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Long bikes are... bad???

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
Alternatively drive your RipMow to the BMX track

*Don't forget to dress up like you actually ride a bike
 

Bike078

Monkey
Jan 11, 2018
599
440
@Gary I would pay tens (or even hundreds!) of pesos to see you beat Lee in a bike skills competition and it would be super RAD if you did it on your dj hardtail with 60a semi-slick maxxis tires.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,784
5,601
Ottawa, Canada
No shit?

Bike geometry and sizing has always meant a compromise in handling one way or another and at the end of the day it should come down to personal preference and experience. Not some ageing skills coach coming up with a new bike sizing formula. "RAD" just says to me Lee has spent far too much time thinking about and promoting his stupid Riprow homemade gym apparatus and is doing everything in his power to justify it's existance. The dude's even gone as far as trying to re-name basic weight shift movements to fit in with his product. "row!" and "anti-row" Fuck off Bro.
Somehow somewhere along the way he seems to also have managed to admit he's short so it stands to reason he's going to prefer shorter bikes init? I could be wrong here but he really doesn't strike me as the sort of guy to have ever gone pro-DHer fast over gnarly WC DH terrain.



There's litterally a BMX track behind this stupid cunt.
His lumbar spine looks kind of rounded to me when he's in the low position, which suggests to me that he has to stretch to get low. which also suggests his reach (or is it R.A.D.) is a bit too long. He should probably shorten it up a touch.
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
@Gary I would pay tens (or even hundreds!) of pesos to see you beat Lee in a bike skills competition and it would be super RAD if you did it on your dj hardtail with 60a semi-slick maxxis tires.
From the skills he actually teaches and the way he describes how to attain grip I genuinely think Lee would struggle with a lot of the more technical riding we do here in winter.
 
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Lelandjt

adorbs
Apr 4, 2008
2,636
997
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
This is sort of what I think. Especially since some of the better bikes in this category are now 29" only (Transition Sentinel, Norco Sight, Commençal Meta TR). He values playfulness and pop over outright speed and pop.

My working theory is that to maximise maneouverability, playfulness and pop, size down on a 29r and up on a 27.5. Unfortunately, I don't have a stable of bikes to test out my theory...
There's no way someone who's 5'6" should be considering a 29er unless they're an XC racer and can afford a light build. If a serious enduro racer, maybe a mullet.
 

Lelandjt

adorbs
Apr 4, 2008
2,636
997
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
From the skills he actually teaches and the way he describes how to attain grip I genuinely don't think Lee would actually manage the riding we do here in winter.
Riding in Colorado (Lee is from Golden/Boulder) conditions is VERY different from riding mud and roots. When traveling racing it would take me a day of practice to remember how to ride those conditions from my upbringing in New England before moving to Colorado
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,636
26,882
media blackout
Riding in Colorado (Lee is from Golden/Boulder) conditions is VERY different from riding mud and roots. When traveling racing it would take me a day of practice to remember how to ride those conditions from my upbringing in New England before moving to Colorado
i went through the same thing when i moved to socal
 

Gary

my pronouns are hag/gis
Aug 27, 2002
8,490
6,377
UK
Riding in Colorado (Lee is from Golden/Boulder) conditions is VERY different from riding mud and roots. When traveling racing it would take me a day of practice to remember how to ride those conditions from my upbringing in New England before moving to Colorado
Yeah. That's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm well used to riding those conditions on shit tyres and hardtails so transitioning to loose dry conditions isn't so difficult.
 

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,135
1,364
Styria
He misses the point that in the other mentioned categories the cockpit usually sits lower and on longer stems which leads to a higher bend angle at the hips and lower back. Not sure if he does it on purpose or accidentally.
Triathlon and time trial are the worst examples to compare to trail or downhill bikes.
So in my eyes - fail.
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
Triathlon and time trial are the worst examples to compare to trail or downhill bikes.
Here you also compromise your power output for better aerodynamics, so the steeper seat angle is trying to offset some of this. But not even pros can put as much power down in that position as they can on a regular road bike.
 

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,767
501
With headtube lengths varying by over an inch, and the linear setback of a seat at full extension varying by who-knows-how-much, a single number to boil down that triangle of fit is really pointless. As is just using reach.

The reality of is that 99% of riders, including those who try to be particular about geometry, have not really explored the extents of anything beyond ETT or reach and paid proper attention to effective stack height, or measured what effects any of these dimensions have on hip angle/back angle, other than what "feels" right. So if that's where the effort ends...no point in breaking it down any further than that.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
With headtube lengths varying by over an inch, and the linear setback of a seat at full extension varying by who-knows-how-much, a single number to boil down that triangle of fit is really pointless. As is just using reach.

The reality of is that 99% of riders, including those who try to be particular about geometry, have not really explored the extents of anything beyond ETT or reach and paid proper attention to effective stack height, or measured what effects any of these dimensions have on hip angle/back angle, other than what "feels" right. So if that's where the effort ends...no point in breaking it down any further than that.
To be fair extensively trying multiple geometry combinations isn't a cheap option. Hell it wasn't until recently that seat masts on larger bikes started getting short enough for people to really be able to try bigger bikes properly. Cutting down a seat mast is a hell of a risky move to make.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I've never met gary but I did get a completely unsolicited "lesson" on dirtjumping from Lee who cannot ride real dirtjumps.......as I was riding real dirtjumps right in front of him, doing things on a bike he never could and never would do.

I will gladly put 500 dollars on gary any day of the week.

We need a fuckin bike off y'all. Which means before that, we're gonna need a montage. With music that both challenges and inspires.
 
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Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
2,066
1,437
SWE
Blast from the past
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Blast from the past
See?

Some of us knew we needed to gag roadies and throw them off a bridge so we could design real bikes......even back then

Of course we had to go through the "this must be a short upright motorcycle" phase first because dirt roadies still had relevance for some reason when it came go geo
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
For 25 years or so?
Nah, more like 8 years. When suspension started being reliable enough to just start increasing travel. The skinny bar true 7-8" travel bikes with 15" bbs actually weren't around very long. Trail bikes sucked for a longer period but dh bikes (where the real innovations happened) started getting pretty damn good after about 2007 or so.
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Nah, more like 8 years. When suspension started being reliable enough to just start increasing travel. The skinny bar true 7-8" travel bikes with 15" bbs actually weren't around very long. Trail bikes sucked for a longer period but dh bikes (where the real innovations happened) started getting pretty damn good after about 2007 or so.
So after these bad daddies then.


1617938266693.jpeg
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,824
5,201
Australia
So after these bad daddies then.


View attachment 158787
Is that a Foes DHS? Random story - my first DH podium was as a result of me entering a Sport class race on a shitty Avanti and the dude right behind me in the start queue had a friggen Foes Weasel with some USD forks. Back then I assumed anyone with a bike that sweet would know how to ride so I was so worried about being caught and passed that I panic-sprinted for my whole run waiting for the sound of Mr Foes calling track.
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
Nah, more like 8 years. When suspension started being reliable enough to just start increasing travel. The skinny bar true 7-8" travel bikes with 15" bbs actually weren't around very long. Trail bikes sucked for a longer period but dh bikes (where the real innovations happened) started getting pretty damn good after about 2007 or so.
Or you could have bought a large 2001 M1 and put it in the lowest setting and have a pretty good geometry and great suspension (FSR).
 

buckoW

Turbo Monkey
Mar 1, 2007
3,838
4,881
Champery, Switzerland
Is that a Foes DHS? Random story - my first DH podium was as a result of me entering a Sport class race on a shitty Avanti and the dude right behind me in the start queue had a friggen Foes Weasel with some USD forks. Back then I assumed anyone with a bike that sweet would know how to ride so I was so worried about being caught and passed that I panic-sprinted for my whole run waiting for the sound of Mr Foes calling track.
Yeah, it was a DHS Mono. Very short top tube but it had that scissor link to make the rear end stiff so that’s why I liked it at the time. Kooka cranks on there too if anyone remembers those.

@iRider I got an M1 after that Foes
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
Screen Shot 2021-04-09 at 5.00.21 AM.png


I built this in about 2008. Was a brand new frame never built. Ignore the parts went cheap on it overall.
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
Screen Shot 2021-04-09 at 5.15.26 AM.png


That was my DHR. Probably the most fun I had on a bike. Rode the piss out of it. Yes, I had actual BMW pedals as well but was sponsored by ATomLab. Broke 2 sets of their Lexan pedals. I think it was 50lbs even with Monster T. BTW that fork felt good.....
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
I gave the measurements Lee mentions on the video a go, and compared them to my current bikes. I'm still on the fence about them. They might hold some merit after all... I'm 6 ft, or 183 cm tall. That would give me an ideal RAD number of 457.5, or 466.5 erring on the long side. Now if I'm reading Lee's instructions right, that ideal RAD number equals the more common reach number all the other brands are using...

Right now my main enduro bike has a 464mm reach with a 35mm stem, a 37mm offset fork, a 75° STA and a 63.7° HA, and I feel comfortable on it, but I always felt like I would like to try something with a longer reach and a shorter seat tube. My XC bike has a much more traditional geometry, with a 443 reach, 70° HA and 73.5° STA. I'm running a 90mm stem on it. Again, I'm comfortable on it, but the new trends got me curious about a longer reach and a shorter stem.

Upon making Lee's numbers I'm now debating IF I need a longer reach. On top of that, GG's geometry suggestions says the same, I need a 472 (size 3) reach Megatrail...
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,686
3,143
they were notoriously snappy; everyone i knew that ran them weren't on them for long. pretty tho, and were made here (back when we had a thriving cottage industry of local bike component manufacturing).
Didn't the DH version (Razor???) faired better than their initial design, which was indeed breaking a lot.
 

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,135
1,364
Styria
Yeah, it was a DHS Mono. Very short top tube but it had that scissor link to make the rear end stiff so that’s why I liked it at the time. Kooka cranks on there too if anyone remembers those.

@iRider I got an M1 after that Foes
2003 original Schladming track, was a nice bike but creaked and cracked on the little finish jump. Recorded 20 m that day.
 

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