-
I broke my back a few years ago; I feel way more comfortable while a bit stretched, with more weight on the arms and less on the back, hence the "racy" position.
Endurance bikes with tall head tubes usually feel awful to me.Aero bars will complete the setup - again, not really for going fast, just to get a comfy position for long stretches of straight road.
The bike is really made for long distance riding: the big tires absorb the buzz of the road.
I think that they really start to shine when riding for several days in a row. You never get numbness, you don't care about the road quality, and you can confidently continue when the road ends and turns into gravel.
Also, technical descents get a lot less stressful (more grip, better braking) and they allow mistakes due to sleep deprivation or exhaustion. Missed pothole? Fine. Slippery patch? Scary but fine.I'm somewhat surprised we don't see more of those kind of setups on ultras like the TCR. Not a the pointy end of course, but for people that enter with the objective to get to the end on time, I feel like such a setup would be a plus.
Pish-
Did not expect that much drop, looks fast.
Completely agree with tire thing, even though it's been a while I did more than 100k.
Even disregarding comfort, 47 is just safer. -
We should talk! I had a suspected hairline spine fracture just before getting my Stayer, and boy was I in pain on the road bike I had before it. Since then it’s been big 45mm minimum rubber and gliding over, rather than around road surfaces as you describe. Ever since I built up the road fixed with 28mm (28!) tires I’ve been reminded of how comfy the Stayer actually is.
I’d argue that we Do see a lot such bikes in the long distance world, but more in Audax/Rando side where finishing rather than finishing fast is usually the standard goal anyway?
(Edit: thinking of Fern/Allygn as an example)Keen to test that out soon anyway as it’s my first audax in over a year soon; long cruisy days on the saddle ftw.
c.h.e.
vthejk
I like the visual contradictions at work here. They complement each other really nicely! For instance, slammed horizontal stem and large tires. It looks like a fast bike that is comfy going cruisy, which I guess is the point.