I'm hoping some of you experienced riders can give advice...
My hardtail rides like a tank and it's putting me off riding it. I'm a smallish person and I'm finding it a bit of a handful. It's currently set up with 627.5x2.6 tyres and 150mm travel forks. I'm thinking if I swapped the tyres to something like 2.3 and reduced the travel to 140mm (any less and I'd have to get a new fork which could be an option) then it might ride a bit "lighter". Any thoughts on this ?
What frame is it?
If it's a burly frame the rides always going to feel " solid". But lighter tyres and wheels will make the biggest difference to how it feels. Definitely go tubless if you haven't done so already.
Conversely I've just equalled my PB on a road climb that has stood for years.
The previous best was on a rigid bike with 1.3 tyres and a tail wind. Now equalled it on my fatty and no tail wind.
Tyres are tubeless. According to the frame specs I can go down to 130mm travel in forks. Which is fine but I'll have to buy new forks 🙁
Do you mean it's hard to steer, hard to pedal or it feels too big... Or something else? What were you riding before for comparison?
Do you feel the frame has no flex or springiness and what is your bike. Sounds like you need a new frame.
What. Frame. Is it?
@joemmo Good questions. The bike just feels big. In terms of frame size everything is fine. However it feels a lot to handle; it feels 'heavy' and a bit cumbersome. Not at all nimble. Like a big ol'american Harley as opposed to a scrambler.
Rides like what sort of tank?
What height are you? What size is the frame?
Whats the build on it? I've got a Wideangle and I absolutely love it - nothing tank like at all.
@aldo56 what size tyres and how much travel are you running ?
I'm running a 160mm Marzochi 350 CR fork and a 2.35 Magic Mary / 2.3 DHRii combo.
I'd love to go up to 2.6 rubber but my rims are too narrow.
I found slamming the stem as much as my back can handle really helped with the handling of the bike. It allows you to really weight the front wheel and "ride the fork" through the rough stuff. Could be something as simple as that or tyre pressures?
It looks quite a long reach, slack frame. Are you getting your body position centred to weight the front wheel enough?
Chromags are not light bikes.
The frames are in the region of 5.5 to 6lbs. I should know, I have a Mk1 Rootdown.
Not weighed it recently but last time i did it was over 30lbs, probably more now as I have Saint SPD pedals, XT 4 Pot brakes, bigger rotors and Zee cranks on it now.
I'd be looking at wheels, tyre compounds and sidewalls.Thing is though with a bike like a Wideangle you can't go too light on wheels and tyres (especially on the back) as the bike is so capable you'll get into trouble with rear wheel issues.
If you want to put a spec list, we could possibly make some suggestions where you can save weight.
delete
A Wideangle is a burly bike - slack, big fork, strong. It's never going to feel like an XC hardtail or even a lighter trail bike.
What wheels and tyres are you on?
Where do you ride / what riding do you enjoy?
@matt_outandabout
With respect I don't want it to feel like an xc bike and I know it never will. I'm using 27.5x2.6 Minions. I ride all the known places in the Shropshire area. I'm not what you call a hardcore rider so sometimes I do feel the wideangle is a bit "over powered" for me. However I know how to handle a bike reasonably through the rough stuff.
By the sounds of it the biggest difference I could make is using narrower tyres. If that helps the bike feel less burly then that's a gain and I'm happy.
2.5 MaxTerra (front) and 2.3 Dual Compound (rear) Minion DHF on my rootdown. Normal EXO sidewalls
Feels about right. Maybe try a 2.3 Dual Compound on the back? They roll a bit faster and wear a bit better too.
