Chromag Rootdown & Surface (and maybe Primer) Builds

PB Forum :: 29ers
Chromag Rootdown & Surface (and maybe Primer) Builds
Author Message
flag Ru-tang
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 10:12 Quote
Looking for some insight into stack height vs riser bar in relation to weight on the front wheel-

2017 Large Surface with a 140 fork- here's the question- add/remove spacers to get proper bar height or slam the stem and make up the height with a high rise bar?

I'm having trouble finding a good balance in my cockpit setup. I try to have the bars high enough to not have a ton of body weight supported through my hands, but when the bars get high enough, the bike doesn't ride as well. When I have the bars too low, the bike rides really well, but there's too much pressure on my hands and arms for long days in the saddle. I feel like I'm supporting too much of my body weight with my arms riding down the road, which wastes a lot of energy.

I'm riding a 25mm rise OSX bar with a 40mm stem with probably 20-25mm of spacers under the stem. What if I got a 40mm rise bar and lowered the stem? Is that going to have the weight placed on the front wheel like with a lower stack, but lighten the pressure on the hands by having the weight a little higher up?

I'm not sure if I am explaining the problem correctly, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. I know there will be some change in the cockpit length by moving the stem up and down. Anyone have thoughts on this? Is there something I am not considering for my fit?
flag sterlingmagnum
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 10:19 Quote
The only thing I would say as I have tried both techniques in many ways is how short do you want to cut that steer tube. Chromags have a pretty short head tube so slamming the stem is one way to lower the chances of resale on a fork with a 6” tube...

Depending on what bar you go with in a highrise form, I also had one or two that seemed to give more flex,,, which I personally didn't care for.

I have settled on spacers and Fubars for those reasons.
flag r-a-w
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 10:24 Quote
Higher riser bars and less spacers is the same thing as low rise bars and more spacers if ultimately the bars end at the same height. There isn’t much you can do accept find your happy place in the handlebar height. One thing that may help is play with bar and stem lengths. Shorter stem will bring your position more upright without increasing handlebar height.. hmmm but I see you mentioned being on a 40mm stem. Having weight on your hands is a symptom of the new longer geometry.. more stretched out puts more weight on your hands.

Chromags are beasts and have high stack heights. I had a 2017 Surface and ran it without spacer under an OSX bar. Same with my Rootdown.. only 5mm spacer under the stem. Having said that I’m on the cusp of a large frame and went for M/L’s For that same reason.. same stack height asa large but less weight on the hands with the slightly shorter cockpit.

Not sure any of that helped.. I’m confused now lol
flag nouseforaname
O+
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 11:21 Quote
Williare wrote:
Higher riser bars and less spacers is the same thing as low rise bars and more spacers if ultimately the bars end at the same height. There isn’t much you can do accept find your happy place in the handlebar height. One thing that may help is play with bar and stem lengths. Shorter stem will bring your position more upright without increasing handlebar height.. hmmm but I see you mentioned being on a 40mm stem. Having weight on your hands is a symptom of the new longer geometry.. more stretched out puts more weight on your hands.

Chromags are beasts and have high stack heights. I had a 2017 Surface and ran it without spacer under an OSX bar. Same with my Rootdown.. only 5mm spacer under the stem. Having said that I’m on the cusp of a large frame and went for M/L’s For that same reason.. same stack height asa large but less weight on the hands with the slightly shorter cockpit.

Not sure any of that helped.. I’m confused now lol

Changing between high rise bars (same stem length) with no spacers and low rise bars with more spacers will change the distance to the bar. The low rise bar with more spacers will be closer to you than the high rise bar with no spacers.

I don't know if that's going to resolve your issues though Ru-Tang. It sounds like it is maybe a case of HTFU ;-) or ride something different for the bigger days. I'm interested in the new OneUp bar (and stem) because after a couple of hours on the steep and gnarly trails in my backyard my arms are tired. But i also need to HTFU.

It's always easier to buy new solutions that be the new solution. I'm running a 160 fork and 25mm of spacers under a 50mm stem and 25mm rise bar.
flag r-a-w
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 11:47 Quote
nouseforaname wrote:
Williare wrote:
Higher riser bars and less spacers is the same thing as low rise bars and more spacers if ultimately the bars end at the same height. There isn’t much you can do accept find your happy place in the handlebar height. One thing that may help is play with bar and stem lengths. Shorter stem will bring your position more upright without increasing handlebar height.. hmmm but I see you mentioned being on a 40mm stem. Having weight on your hands is a symptom of the new longer geometry.. more stretched out puts more weight on your hands.

Chromags are beasts and have high stack heights. I had a 2017 Surface and ran it without spacer under an OSX bar. Same with my Rootdown.. only 5mm spacer under the stem. Having said that I’m on the cusp of a large frame and went for M/L’s For that same reason.. same stack height asa large but less weight on the hands with the slightly shorter cockpit.

Not sure any of that helped.. I’m confused now lol

Changing between high rise bars (same stem length) with no spacers and low rise bars with more spacers will change the distance to the bar. The low rise bar with more spacers will be closer to you than the high rise bar with no spacers.

I don't know if that's going to resolve your issues though Ru-Tang. It sounds like it is maybe a case of HTFU ;-) or ride something different for the bigger days. I'm interested in the new OneUp bar (and stem) because after a couple of hours on the steep and gnarly trails in my backyard my arms are tired. But i also need to HTFU.

It's always easier to buy new solutions that be the new solution. I'm running a 160 fork and 25mm of spacers under a 50mm stem and 25mm rise bar.


Oh so true... didn’t factor in the steer tube angle and how that would reduce the reach with low bar and spacers Smile
flag Zaeius
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 13:38 Quote
Every 25m of spacers reduces reach by about 10mm at a 66.5 head angle. Cool little site for playing around with the numbers: http://www.bikegeo.net/
flag chezotron
O+
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 22:34 Quote
Might as well keep the love going. It's so cool seeing so many pretty bikes on this forum.
Finally built up and got to ride my Surface. It's an interesting bike coming off a Kona Explosif. It's closer to Bigfoot whereas the Explosif is closer to a baja truck. Will take some adjustment but I really like it so far. This is Grimace the Surface.
Chromag Surface
flag Hammer48
Posted: May 8, 2019 at 23:31 Quote
chezotron wrote:
Might as well keep the love going. It's so cool seeing so many pretty bikes on this forum.
Finally built up and got to ride my Surface. It's an interesting bike coming off a Kona Explosif. It's closer to Bigfoot whereas the Explosif is closer to a baja truck. Will take some adjustment but I really like it so far. This is Grimace the Surface.
Chromag Surface

Sick bike..Nice work.
flag r-a-w
Posted: May 9, 2019 at 1:58 Quote
Hammer48 wrote:
chezotron wrote:
Might as well keep the love going. It's so cool seeing so many pretty bikes on this forum.
Finally built up and got to ride my Surface. It's an interesting bike coming off a Kona Explosif. It's closer to Bigfoot whereas the Explosif is closer to a baja truck. Will take some adjustment but I really like it so far. This is Grimace the Surface.
Chromag Surface

Sick bike..Nice work.

I think I saw that Surface frame for sale on PB a while back and wanted it so bad.. was already on a Surface so didn’t make sense but loooove the old school colour!
flag kwp2011
Posted: May 9, 2019 at 11:07 Quote
kwp2011 wrote:
ronufoh wrote:
What is your bb height at with the current setup? Personally I've found anything less than about 310mm to be unrideable for what I ride locally. My issue is with clipping pedals more on the way up vs on the way down though

305mm BB Hieght., with 180mm fork, 275 2.3 minions. but i will throw some bigger 2.8 tires on it , it may add 10mm max. may be!

So my bike does sit really low. 305mm presently. chromag site for new rootdowns says this >>>>

29" - 320mm // 27.5x3.0" - 317mm // 27.5x2.8" - 315mm

ive ordered some 2.8 minions. it will do for this year I hope. But I can see a 29er build is the way to go.

cheers
flag kwp2011
Posted: May 9, 2019 at 11:08 Quote
chezotron wrote:
Might as well keep the love going. It's so cool seeing so many pretty bikes on this forum.
Finally built up and got to ride my Surface. It's an interesting bike coming off a Kona Explosif. It's closer to Bigfoot whereas the Explosif is closer to a baja truck. Will take some adjustment but I really like it so far. This is Grimace the Surface.
Chromag Surface

Nice bike mate.
flag chezotron
O+
Posted: May 9, 2019 at 11:56 Quote
Williare wrote:
Hammer48 wrote:
chezotron wrote:
Might as well keep the love going. It's so cool seeing so many pretty bikes on this forum.
Finally built up and got to ride my Surface. It's an interesting bike coming off a Kona Explosif. It's closer to Bigfoot whereas the Explosif is closer to a baja truck. Will take some adjustment but I really like it so far. This is Grimace the Surface.

Sick bike..Nice work.

I think I saw that Surface frame for sale on PB a while back and wanted it so bad.. was already on a Surface so didn’t make sense but loooove the old school colour!

Thanks all! Yes, I bought it from a fellow in Vancouver and my gf was up there at the time. It was kismet!
This is my graduation gift for killing myself the last five years for a math degree.
I gotta say I like that GRIP1 damper in the fork. I went different for a lot of parts. The sum is fun. Will have to figure out how to jump the thing!
flag snicholas11
O+
Posted: May 9, 2019 at 23:19 Quote
Any opinions on the newer (2017 specifically) rootdown vs. the 2015 model? I know the numbers but I was wondering how much of a difference in handling there really is. I’m looking for a 29er that can handle steep stuff on occasion but I have a TR Patrol as well and I don’t want to end up with a hard tail version of that (I want something a little more all around trail).

Is the 2015 slack enough/burly enough?
flag rescuetool
Posted: May 10, 2019 at 3:50 Quote
I have a 2017 and it handles steeps awesome. There’s a trail we ride in particular that is almost impossible to walk down called sky walker and my Rootdown handles it with ease. I think I’m fast down that trail on my Rootdown over the fuel Ex 9.9. Go for the 160 lyrik fork, the guys at Chromag talked me into it and it was worth every penny

 


Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv56 0.013858
Mobile Version of Website