Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

This is a bloody good event, I did it last year. It sells out pretty quickly and I think is limited to 300 riders. Fully self supported ride.:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jennride-2022-tickets-239570962197?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

A few pics of mine from 2021

How did you find going back to 100?

With 120 I find myself clearing a lot of rocky climb bits I previously didn't make. The slightly higher front also means I don't strike out on rocks as much. Then of course there's my battered shoulders and hands, they really thank me for it atm

Edit: forgot to say that your bike looks like a proper banger!

I find I can't slam into things as much as I was wont to, need to caress the bike up onto rocks and such. I'm running 170s on a size L so I'm not getting to much pedal strike.

The brain function is pretty neat, no longer forgetting to turn my fork back on after road and double track sections.

The Indy Fabulous is getting a 120 Sid, and now I'm wishing Spec made a 120 Brain cartridge.

Yeah, I'm running 175 on XL and really do need the torque.

From my understanding the whole need for torque thing is really a myth. As crank length decreases so does torque, but cadence increases in such a way that the affect on power output is negligible. Borrow some shorter cranks if you can and see if you notice a difference.

Done that ... I rode some 170s and really felt off on them. I am 6ft3 nearly and I guess that's just the way it is for me. Much better with the Sid Ultimate now, so no need to change things

I went down to 165mm crank from 170, I use 175 on road. On the advice of someone for injury help. I couldn't tell difference. I've 87cm inseam.

The difference between 100 and 120 is night and day, I swapped to 120 and wouldn't go back, weight us so close and 120 so much more capable.

Likewise I run 175 on road bikes and I’m 1.89m tall.
But I went from 175 to 165 cranks on all my mountain bikes to help with pedal strikes and didn’t notice any downside in pedalling with the shorter crank.

Snap - 187cm, 175 road and 165 MTB.

With the 27.5 rear wheel I'm having to be a bit more mindful of where I grab a pedal stroke.

Well, almost snap - I'm a short-arse in comparison.

I cannot tell the difference in crank lengths on my bikes, from 165mm on the Hardtail and fixed road, 170 on the fixed commuter and 175 on the gravel and cargo bike...but as soon as my brother (who only rides his two 170mm cranked mountain bikes) jumps on my mountain bike he's like "these cranks are weird"

Same here. The only time I notice the crank length being different is on my fixed TT bike, but that has 138mm cranks so it's something of an outlier.

You're all going the wrong way - I had 180mm on my Yeti. Which actually had less pedal strike than my Tallboy...

I'd be tempted again if I had a hardtail in the stable.

I'm the same as you. i've got 170's at 178cm tall on all road my bikes and 175 on my Hardtail never had pedal strike probems. If i bump anything its usually the chainring when I'm popping it over a log or something

Huge dependence on BB height in this though, the long/low/slack stuff (at 30% sag) is going to be a different kettle of fish than an XC/DC hardtail.

Lowest BB in MtB land.. Actually rode a bike today!

1 Attachment

No mudguard?

Why is the BB so low? What is the science? Seems mad to have such low clearance, even on a hardtail.

LLS

BB height/drop was an area we wanted to focus on with the aim of mirroring the dynamic ride height of a modern full suspension bike.

With the cranks sitting 80mm below the wheel axles it translates to a BB height of 293mm which keeps the rider’s mass as low as possible creating maximum stability when cornering. Dropping into the corners pocket feels natural with a total in the bike feeling, encouraging a more aggressive lean angle which allows for the corners apex to be pushed into with reassurance in order to generate grin forming levels of forward motion.

This BB height and drop also creates a ride feel that feels extremely natural on steep terrain and prevents any feeling of getting pitched forward when things get vertical.

Until you fall off!

^^ Am I supposed to be dropping into the corner's pocket, or pushing into its' apex?

Probably try to do both at once and crash, as usual

Never occurred to me before that billiards and MTB had so much in common...

Anyone got a 100 or 100mm 29er fork you want rid of? Mine isn’t happy!
Tapered steerer, 29er, lockout ideally
Thanks