The Street > The Bike Shop

Looping Out/Trails

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Bunky:
So, I'm absolute shit at riding trails, but have a pretty good understanding of bicycle geometry.  There's a number of different things geo wise that could help you out, but I would say the most substantial is going to be BB height. 

A lower bottom bracket is going to make it harder to pull the front end up, but will also make looping out less likely. 

You could go for a longer rear end or top tube as well, or a combination of all of these things.  Do you have any friends with other frames sitting around that you could ride and compare? 

rich:
20.5 / 13.75 is pretty short for trails.

I am about the same height as you and riding 21/14.1/74 with a big front tyre and a skinny rear to slacken things up even more.

Most folk at ours ride at least a 21.25, in fact I believe I am the only 21.

The sketchyness you describe is almost certainly too short a bike.

Look at a modern trails frame like a credence or deluxe and you'll see lots of super low bb heights, slacker head angles, long back ends and longer top tubes.

A cool thing I've noticed about a longer bike is you can get away with massive bars, which allows more rooooooast.....!!! As the whole thing needs more leverage to pull up and get near the "looping out" point, making everything bigger gives you finer control over the bike.

Anyway I have finished doing my poo now so I will sum up and say get a bigger trails frame with 9" bars and pull up more. :)

weedbix:
He's 5'7"...

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