with positions of bars, stem, lever angle/reach and saddle; especially if I've not ridden that bike for a while. Same as I will have different suspension settings, tyres and tyre pressure etc for different riding locations. Nothing can ever be said to be the correct setup as it's always some sort of compromise. It may be easier just to have one setup that you are used to but it's also how you settle for that setting...
A 5mm difference in height you probably wouldnt notice any difference as people are flexible and not computerized. People who say they notice such a change are probably telling themselves fibs 😉
A 5mm difference in height you probably wouldnt notice any difference as people are flexible and not computerized. People who say they notice such a change are probably telling themselves fibs 😉
That's the point, you may not notice 5mm but 5mm change does make a difference. Whether that difference feels better or is faster is another question...
I fiddle about loads with a new one, the once I'm happy with it I just leave it alone forever
If you change tokens or sag on a suspension fork or start switching between the different versions of the Rockshox Debonair springs (that ride at different heights), I reckon you may need to change headset spacers to get back to optimum. It is something I always have in mind when making such changes.
I once took a spare handlebar with me and changed it mid ride
I fanny about with bar height but tbh I can get it so that I think it's perfect and then a few rides later tweak it again and think that's perfect. Just as long as the bars are high enough to go over the guardrails on the wee bridge near my house, it seems mostly all good.
