10-year-old mountain bike... What am I missing?
11-01-21, 02:53 PM
#26
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This may be a semantics thing, but think it IS getting the saddle out of the way. When you try to get low with the saddle all the way up, its in the way of you getting low. A dropper gets it out of the way.
One piece of common wisdom that has changed in the last decade is rather than “low and back”, the emphasis now is on just getting “low”. With a raised saddle, you can get low, but only by shifting way back as well. One downside to this is that your arms are in a fully extended position, so you have a limited ability to work the front end through dips, or preload it to pop the front over something, or weight it for traction when needed. In short, having your legs or arms fully extended is bad for bike handling.
Dropping the saddle lets you get low without leaning back, thus keeping your weight more centered, and also allowing you to keep your arms bent which allows you to work the front end of the bike up and down over obstacles.
I will occasionally sit in the dropped position, but only to get a rest on a mellow DH section of trail. There is no performance or handling reason to do it that I can think of.
One piece of common wisdom that has changed in the last decade is rather than “low and back”, the emphasis now is on just getting “low”. With a raised saddle, you can get low, but only by shifting way back as well. One downside to this is that your arms are in a fully extended position, so you have a limited ability to work the front end through dips, or preload it to pop the front over something, or weight it for traction when needed. In short, having your legs or arms fully extended is bad for bike handling.
Dropping the saddle lets you get low without leaning back, thus keeping your weight more centered, and also allowing you to keep your arms bent which allows you to work the front end of the bike up and down over obstacles.
I will occasionally sit in the dropped position, but only to get a rest on a mellow DH section of trail. There is no performance or handling reason to do it that I can think of.
My mtbs are old hardtails and I understand the low and back with the arms fully extended when getting behind the saddle. I have my saddles slightly lower than optimum just to make things a bit easier, but a dropper would help in not having my arms straight.
John
12-08-21, 03:42 PM
#27
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Honestly, I don't think you are missing much with that bike. Keep riding it
12-09-21, 11:26 AM
#28
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I'd be very happy with your bike... LOL! Mine is a bunch older school, as am I.
Course I don't ride 'trails' as is mostly now considered... trails I ride are in rough country, dangerous, sketchy, very rocky with dense chapparal - or - are rocky, deep dust stuff which off-roading vehicles might use. Nothing is flat, nothing is a soft landing, often singletrack has precipitous dropoffs. I rode solo, because my riding buds are mostly roadies.
I made some improvements on my Ancient Spec Epic... so my one comment might apply to your bike.
I added a dropper post. Woah! Great! Allows riding downhill sections with so much more control. Dropping the seat allows me to have more range in my leg extension/absorption with my mass better centered. Allows better use of my arms in extension/absorption on drops and where lifting front wheel becomes important.
Even on climbs... I found, by accident... I had left the dropper down, came around a tight corner and faced a steep, loose section. Quickly tried to bring the dropper up, but only got mostly up, ended up 1.5 inches below top height. Did the climb and found the slightly lower saddle position allowed me to keep more traction on the rear, without the front lifting... because I had my mass LOWER and still enough weight on the front... awesome! A little rough on the quads, but doable for the length of that uphill section. If I had been at my normal seat height, I would certainly have stalled...
Dropper Post !!!
I ended up with an ExaForm 'external' 125mm drop post , which has a 'trigger' just under the saddle nose. I considered a bar/remote cable actuated post, but frame (alu) would need drilling, and wasn't sure if I had enough space for post... The external trigger is not as convenient as bar mounted, because yo have to take a hand off the bars to work the trigger; but it's still fine, If I am alert and pick a good time to drop or raise the seat.
Best $100 I've spent on Bikes in quite some time! (that and going from 26 to 27.5 on the frt wheel !)
Ride On
Yuri
Course I don't ride 'trails' as is mostly now considered... trails I ride are in rough country, dangerous, sketchy, very rocky with dense chapparal - or - are rocky, deep dust stuff which off-roading vehicles might use. Nothing is flat, nothing is a soft landing, often singletrack has precipitous dropoffs. I rode solo, because my riding buds are mostly roadies.
I made some improvements on my Ancient Spec Epic... so my one comment might apply to your bike.
I added a dropper post. Woah! Great! Allows riding downhill sections with so much more control. Dropping the seat allows me to have more range in my leg extension/absorption with my mass better centered. Allows better use of my arms in extension/absorption on drops and where lifting front wheel becomes important.
Even on climbs... I found, by accident... I had left the dropper down, came around a tight corner and faced a steep, loose section. Quickly tried to bring the dropper up, but only got mostly up, ended up 1.5 inches below top height. Did the climb and found the slightly lower saddle position allowed me to keep more traction on the rear, without the front lifting... because I had my mass LOWER and still enough weight on the front... awesome! A little rough on the quads, but doable for the length of that uphill section. If I had been at my normal seat height, I would certainly have stalled...
Dropper Post !!!
I ended up with an ExaForm 'external' 125mm drop post , which has a 'trigger' just under the saddle nose. I considered a bar/remote cable actuated post, but frame (alu) would need drilling, and wasn't sure if I had enough space for post... The external trigger is not as convenient as bar mounted, because yo have to take a hand off the bars to work the trigger; but it's still fine, If I am alert and pick a good time to drop or raise the seat.
Best $100 I've spent on Bikes in quite some time! (that and going from 26 to 27.5 on the frt wheel !)
Ride On
Yuri
Last edited by cyclezen; 12-09-21 at 11:31 AM.
12-17-21, 05:55 AM
#30
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I'd be very happy with your bike... LOL! Mine is a bunch older school, as am I.
Course I don't ride 'trails' as is mostly now considered... trails I ride are in rough country, dangerous, sketchy, very rocky with dense chapparal - or - are rocky, deep dust stuff which off-roading vehicles might use. Nothing is flat, nothing is a soft landing, often singletrack has precipitous dropoffs. I rode solo, because my riding buds are mostly roadies.
I made some improvements on my Ancient Spec Epic... so my one comment might apply to your bike.
I added a dropper post. Woah! Great! Allows riding downhill sections with so much more control. Dropping the seat allows me to have more range in my leg extension/absorption with my mass better centered. Allows better use of my arms in extension/absorption on drops and where lifting front wheel becomes important.
Even on climbs... I found, by accident... I had left the dropper down, came around a tight corner and faced a steep, loose section. Quickly tried to bring the dropper up, but only got mostly up, ended up 1.5 inches below top height. Did the climb and found the slightly lower saddle position allowed me to keep more traction on the rear, without the front lifting... because I had my mass LOWER and still enough weight on the front... awesome! A little rough on the quads, but doable for the length of that uphill section. If I had been at my normal seat height, I would certainly have stalled...
Dropper Post !!!
I ended up with an ExaForm 'external' 125mm drop post , which has a 'trigger' just under the saddle nose. I considered a bar/remote cable actuated post, but frame (alu) would need drilling, and wasn't sure if I had enough space for post... The external trigger is not as convenient as bar mounted, because yo have to take a hand off the bars to work the trigger; but it's still fine, If I am alert and pick a good time to drop or raise the seat.
Best $100 I've spent on Bikes in quite some time! (that and going from 26 to 27.5 on the frt wheel !)
Ride On
Yuri
Course I don't ride 'trails' as is mostly now considered... trails I ride are in rough country, dangerous, sketchy, very rocky with dense chapparal - or - are rocky, deep dust stuff which off-roading vehicles might use. Nothing is flat, nothing is a soft landing, often singletrack has precipitous dropoffs. I rode solo, because my riding buds are mostly roadies.
I made some improvements on my Ancient Spec Epic... so my one comment might apply to your bike.
I added a dropper post. Woah! Great! Allows riding downhill sections with so much more control. Dropping the seat allows me to have more range in my leg extension/absorption with my mass better centered. Allows better use of my arms in extension/absorption on drops and where lifting front wheel becomes important.
Even on climbs... I found, by accident... I had left the dropper down, came around a tight corner and faced a steep, loose section. Quickly tried to bring the dropper up, but only got mostly up, ended up 1.5 inches below top height. Did the climb and found the slightly lower saddle position allowed me to keep more traction on the rear, without the front lifting... because I had my mass LOWER and still enough weight on the front... awesome! A little rough on the quads, but doable for the length of that uphill section. If I had been at my normal seat height, I would certainly have stalled...
Dropper Post !!!
I ended up with an ExaForm 'external' 125mm drop post , which has a 'trigger' just under the saddle nose. I considered a bar/remote cable actuated post, but frame (alu) would need drilling, and wasn't sure if I had enough space for post... The external trigger is not as convenient as bar mounted, because yo have to take a hand off the bars to work the trigger; but it's still fine, If I am alert and pick a good time to drop or raise the seat.
Best $100 I've spent on Bikes in quite some time! (that and going from 26 to 27.5 on the frt wheel !)
Ride On
Yuri
PNW Cascade is one example. I have two of them.
12-17-21, 12:07 PM
#31
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Given what I learned on just a few rides - I Luv it !!!
I may opt for a remote/external cable upgrade in a few months - and transfer the exaform to the Stumpy HT - which I ride mostly on the local open space areas. Currently the Stumpy has a RockShox seatpost from that era...
The FS Epic is what I would use for most longer BC rides...
The bar real estate will get crowded... LOL! But all good.
In the meantime, I just have to anticipate a hair sooner when I'm going to use it. I do like the ability to do 'variable height' adjustment, makes a huge difference on those tough climbs where weight distribution makes a big difference...
and bouncin down some rocky slope is way more fun when riding IN the bike, as opposed to over the TOP of the bike... LOL!
Luving the return to more frequent mtb riding !!! Winter and Spring are really the best riding times in the Los Padres.
Ride On
Yuri
