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Does this video do nothing for Canyon's sizing scheme?
Bike looks far too big for her
Admittedly it is not slowing her down at all
Don’t know, wasn’t actually looking at the bike 🙂
I think she has struggled with bike fit.... I think they don't make one for her off the peg.
Look at this insanity from the previous sponsor:
Needs to have a bike made for her I would say.
Bike? There was a bike?
She needs a reverse mullet, 27.5" in the front to get the front end down & a 29er in the rear for faster rolling speed.
The Trek looks wrong, the Canyon looks better.
Welcome to the world of short legs.
If we're talking unasthetically pleasing bike set ups:
And that's a 29er!
Jaro the Giant!
That's not a pretty bike
At least it's not the normal output of her in perfect make-up "just after a work out" insta feed...
I think that picture of the Canyon above is the one taken after the team car drove into a height restrictor.
I think they don’t make one for her off the peg.Look at this insanity from the previous sponsor:
Is this a real issue or a bike that's set up for a pro rider on a particular course?
XC races are won on the climbs. On some courses there's very little flat seated riding. Getting the front end low on a 29er small frame is difficult.
So you've got the saddle pushed forward to give a super steep seat angle and a reverse stem to drop keep the front low. (Chris Porter runs his saddles like that even on a Geometron) It might look odd but it's about performance not aesthetics.
An less flexible amateur rider out for longer days in the saddle would have it very diffently.
it just looks like she used the "what size bike should i order" feature on the canyon site and it did what it always does to me and coughs up a size of bike i've not ridden my whole adult life.
German brands have a habit of making their bikes a bit tall, I've noticed.
Perhaps she's choosing frame size based on reach, as is the trend these days.
Might be why she looks a bit titchy on it.
Does it? Looks just right to me... but then my xc bike is probably set up very similarly.
Obviously i had to watch it twice to form that opinion 😂
Look like normal XC race bikes to me. The bike in that small a size would probably look more in proportion if it wasn't on 29 wheels, so clearly she thinks there's enough advantage to that wheel size to put up with the stack height compromise and risk of contacting the rear wheel when getting weight back.
The bike industry always seems to struggle to scale bikes towards smaller or taller riders - just find a pic of a tall riders xc bike back in the 26 days.
OwenP
Full MemberThe bike industry always seems to struggle to scale bikes towards smaller or taller riders – just find a pic of a tall riders xc bike back in the 26 days.
I think in the modern age it's slightly more that they don't struggle to make bikes that work well but do struggle to make them look good, and also to make them work well for their top end racers and other users. In a racing situation, looking awkward but working well makes sense, and if you're doing "sell the same bike we race" then it also makes sense to make tweaks to the racer's bikes like weird shaped bars or seat position etc, as long as it works, rather than making permanent frame changes to suit a couple of riders that don't work as well for the paying customers.
Really torn with how I feel about Emily Batty.
Yes, she is a talented athlete but the "insta and makeup" side of her life is something I really struggle with.
I've always viewed people who wear such huge levels of makeup and continually have to portray such a measured and clinically perfect image as people who have HUGE self-esteem issues.
I can't imagine waking up in a bothy/tent/on the side of a mountain and feeling that I HAVE TO spend an hour putting on layers of makeup before I feel strong enough to get on with living the day. (and yes, I am a bloke and I dont have the same pressure to look good BUT there are also many women out there who put practicality and performance above looking "'mazing" and perfecting a trout-pout, yet still look beautiful and feminine - my wife for one.)
Emily herself has talked at great length about her self-esteem struggles and I feel for her BUT the bit that I struggle with is how she equates wearing makeup with "beauty" and "womanhood."
The fact that women can be "women" without the makeup, women can be "women" without wearing pastel colours and women can be "beautiful" without spending 3 hours in the bathroom preening and plucking has complete bypassed her.
She has in the past talked about her makeup being her "war-paint." Something that helps her get her "game-face" on in preparation for an important race etc but I really struggle with her narrow view of what a "beautiful woman" is. It's a strange type of feminism, I think.
Also, I've watched a number of videos of the trips she has been on (notably her latest one to Iceland.) I get the feeling that unless she has a crew to attend to her every whim, then she would be up poo creak without a paddle. She always seems to have a willing bunch of people who are ready to step in and fix things for her whether that be cooking food or finding a misplaced sleeping bag whilst she does a piece to camera about how "tough" and "stressful" it all is.
And this is all on the back of her being an amazing athlete! Which she undoubtedly is! and clearly having the tenacity and resilience to compete at an elite level.
A very complicated character, I think.
I wish I was a simple character but at least I don't have strangers on the internet analysing and judging my every move.
Really torn with how I feel about Emily Batty.
Yes, she is a talented athlete but the “insta and makeup” side of her life is something I really struggle with.
We were at the Canadian xc championships a few year’s ago, after the race Batty spent ages chatting to kids and signing auto, a local we were chatting to said she was well known for that.
I can’t imagine why she might have self esteem issues as a talented racer, oh wait...
Don’t know, wasn’t actually looking at the bike 🙂
I'm a bit confused. Never heard of her but she seems to be a bike racing professional...and then people are on here questioning her choice of bike size??
I'm having a hard time with the criticism here, people talk about toxic masculinity and all the bitching going here is from blokes...
I mean she's riding bikes that are probably not small enough for her, at a much higher level than all of us. and she posts pictures of herself. She wants to keep the sponsorship going, all power to her. Does it have to be any deeper than that.
She is very short - I met her in real life and she seemed even smaller than she does on the telly.
I reckon all bikes look too big for her.
Emily has posted in the past about her anxiety and depression, has mentioned spending time by herself training alone in Arizona.
I don't get why people have issues with the way Emily Batty looks or get critical because she has a can of RedBull next to her in the photo's, especially when sponsored by the company but so again does Kate Courtney. She does work at grassroots mountain biking, encouraging children and more females into the sport. IMO she's a great ambassador for the sport and hope she does well at this year's XC.
I wish I knew how to post screenshots but all the times we actually get to see the bike in that video in the op the bike looks perfectly normal and fitting the rider? What am I supposed to be seeing?
I am no expert, I tend to buy whatever bike or frames are on sale and put up with them.
However, I have a feeling she knows what she’s doing.
That post by Simon above is possibly the most pathetic thing I've ever read on here. Criticising her for how long she spends in the bathroom, FFS, as if he has any idea.
She likes to wear a bit of make up. Who cares?
I think the Canyon looks a better fit, personally.
Ref some of the slight negativity above, I've always been impressed with her - great ambassador and I read somewhere that she's the highest paid female XC MTBer (or was) - that will be for a reason!
Welcome to the world of us short people! Small frames look better than large frames in most cases. I love that straight line made from the top tube and seat stay you get on small frames.
To the people complaining; its probably jealousy because shes a better rider than most people here. Leave her alone.
There's a lot of camera lens distortion in that video, making her, the bike and the trees look stretched out in all directions. The wheels aren't even round! In other photos it looks like a better fit than the Trek above, assuming that's the final setup. Be interesting to see how she does, can't help but think Canyon lost someone really outstanding in Pauline and gained...well recent results speak for themselves.
On the topic of Canyon sizing, my riding buddy entered his particulars into the online calculator, it actually said his shape was not possible, and accused him of being sub-human.
I of course agreed.
She's hard as nails.
Raced the 2012 Olympic course after a crash the previous day, covered in bandages and with a broken collarbone.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/8426/7764060598_abce9bc69b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/8426/7764060598_abce9bc69b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/cQ5QHL ]Emily Batty, Canada, 24th Place Women's Olympic Mountain Bike Race 2021[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
I do the find the makeup thing a bit odd on FB, but it's just not my thing.
Simple sexist Simon...
I think is sad that people feel they have to wear paint to make them look better.
I think the above comments above are very wrong as well, she went and raced her 1st marathon race in Lanzarote last year with no team support only her brother, did really well top 3 if i remember even after having nasty crash. Saw her a few times and seemed to very chatty and sociable to everyone and was just behaving like any other rider out there.
So what if she has make up on.
Why the flip do people think that they can write this stuff. She wears make- up, I mean, so what. Just because she rides bikes she has to fall into some category of person.
I find all of the criticisms of her appearance and choices unacceptable. I don’t really follow racing, but is she not an incredible athlete?
It’s like reading the comments on a daily Mail website.
Wow - comments ranging from the mildly lecherous to the downright offensive.
Retarded crap like this is part of why women's cycling struggles for the space, funding and airtime that it needs.
Next we'll be back to 'why doesn't Sanne Cant smile?'
****ts
Only ever seen a few racing photos of Batty, except for the sections featuring her in this film
https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/films/going-in
She seems pretty cool and great with the fans.
Checked the op's Insta thing and bike looks fine apart from at the beginning where the angle makes the back wheel look huge. NIICE ARSE T?HOGUH EHA LADS! PHOAR!!
I think we have to let people be who they are. I personally like the Shauna Coxsey approach to body image on Instagram.
She posted a shot, as an example of a bad hair day. She was was criticised for showing creases on her stomach, in the photo, that made her look fat. So she reposted it drawing full attention to said creases pointing out that as a professional athlete her body fat was about as low as you can go whilst healthy and creases are how people bend.
But that doesn't mean I'm going to criticise Emily fur doing her make up whilst cycling across Iceland. It's her life let her live it.
On the bike fit
If your a professional cyclist who has been third overall in a world cup season and you've been supported by 2 pro teams and your partner is a pro cyclist I suspect the subject of bike fit has come up at some point. For whatever reason this is the current best compromise. I'm not surprised that she went with works over looks good in side on shot with no rider.
A very complicated character, I think.
For someone who just wrote paragraphs about a woman wearing make up, if the shoe fits
Another stellar thread, for the STW is a hive of misogynists and racists archive
Imagine achieving the heights of the top of your chosen sport, multiple Olympian, narrowly missing out on the podium in Rio by a few seconds, multiple podiums at Commonwealths and World Cup's, being a great ambassador for the sport with strong brand image promoting your sponsors, a Red Bull sponsored athlete (which is about as cool as it gets), a solid supporter of grass roots entry into the sport for women - and still you struggle to earn validation from the dominant male misogynists perspective...She's a bike rider just like you, what you should 'feel' is respect, and she should have the freedom to portray her self image however the flip she likes.
Yeah lolz at the 'complex character'.....I mean what do you say to that whole post really 😳
OK, I was vaguely aware that Emily Batty was an XC racer but I checked out that Iceland bikepack on YouTube. It's fair to say that she doesn't really sit in the "mechanised tramp" range of the spectrum and I guess that, yes, the made-up look can look a bit out of place in that context, but it's no worse than the Rapha-clad, bearded, mug-dangling hipsters that are constantly filling the pages of the Radavist etc. (and, just for clarity, I meant the guys).
Christ! You guys argue about everything!
This place does my head in. It's no fun anymore.
My OP was about Canyon’s weird sizing calculator not about Emily Batty’s make up regime. As I said, the bike looks big but doesn’t seem to slow her down which is the only thing that matters.
I assumed that was the smallest size frame they did, although I guess she may have got used to riding something slightly larger than "optimum" due to the previous Trek. Didn't they have to play around with headset components to get the bars low enough for her?
Isn't it just a pro xc thing.
https://www.redbull.com/ph-en/nino-schurter-bike-check
If you look at this nino has his seat pushed forward and a drop on his stem to get the front end lower.
MvdP has a similar setup and he's quite tall
To be honest, I’ve always thought that if Emily Batty was my daughter how immensely proud of her I would be.
That’s the way us old guys think, I suppose...
She needs 650b wheels, a dropper, and black tyres.
Well said rollindoughnut
singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-it-just-me-or-emily-batty-canyon-content/page/2/#post-11725925
rOcKeTdOg
Wow, this turned in a direction I wasn’t expecting. My OP was about Canyon’s weird sizing calculator not about Emily Batty’s make up regime
Dont think there was anything wrong with your post. It just happened to mention an attractive successful woman, which seems to be a magnet for the worst kind of knuckle dragger.
Dont think there was anything wrong with your post
It was made with the intention of being a dig
Modern Geo has zero equivalance to height
Wow, this turned in a direction I wasn’t expecting. My OP was about Canyon’s weird sizing calculator not about Emily Batty’s make up regime
I mean, although your question was likely 100% genuine I guess maybe reflect on why you asked the question, it could have tinges on sexism / mansplaining? Have you ever looked at Danny Hart and Troy Brosnan and thought they don't know what they are doing and are on the wrong size bike.
It's the big wheels. Watch it again and picture it with 27.5 or 'gulp' 26".
Why her make up regime or character traits get discussed on here is odd. She's clearly a talented, dedicated athlete who knows how to give back to the sport.
I guess maybe reflect on why you asked the question, it could have tinges on sexism / mansplaining?
As read above, some men are the same height as the same height women, and Canyon's size guide is for both sexes, so not sure what you're on about 🤷♂️
I think the point above is if Danny Hart had an odd looking size bike, a lot of blokes would be like ‘I’ve been doing it wrong all along’, rather than ‘these girls...(eye roll)’.
Not saying that’s the nature of your post RD.
Some lovely stuff in the this thread, apart from the Simon's stalker special, I think the post complaining of offensive comments and then using the word "retarded" in the next sentence is my favourite.
As read above, some men are the same height as the same height women, and Canyon’s size guide is for both sexes, so not sure what you’re on about 🤷♂️
First let me prefix this with im not saying you're sexist or mansplaining. But, you as a male are questioning the size of bike Emily Batty is riding quote "Bike looks far too big for her." Have you ever questioned the size of bike Danny or Troy ride - or felt the need to make a post about it despite Danny getting a new bike sponsor a few days ago and if not why? It could be construed as sexism or men know best.
Basically do you think gender roles / preconceptions have lead you to question her judgment. Shes a professional athlete she's surly done her homework and tested multiple bikes and sizes. Personally it wouldn't even enter my head to question it.
I'll be honest, didn't know much about her until I happened to watch the Iceland bikepacking video, but she came across well in that slightly "We both know I'm a sponsored athlete but anyway..." manner those videos sometimes have.
So what if her seating position looks a bit weird, I wouldn't have thought she'd take a sponsorship deal on something she couldn't ride and perform well on - I'd probably struggle on Chris Froome's set up.
So what if she wears make up, her life, her choice, really not for me to judge
jkomo
I think the point above is if Danny Hart had an odd looking size bike, a lot of blokes would be like ‘I’ve been doing it wrong all along’,
Which is fair enough, but the OP's point(made in jest, I thought) was more about Canyon, who are well known for having rather ropey size guides.
Joepud
I see were your coming from. In my previous post I said something similar about it being unlikely that her and her Team don't know what bike she should ride or how to set it up for her
But there is another factor here. The male athletes you mention, as far as I know, have bodies that fall with on the size range catered by bike manufactures.
But it's not sexist to enquire why Canyon don't appear to make race bike of a suitable size for one of their team. The world is full of stuff used by women but designed for men and it's seems reasonable to call that out
In summary
Not reasonable
Why is that women riding the wrong size bike?
Reasonable
Why is that athletes team unable to supply equipment on the size that they need?
I'll be honest and say I'm not she where the balance lies here
But it’s not sexist to enquire why Canyon don’t appear to make race bike of a suitable size for one of their team. The world is full of stuff used by women but designed for men and it’s seems reasonable to call that out
IIRC the very same conversation was had, on this forum, when she was signed with and she started riding their 29er - that the bike looked way to big for her and that was because of the wheel size. I don't recall anyone agonising over whether or not that was sexist, more that she seemed to be being forced onto something inappropriate for reasons of marketing.
some here https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/pro-xc-tweaks/page/6/
Have you ever questioned the size of bike Danny or Troy ride – or felt the need to make a post about it despite Danny getting a new bike sponsor a few days ago and if not why?
No because their bikes don't look too big for them and weren't supplied by Canyon 🤷♂️
Which is fair enough, but the OP’s point(made in jest, I thought) was more about Canyon, who are well known for having rather ropey size guides.
Correct
No because their bikes don’t look too big for them and weren’t supplied by Canyon 🤷♂️
erm... you do realise who Troy rides for right... heres a clue hes on the same team as Emily Batty. But anyway all I was trying to do what offer up a suggestion as to why this thread took a direction you wasn't expecting.
.
.
If you look at this nino has his seat pushed forward and a drop on his stem to get the front end lower.
Nino has been know to run a -25' stem combined with a -5' drop in his handlebars.
The Canyon looks alright to me, and seems to work for her based on the video in the OP (and the fact as a pro she wouldn’t likely ride anything which will knowingly make her slower).
Lots of riders (pro and amateur alike) can end up with slightly odd looking bikes (we are all individually proportioned after all), but the key for me is what it looks like when the rider is on it. I also don’t really care how much makeup the rider is wearing, again she wouldn’t likely wear it if if meant she wasn’t at the pointy end of races- something many of us can only dream of. Maybe a bit of lip gloss would add 20watts to my FTP...
Disclaimer- I did bike fits for a living for nearly 5 years, and didn’t have any complaints that I can remember, had a couple of pros come in for advice in that time as well. Also I’m not sure any XC race mtb will ever look pretty, it’s a tool for a job at the end of the day. See also TDF bikes etc. If you want a pretty bike, then get a skinny tubed steel one built in a perfectly proportioned medium size, with a saddle height and stem length that might fit one in a million riders!
I had a play on canyons sizing tool last night. It started by saying at 170cm with a72cm inseam I was a freak and didn’t fit any of their frames. It then decided I should get a size small😁😁😁😁😁
as a pro she wouldn’t likely ride anything which will knowingly make her slower
Can we really be sure of that? Sure, she is paid by Canyon to represent them, and it's obviously better for them if she is winning, but if she got a better (higher paid) deal from them than someone who had a better fitting bike then she'd have to make a decision about which offer to take up. I guess it might also depend on how large a proportion of her total income comes from rewards for results and how much through Canyon. XC riders obviously aren't rewarded at the mega scale of F1, footballers etc but these criteria all play a part.
@scotroutes I put ‘likely’ in there as we obviously don’t know how her income is divided, really I’m just assuming someone competitive enough to get to the top of the sport wouldn’t knowingly make a call to ride a slower bike.
Another assumption would be the win bonuses and deals that would come with results would far outweigh what any other sponsor would pay as a ‘base salary’.
Absolutely. Sponsorship deals must be worth more as a champion.
you do realise who Troy rides for right
I guess not, I don't know who he is either 😀 is he the same height as Emily?
Can’t believe the strong opinions people have on whether other people, who they don’t know, decide to wear make up or not.
I guess not, I don’t know who he is either 😀 is he the same height as Emily?
few inches in it according to google ones like 5ft 4" the other like 5ft 2."
Can’t believe the strong opinions people have on whether other people, who they don’t know, decide to wear make up or not.
I know dude, then when the question of sexism comes up people seem to have no clue why its been mentioned.
Absolutely. Sponsorship deals must be worth more as a champion
Sure, that would be the best case scenario, but there are plenty of riders on brands that have zero expectation of them getting podium results. Brendog for example.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if Emily had negotiated her contract based on brand exposure over race results and that's probably a better guaranteed income for her...but we'll probably never know. I assume she's figured out how to leverage her position in the industry .
If she wasn't able to realise her full potential with Trek, I don't really see a significant improvement in race results moving forwards. However she's pretty awesome and there must be plenty of people like me who'll cheer her along regardless of who she's riding for or where she finishes in the hope that it clicks for her again.
As I said, the bike looks big but doesn’t seem to slow her down which is the only thing that matters. She deserves better than some of the comments on here.
Modern bike geometry will look odd on anyone if you're used to 25yrs of short and steep. Even XC bikes are pretty and slack compared to only a few years ago. But then there's the packaging issue that comes with fitting 29er wheels in a bike small enough for someone only a shade over 5ft tall to ride. It's gonna look a bit odd, same as an XXL sized 26" wheeled bike did.
As for Canyon's sizing tool... My experience is it almost always recommends a bike too small for the customer, in a traditional European "fit a longer stem if it's too small" kind of way...
The comments about her looks, and the makeup, and the image though... Seriously?!?! 🤦🏻
This is Emily Batty's Facebook profile pic right now...
Doesn't strike me as the kind of person who is overly worried what a bunch of balding IT geeks in the UK think about how she looks to be fair! The fact she wears heels and dresses and a fair bit of makeup sometimes...? So what. Just because she competes in a very rugged outdoor sport, it doesn't dictate that she should wear baggy jeans, a hoody and a hat to hide her unkempt hair all the time! 🤷🏻♂️
Agree with all of the above- this is a bit of an STW low point.
In related news, time to ban the Toyah/Fripp thread? It seems to have a lot of comments about a woman's nipples. Is this who 'we' are now?
Now? you must be new here 😂
spot on cody.