Bike fit woes

[Drtgirl]

So I was messing around with my new bike yesterday and had my hubby take a photo. I haven't had time to go to a shop or get a fitting yet. What can I do to move my body forward over the front wheel? It seems like the fork rake is kind of strange and is pushing the wheel forward too far. Steep climbs are not good as the front wheel wants to lift up.

[Becky]

Just eyeballing from the photo, I think the fit looks ok. Or at least similar to the way my MTB is set up. Flipping your stem over should give you a little more saddle to bar drop, and cause your weight to shift forward a touch.

What's the head tube angle on this frame?

[pinkbikes]

Just looking at your setup there it looks like your knee over pedal spindle (KOPS) is a little far back compared to where my bike fitter would set you up. If you look at the spot just under your knee cap and drop it down vertically, it looks like it lands well behind your pedal spindle.

While traditionally it is thought that the "best" set-up is with the knee directly over the pedal spindle, the fit guru who did my bike setup when I got my new MTB set me up with my knee slightly in front of the pedal spindle (maybe a half an inch?). I peppered him with quesions and he said he likes to set women up this way (he is a bit of a specialist with fitting women) because it gives them climbing advantage (through better leverage over the pedal and shifting the weight forward) which is generally where women need a little extra advantage.

I suspect that you will find shifting your seat forward a little to get your knee at least to a KOPS position will give you more weight over the front and better climbing performance.

If it is just a trick of the photo and you are already in a KOPS position, ignore all the above! LOL!

[Becky]

I took a closer look at the geometry charts for the carbon blur xc and the aluminum one. The thing that jumped out at me is that the carbon Blur has a slacker head tube angle, which probably explains the feeling of the front wheel being too far in front. On the other hand, it should make for better handling on descents and gnarlier terrain.

Good luck getting this sorted out! What a sweet bike- ride it like you stole it!

[Drtgirl]

Becky- the bike is awesome on the descents (which I used to hate) so that's a plus. My stem is 0 degree rise, but I can lower it down a spacer.

It's amazing how a degree or two in the head tube can make such a difference in the fit/ride!

[Becky]

Becky- the bike is awesome on the descents (which I used to hate) so that's a plus. My stem is 0 degree rise, but I can lower it down a spacer.

It's amazing how a degree or two in the head tube can make such a difference in the fit/ride!

Bike geometry truly amazes me. Like you said, a little change in an angle can make for a huge difference in the feel of a bike!

Head tube angle is probably my one complaint about my GT- it climbs pretty well, but it has a HTA of 71 degrees, so it's a little twitchy on descents. Oh well, it's an XC bike- I knew that when I bought it.

I like the spacer idea. There's always the possibility of trying a stem w/ negative rise too.