Monday, July 12, 2010

Steamed Singletrack


The weekend was a good one. Finally, I was able to dodge the rain drops and ride some single track. The Camp was dried out from the previous days of dry weather, so I hit up the South side and took the Big Mama with me for the ride. It was a good thing I took the full suspension goodness of the Big Mama too, because the Camp is rough! Rougher than I remember it being since we've been riding back there.

I didn't check in with the atmospherical authorities before leaving, but according to my arms and hands, which the sweat was running off of like a water faucet was up my sleeve, I'd say it was pretty darn humid. That meant that the air was plenty steamy under the canopy of the woods. It's definitely summer! Better than winter, so I am not complaining.


Sunday I got out again, but since we had rain over night, I hit up Cedar Bend this time on the Cielo 29"er. The air wasn't quite as steamy as Saturday, but the humidity wasn't gone, just not as brutal. The corn on the far side of Cedar Bend must be nine feet tall, by the way!

There is something pretty weird going on with this bike. I was sent a size, (19.5"), that should fit me perfectly, if you had a typical, mass produced, big name 29'er. But this isn't a typical bike at all. First of all, it has a lot of classic cues, the more level top tube, the seat stay arrangement, and the frame tubing sizes are all classic mtb. The deal that strikes me as weird though is the top tube length. It is 25.3" long! I usually go for an inch shorter top tube than this.

Okay, the bike fits me, albeit I am "stretched" more, not a bad thing at all. The bike handles just peachy this way, and that is what I find weird. It shouldn't handle well for me. It should feel like a big truck. It doesn't.

So now I'm full of questions.

That's a good thing. I think it's always good to learn and look at things outside your "box"

3 comments:

jkeiffer said...

Won't HTA and fork rake determine how it steers for the most part? It wouldn't have to stretch you out if you compensated for the longer TT by using a shorter stem right? It would seem the only difference would be a longer wheelbase (or just front center if it has short chainstays). No?

MG said...

I have a few thoughts on the fit of that Cielo to talk through with you if/when you have a few moments to chat, based on my review of your images/setup. There are a couple of things I noticed about your setup that may explain a lot of what you're feeling, but I want to discuss them with you before I say anything public.

Guitar Ted said...

MG: Sure thing! Let me know when a good time to call you might be. I'm all ears!