Minor Adjustments/Big Difference

[MMcG]

Earlier in the week, I posted to the Tech forum about my bike's size. I now think I made the right decision to opt for the 17" frame vs. the smaller 15" Marin.

Thanks to a lot of great feedback and suggestions from forum members I made some adjustments to the Nail Trail and it feels way more comfortable.

First off JT, suggested that my seat was too high. He was right, by at least an inch I think. This made a huge difference in my comfort level and my handling level of the bike. With the lower seat height I even feel like I can move the seat back a half inch or two to get my wait further back. The lower seat height seems to have brought my arms closer to the bars in a much more comfortable fashion and I think I can get my weight back on the tail a bit more with the minor seat adjustment.

I'm psyched!

It's amazing what changes can take place both positive and negative with minor adjustments in this sport.

How many others have made minor adjustments that have either improved their riding or hampered it in a significant way?

I'd love to hear your stories.

Can't wait to get the newly set-up Nail Trail out on the trails to confirm my thoughts from this evening. My test ride tonight was doing laps around my front and back yard and up and over some neighbors curbs etc. (shhhh they are away on vacation and I made sure I wasn't going to do any damage)

So let's hear your stories of tweaking your rigs here and there to get better performance/comfort/handling etc.

Take care,

Mark

After reading an article in a bike mag i relized that my shifters and break handles were not at the correct angle. All this time my forarms were stressed due to flat mounted controls.

[AGENTGRAPE]

i have made numerous little changes and have seen
big results the correct tilt of the seat is one, too far downward and you feel like your falling off too far up and its wheelie time. when using riser bars moving the bars backwards helped shorten my stretched arms until changing to an appropiate stem length and rise,now im in a more upright position by back does not ache and i can breathe easier. remember several little steps are more effective than drastic changes. i changed my seat height 5 or 6 times in one day.

[SloMoJo]

Went to a riser bar a couple weeks ago. It's a 1" rise 5 degree back and 24.5" wide, and it seems much more comfortable and stable than the narrow flat bar.

[hogboy]

even this matters


you add 2 socks in winter and a thicker insole like a lake insole,
raise the seat 1/2 cm to compensate

[SloMoJo]

Now that's a minor tweak, Hogboy. :)

The best changes I have made recently is not to the rig, but better clothing for winter riding.
1. The silk\wool socks are great -Thx Hogboy
2. The SealSkinz gloves have been super. -Thx Evil
I bought the lobster mitts,but no need for them yet.
3. Coolmax base layer from head to ankle works well.
4. Lake shoes...killer!
5. Gortex socks for rain ride. Lake shoes are not really waterproof.
6. Waterproof jacket with zipped pitts.

You can see I have been fricken nutty, but I'm set to ride through the winter now.

Disclaimer: Like Noo said....You do not need all this crap to go winter riding. Just bike...semi-warm clothes and go. It's both great fun, and a painful workout.

[boingboing]

Minor tweaks.... hmmm lets see
On the hard tail the bar ends are perfect when the angle will create a strait line to where the seat tube and top tube connect. When going to a longer stem or moving the seat back to give more ridin space try and split the difference so your weight isnt too far back or way over the front wheel. The fork compression setting is critical too. I found when going to a longer stem I had to get heavier springs so my weight didn't take up all my travel. Only had 63 to start so I had to save all I could. Wider Titec bars give tons of leverage for steep long climbs. I wanna say they are 22" wide. I forgot and the bike isn't here so I can't look at it. The only downfall there is the obvious not being able to fit between trees. The bar ends are great knuckle savers. I recently switched the rear tire to a michelin wild gripper hot s. Great tire. Looking at the tread pattern it would definitely suck on the front. No rotating tires here.
On the full suspension bike I rerouted the rear deraileur cable into a continuous cable and casing. the original had partial casing and mounted to the swing arm. When ever I was climbing over blowdowns or rocks and compressing the shock while cranking pretty hard it would want to jump out of gear. All of that un neccesary grinding is actually the sound of money spending. Someone at NEMBAfest had told me about doing that. (Hey thanks man if your reading this). The other thing that really helped the soft tail was dumping the lame ass bontrager crankset and going with the XT. The full suspension ride is only a few months old so I haven't really done much to it yet.
Oh I almost forgot on a 9 speed Shimano the top guide wheel on the deraileur just about hits the low gear (1st, 10th gear). Ok, I dont know the name of the screw that pulls the deraileur back away from the gear but remove it and put in in from the otherside. This will give a bit more space there. <~~~~~~Is that clear???????? tough to explain. Just look at it and youll see what I'm tryin to get at.