Thoughts on starting MTB on a hardcore steel hardtail

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Thoughts on starting MTB on a hardcore steel hardtail
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flag MAJ93
Posted: Feb 11, 2022 at 9:53 Quote
Pigglet13 wrote:
It’s pretty straightforward, all you are doing is playing with the height of the bars but making sure you have enough steerer tube sticking up out of the head tube to allow you to get the height you need.
Historically it was thought that the lower the handlebars, the better a bike handled but it’s not that simple, especially as bikes have progressed so now it’s more important to get it adjusted so it’s right for you.

Make sure you have lots of steerer tube sticking up out of the stem.
Start with the bike as it comes.
Then start adding spacers under the stem to raise the bars. I would start by adding 10mm of spacers at a time and see how it changes the way the bike feels. It’s important to ride the same trail as you are doing this to get an accurate comparison. Try adding 10mm, then 20mm then 30mm etc. You will get to a point where the front wheel starts to lift too much on steep climbs and the bike may feel harder to turn into a corner. This is the point you want to stop adding spacers and try fine tuning by maybe removing 5 or 10mm of spacers if needed and adjusting the roll of the bars either forward or backward ( rolling them forward is often a positive thing if you’ve added a few spacers).
Don’t play with bar roll until you have got the spacer height sorted. Only adjust one thing at a time.

I appreciate your help Pigglet13.Really Helpful stuff!
flag csvetich
Posted: Feb 11, 2022 at 11:56 Quote
honzo st or honzo esd are awesome bikes

chromag stylus or rootdown too

steel bikes definitely take the edge off, your body just doesn't take near the beating. aluminum and carbon hardtails just beat the living out of you on long rides, they definitely are responsive and feel like rocketships out of the burms and the rollers

it kinda comes down to the terrain your going to be in and how long your going to be in the saddle, personally i think a steel 29er is dope.

i go back and forth between my honzo and stylus.

29er rolls better slightly, easier to maintain speed

27.5 turns faster, slightly easier to maneuver around in the air

i'm 6ft 1in i ride a Large so riding either is not very cumbersome.

i have a couple spacers under the stem on the 27.5 stylus, it's loowww, you have a ton of leverage to pull the bike up in the air.

the 29er honzo, i have no spacers under the stem; maybe a 1mm. But its slammed because the stack is high enough, it's a very comfortable bike to ride. i also like this bike because i have ran it single speed and geared over the years.

both of these bikes i have rode all over the PNW and sierra nevadas in california, moab utah etc. everywhere where full suspension bikes are the norm.
flag Pigglet13
Posted: Feb 12, 2022 at 2:35 Quote
[Quote="MAJ93"]
Pigglet13 wrote:

I appreciate your help Pigglet13.Really Helpful stuff!

No problem. To be clear, I’m not saying you WILL need the bars really high. By leaving the fork steerer relatively long it will give you the option to experiment with both high and low set ups and that is definitely a good thing because we are all different so what works for one may not work for another. It’s costs nothing but time to experiment with cockpit set up and for fast and technical riding, it can have a massive impact how the bike handles and how comfortable it is.
flag MAJ93
Posted: Feb 12, 2022 at 5:17 Quote
[Quote="Pigglet13"]
MAJ93 wrote:
Pigglet13 wrote:

I appreciate your help Pigglet13.Really Helpful stuff!

No problem. To be clear, I’m not saying you WILL need the bars really high. By leaving the fork steerer relatively long it will give you the option to experiment with both high and low set ups and that is definitely a good thing because we are all different so what works for one may not work for another. It’s costs nothing but time to experiment with cockpit set up and for fast and technical riding, it can have a massive impact how the bike handles and how comfortable it is.

Yes that’s what I’ll be doing , I can definitely now see how stack is important as I didn’t pay so much attention to this measurement, I only looked at reach and Chainstay.

But now i also take into account the
seat tube angel,effective top tube measurement as they are very crucial to how a bike will be.

However the bikes Im
Looking at have quite a long reach for Meduim Size like 460-470mm however with a steep seat angle of 76-78 and 30-35 stem
which brings you closer i guess. Looks long on paper only probably.

I think all I need is to try how a 450mm bike feels because I haven’t tried before.

It’s all about understanding these numbers and trying them out in real life and scenarios
flag Antmauller
O+
Posted: Feb 20, 2022 at 18:21 Quote
Lee McCormack has a book called Dialed that has some good information on bike setup. I’d suggest looking at something like that to get in the ballpark and start fiddling from there.
flag freeinpg
FL
Posted: Aug 21, 2022 at 16:30 Quote
ColinBulloch wrote:
Watch some YouTube reviews from Hardtail Party. He is all about hardcore hardtails.

This is a great resource! I watched a bunch of his videos and it helped me land on the Cotic BFE Max I just built. It is mind blowing. Really think about what you want. Stability, playfulness, pedal ability. It's not all about the geo numbers. Steel is real! Happy hunting.
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