I’d say we should go for a ride but I’d bonk early again and drag you down.
Maybe next year lol
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When does your new bike arrive?
Dunno no notifications yet. Hopefully soon-ish, it’s in stock and shipping from California and I move to a new building in a month.
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full squish is the way and the light
Mods, please autocorrect maneuvered to mandi weed
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MTB technique dumb question: when I’m out of the saddle I feel very much on top of the bike and when trying to keep my weight centered over the BB the range between feeling too far back or too far forward feels super narrow. When descending I’m always either way too far back for the front wheel to have any traction or I’m up over the top of the bars trying to flip myself over the front.
Is correct weight distribution really a super narrow range and am I just bad at mountain biking (I’ve also only ridden this bike 5 times in the last 6 months) or could it be a fit issue as well?
Bike is a 2021 Trance 29 in XL. I’ve gone from the stock 50mm stem & 20mm rise bars to 60mm stem and 50mm rise bars and I wonder if going even longer on the stem would help me feel more “in” the bike than “on top” of it.
IMO that bike’s basically the same as my Phantom, but with slightly more conservative geo: -10mm chainstays, -15mm reach, 2º slacker seat tube, and a good 40mm shorter wheelbase. All that combined makes it a bit more nervous and less ‘centered’ - especially the short chainstays.
It’s not like it’s a bike from 2015, the Banshee is pretty ‘middle of the road’ compared to what’s out there now. The Trance just leans more towards XC than ‘mini-enduro’, so you may be writing checks that specific bike can’t cash.
Some of it might be not adjusting to the bike yet, but with that stem and riseI wonder if you’re on too small of a bike. That’s putting you in reach and stack that’s basically the next size up.
How tall are you? How wide are the bars? Flat pedals? How long is the dropper?
I had actually bought a size L a year ago, rode it for a season, then sold it and bought the XL. This is the biggest this bike gets but I also know it runs a little small compared to other brands. The XL feels better than the L for sure.
Agree that it’s more of a long travel XC bike but I’m not doing anything rowdy - the trails I rode yesterday are quite benign. I rode them a lot on my 2014 Canfiled Nimble 9 with a 69°HTA and super short chainstays and never really remembered having any issues. When I look at pictures of that bike though it looks like it had a lot higher stack than the Trance, plus it being a hardtail it was a bit lower to the ground overall.
@Dickason_Daniel I’m 6’2" with a shortish torso and fairly long legs. 760mm Renthal Fatbars, SPD pedals with cleats pushed back all the way. I think it’s a 150mm dropper, not really any room for anything longer.
I’m 6’2" and I was riding an xl trance advanced 29. Probably with just 50mm but may have bumped up to 60mm. Never felt l needed any more rise than 30, though.
It could be some bad habits developed over time, like going otb so you really tense up or get behind it too much, which likely feels worse with slacker bike with longer wheelbase. Drooper could be 150 or maybe 170. I can’t remember if they went up at all.
Not sure you’ve seen the Cathro videos, but a few on body position.
Or this one featuring Lee Likes Bikes. He has some good info on hinging properly, though sometimes he can be a bit much.
They don’t have stack measurement on the Canfield. You are correct that the BB drop is greater than the trance, but after accounting for some suspension sag, it probably isn’t too terrible.
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The geometry isn’t that xc. It’s pretty middle of the road. The chainstays are the same length as both of my bikes (sentinel, ripmo) in the high position and it’s longer than both, due to being an XL vs both of mine being larges. The angles are pretty standard, not conservative IMO.
I was going to suggest a longer dropper, but sounds like that’s already covered. If you had long legs then that might explain why you feel tall on the bike.
I suspect you just haven’t gotten used to the bike yet. It took me almost a year to actually get the bike position dialed in the sentinel because i was too far back, coming from a slacker STA and steeper HTA on a previous bike.
Concentrate on getting your weight low and your elbows bent and keep your weight on the bars. The more you bend your elbows, the more your weight will support the front wheel. Long straight arms is going to keep you off the back of the bike and not in control.
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Ya I would say you just have to ride more. Engage the glutes by bending the knees a bit and bending your upper body forward more at the hips, but just a little. Once I get activated like that, I feel a lot more comfortable going down.
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With a long-legged build I don’t think the geometry is too suspect, though stems are cheap and easy to swap.
What about suspension setup? Maybe you need more support in the front and to run the back a little softer and slower.
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60mm stem plus 50mm rise bars 760 wide sounds crazy to me on a modern mountain bike. But I have long torso idk. I’d go the other way with 40mm stem and 800mm bars.
I feel like if a 150 dropper is max for you on an XL, your legs can’t be freakishly long.
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I rode again yesterday on very not technical but kind of twisty singletrack and was feeling a lot better, although I still can’t get my weight distribution right but that should come with practice. I’m way too far back most of the time because I’m nervous about the front end washing out, which of course makes the front end wash out.
Also I realized that on my last ride I had my rear shock locked out the entire time 
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I’ll bet it was 18 months of riding before I really got how to ride modern mtb geometry. The key for me was finally understanding that the bike isn’t interested in endo’ing, and that if I want the front tire to bite I need to crowd the bar. So I concentrate mostly on keeping my elbows bent. Very bent. Like 90 degrees. That gets my weight appropriately forward by shortening the arms, lowering the torso.
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it is crazy going from my norco optic to my super steep giant xc thing. the norco could barely endo if i tried. the giant (also with no dropper) would buck me off like a bull at any moment
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Yeah, now that I’ve cracked the code I approach my old P-29er with great caution.
Last night was my third ride on my new Ripmo and I felt a lot better about my position, I have to sit up on it and spin way more than I expected.
I moved my saddle forward like 10mm on my 120/120 bike a few weeks ago. Climbing feels so much better now. I finally understand the steep seat tube thing.
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