balance issues- what is the deal?

[RoadRaven]

When I was a kid, it was easy... but I am not the same size and my bike is not the same.

Then I was about 8-9 stone at my heaviest as a teenager, and I rode a chunky Raleigh 20 pre-teen, and for my 13th birthday got a "ten-speed" though what make I have no idea... but it wasn't much lighter than my Raleigh.

Now I am just under 100kgs, my road bike weighs very little, my seat is as high as possible and my handle bars are not only a different shape but also much lower. My whole being is different on this bike, my centre of gravity is higher.

I just don't go there with taking both hands off the bike, although I am comfortable taking one off to drink, eat, shift my sunnies or stretch my back.

[li10up]

I think a lot of it has to do with how good of a bike rider you were as a kid and how much of a risk taker you are. I got my first bike when I was about 4 and rode a bike all the time up to when I went off to college. As a kid I could ride a wheelie for, no kidding, about an 1/8 of a mile and could ride no handed probably by age 7. I used to ride a bike to school in 7th grade and it was about 5 miles one way. I didn't have a backpack, didn't carry them back then, so I had to carry my books with me on the bike. I could ride almost all the way to school with no hands, including cornering. When I started riding again, after a layoff of over 20 years, I was a bit shaky for the first day or two. But was able to ride no handed again within the week. I remember riding in one of my first tours with some friends and we were going down a fairly good hill. I was having so much fun I took my hands off the bar and did a on the bow of the Titanic move (look ma', I'm flying)...nobody was around me so I wasn't endangering anyone. At the bottom of the hill I was surprised when my friends said something about how they wished they could do that. It took me a second to realize they meant ride with no hands. I guess I just thought everyone could do that. I've also gone climbing and done some repelling...so I'm not the kind that minds taking a few risks. But I do think time will take care of it.

[smilingcat]

your body weight distribution does have an effect. Additional things are

head tube angle, the amount of rake in your fork, the wheel base length. A recreational bicycles are set up to be more stable, softer to ride/more comfortable. They are not meant to make sharp fast turns. Bikes made for crits have shorter wheelbase and smaller rake and steeper head tube angle (I think not 100% sure). The overall effect of crit bike tends to be "squirrly".

Old Binachi was squirrly I could only ride maybe 20 feet before I had to grab the handle.
Old Panasonic DS-6000 (model name?) was really stable and i could ride for really long distances if I wanted.
Litespeed Tachyon was a relaxed tri bike. also ride for really long distances.
Orbea Dama Race '05 a little more squirrly than Litespeed or the Panasonic.
Guru Chrono'alu a full blown serious tri bike for TT use (I just tried don't own) squrirrly.

So it may not be you ability or lack thereof, it may be that you have a racing bike instead of recreational cruiser.

smilingcat