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Having moved from quite a short bike to one with an on-trend longer reach I've noticed it being much harder keeping my feet on the pedals (flats). I've realised this is due to it being trickier to drop my heels properly due to the more stretched out forward weighted body position. Is this an inevitable downside which I'm just going to have to work on? Is the bike just too long? Any technique for how to sort it out? Thanks
how much longer is the new bike? I'd be surprised if an extra, say, 40mm of reach made a significant difference to the angle of your feet on the pedals.
Any technique for how to sort it out?
How long is the stem? are the bars risers? rocked forward? is the bike too big for you?
I'm 170cm, my previous bike was 425mm reach with a 45mm stem, flatish 760mm bars. The new bike is 455mm reach, 35mm stem low rise bars (maybe 20mm) set up with rise vertical (the angle feels wrong if I tilt them back) also 760mm. The bar heights are set up about the same on both. Using the same pedals too though the new bike does have slightly shorter cranks. So on paper it is only around 20mm reach difference.
The new bike does have a 40mm longer wheelbase partly due to 20mm more chainstay which I guess will be making me ride more forward on the bike too.
I cant see that 20mm making any difference. Is this bike brand new to you? I think you will just get used to it.
Yeah 20mm is one frame size for most manufacturers.. though I've always been surprised about how a 10mm longer/shorter stem feels so different but perhaps that is more about steering feel.
Is this mainly occurring on descents? Has the new bike made you quicker and now you need to focus on this doing this more as the forces involved are larger?
Has the new bike made you quicker and now you need to focus on this doing this more as the forces involved are larger?
My first thought.
I’d swap some spacers to raise your bars, always seems to be needed when you increase the reach.
The longer chainstay means you can ride more rearward as it helps weight the front wheel - so if you’ve gained 40mm of wheelbase, half out front, half behind then your body position should stay about the same.
I used to ride an AM9, 500mm reach, with what was my usual setup at the time - 10mm spacer under stem, 15mm rise bar. Flat pedals felt fine-ish, but never got that planted, safe feeling in extreme situations.
Then changed for a Stumpy Evo, 475-480mm reach, similar cockpit setup, and flat pedals definitely felt easier. With time I started to raise the bars and flat pedals felt better at each iteration.
Now I'm back on an AM9 but this time with 30mm of spacers and a 30mm bar. Feel really really good.
I'd say that the trick is to raise your bars when you increase the reach. In my case raising 35mm of raise made a huge difference.
Long reach and lowish bars invite for a perched over the bars, very "on your toes" DH WC style of riding. It has it's place, but not the best thing for flat pedals I think
Thanks for the advice, I'll have a play with the bar height next ride. I may also swap out for the flatter bar on my other bike as in theory this should slightly reduce the reach for a given bar height - though we may be talking tiny amounts.