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Anyone want to help me understand road bike geometry?

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Old 11-20-19, 11:06 AM
  #26  
base2 
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Originally Posted by showlow
Thanks for the response.

Anyway, I bought the frame. It's at my LBS now. Hopefully it lives up to the marketing hype!
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Old 11-20-19, 11:29 AM
  #27  
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I just looked up the Zig Zag. It looks great. $1,300 isn't bad at all. My wife has an All City Macho Man. It's so great that I'm envious.
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Old 11-20-19, 11:42 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by showlow
I give up. I'm just going to buy it because it's a pretty color and hope the marketing department isn't full of crap.
...all things considered, you can do a lot worse than buying a bike that's a pretty color.

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Old 11-20-19, 11:50 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
...all things considered, you can do a lot worse than buying a bike that's a pretty color.

Oh yeah. Definitely. I could buy a stupid TV or something. I think bikes are always worth it.
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Old 11-20-19, 02:35 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by showlow
I give up. I'm just going to buy it because it's a pretty color and hope the marketing department isn't full of crap.
Don't give up! Document the bike you have - especially the fit points. BB to HB tops. BB to seat. This is what works for you (if it does). With that, you can set up potential bikes to have similar fit. Then ride them!
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Old 11-20-19, 06:29 PM
  #31  
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Showlow, you will like the Zig Zag. I am a big fan of shallower than 73 degree seat tube angles, and prefer how it puts me behind the BB. This does slightly affect handling and you will find that it has a positive affect on stability, which is good on rougher than smooth surfaces or loose surfaces such as gravel roads.

I believe you made a solid choice.
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Old 11-24-19, 06:41 PM
  #32  
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You're going to like the bike. Probably. As best as could be known w/o a long, long test ride.

72.5 is not particularly shallow and not shallow at all for a bike to be used w/ bigger tires on rougher surfaces. The (slightly) shallow head angle, the (slightly) long fork rake, the long top tube combine to make a longish wheelbase. You don't design a frame to a target wheelbase. Steering trail is about same as what you are used to and that is usually the strongest determinant in handling. Frame is intended for up to 35mm tires and that means it has to be longer than a pure road bike. Wow. That frame is very well spec'd. Is Anna Schwinn still designing? Somebody smart designed that frame.
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Old 12-04-19, 09:32 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by showlow
Anyway, I bought the frame. It's at my LBS now. Hopefully it lives up to the marketing hype!
wow this has been a mess of a thread. Since you bought the frame, I'll refrain from discussing geometry, comparisons, and how differences relate.

Just wanted to mention that the lack of helpful discussion to your question(s) was quite noticable.
also- post some pics of the frame/bike!
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Old 12-06-19, 09:58 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by mstateglfr
wow this has been a mess of a thread. Since you bought the frame, I'll refrain from discussing geometry, comparisons, and how differences relate.

Just wanted to mention that the lack of helpful discussion to your question(s) was quite noticable.
also- post some pics of the frame/bike!
Feel free to chime in. Yeah, I bought it, but I'm still open to an education.

I'll post pics when I can. I have been ridiculously busy and whatever free time I've had I've opted to go riding rather than tinker in the garage. I hope to get a half day to build it up this weekend.
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Old 03-20-20, 12:20 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by AnkleWork

BTW, if you carefully measured* the bikes you've owned you would know that published "geometry" is mostly marketing wank -- and that's what you're marrying.
this
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Old 03-20-20, 03:18 PM
  #36  
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I think partly what confuses all this is that you get used to geometry, so a new bike can feel strange at first but after 10 hours or so feels perfectly normal. So different people can have different perceptions of the effect of geometry changes depending on where they're coming from. MTBs got gradually longer, lower and slacker over the last few years and journalists always exclaim how each one is sicker than the last. But if you went back in a time machine to 1992 and gave someone a 2020 MTB to ride they'd probably say it felt weird and they didn't like it.

Those geometries you posted all looked pretty similar and I'm sure any of them will ride fine. Enjoy the new bike!
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Old 03-20-20, 03:34 PM
  #37  
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Between the Zig Zag and Zurich, I see 1 degree difference in the head tube angle and half a cm in the chain stay. Doesn't seem like they will ride much different, unless the head tube is significantly longer on the Zig Zag (which will reduce the reach and be more upright).
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Old 03-22-20, 08:27 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by tFUnK
Between the Zig Zag and Zurich, I see 1 degree difference in the head tube angle and half a cm in the chain stay. Doesn't seem like they will ride much different, unless the head tube is significantly longer on the Zig Zag (which will reduce the reach and be more upright).
They handle way different. HTA are similar but the trail is way different. The ZZ is noticably twitchier.
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Old 03-23-20, 08:34 AM
  #39  
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guy153 that's very true. A lot of what is best for us is what we are accustomed to.
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