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Every so often I get the urge to take my Patriot out on single-track, I never bothered to sell it and it just got old without me noticing it.
The HA is 65 or so and it's not particularly tall really since I run quite a lot of slack, but I just measured the reach and it's 390mm!
Going by current trends that should be unrideable but it's still good fun and dare I say quite manoeuvrable.
Anyone going to post a picture of a T-Rex attempting to masturbate.
Actually my bike might fit a smaller therapod of some kind quite well.
I can ride bikes down to about 410-420 reach before it feels really cramped. Even then I couldn't use the shortest stems and the seat would be pushed back on the rails.
Depends what you're used to and how long your arms and upper torso are I suppose.
65 HA isn't bad so would help it feel a bit less terrifying when steep.
It steers much better with a 35mm stem on it but that's just too short.
Put a 50 or 60 on it.
It won't completely **** it up!
“Going by current trends that should be unrideable but it’s still good fun and dare I say quite manoeuvrable.”
Conversely it’s only 4” shorter in reach than a long bike, so how big a deal is it? Also a 65 deg HA isn’t steep, it’s just normal for now.
It's got 50 on it now. 60 makes it just too floppy.
Thinking about it, I tend to hold my body in the right position but after a while descending my back gets really tired - I think it'd be much easier if my feet were 10cm further back as on a modern bike, so I could support my body more with my legs. That's basically it.
Nobody likes 10mm of floppy Johnson.
The advantage of a short reach is you can push your CoG much further back on the bike, which is good because it moves you further from the potential crash site. 🙂
Going by current trends that should be unrideable but it’s still good fun and dare I say quite manoeuvrable.
Going by trends my Mk2 Trailstar shouldn't have made it round the Naughty Northumbrian last year. It did, easily. The climbs were crap but the downs were fine.
Newer better stuff doesn't make old stuff work any less well. I had a blast in Wales last year on my 224 evo. I mean, I've somewhat moderned it- I ride a bigger size than my last one, stuck a headset reducer in it... But it's still a 2007 bike, and it's still ace.
Hmm. Moved the shock mount back 10mm (the default position) and the reach is now 410mm - a whopping 20mm increase!
I wonder if short bikes will make a comeback in a few years' time? 🙂