Originally Posted by
8aaron8
I would add that, in my experience, the steeper seat tube angle plays a large role in comfort as it is pushing the riders weight over the front of the bike potentially increasing the stress on the torso and arms to keep you upright assuming your aren't trying to counteract that with a generous setback post. When your upper body is more engaged on a bike it often leads to more fatigue which can feel like harshness in the ride quality.
That's thought-provoking... I've read that the rear triangle of a steel bike is pretty rigid no matter what you do with it. (That was the point of using a triangle in the first place, right?
)
Anecdotally, it seems that when I've felt the most beat-up on long rides, it was also the case that I hadn't been taking in enough calories. Perhaps some of what I've attributed to too stiff a frame or too narrow of tires is just my "suspension" being out of gas, and that's why the more experienced riders I've been with didn't have the same issues, at least to the same degree...