Not mine but I found this NIB schwinn folder in my in-laws garage, put it together and it rides like I imagine an elliptigo would
Which is to say VERY fun and needs way bigger gearing
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A Schwinn Katu
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zero setback seatpost wasn’t giving me all of it, so I dithered a bit and now my saddle is further back by one centimeter and EVERYTHING IS BETTER NOW:
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Nothing radical about this statement except maybe whether you’ve gone plus/minus a mm or two to be sure.
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I suspect it needs to move back another 5mm or so.
the solution to every problem!
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Penance project, first kick at the cat. Need a longer stem in the 60-70 range before I rope in the housing. Feeling some play in the de-threaded XT headset on the top cup only with the top cap fairly pinned. Not sure if I can even find a low stack stem in the right length so might be heading back to headtube chopping land.
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That thing looks chonky
HY
I’m a simple human - I see couplers, I click like
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Fwiw there is a forum convo from last year where shart himself was dithering on low stack stems which might assist re what is around and how low they go.
I assume it was in the shartq thread but this is tarck so likely in some other thread…
Edit, yeah you should probably cut the headtube if that isn’t a total pita to do.
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Thinking about this too to help me stretch out on my gravel bike. Gutted that I didn’t buy a nice FSA k-force post for a fraction of it’s new cost the other day.
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Yeah, I asked @Dr_Shart_Attack_PhD about that when I was first dealing with this. I think he bought new fork in the end? It’s only a small pita, so will probably just get to cutting.
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Yeah I found the deadender fork I needed on ebay and just bought that lol
Though I feel like in your case, that Syntace stem would probably work if you don’t need any rise.
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What is that frame? The bike looks like a shit ton of fun.
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I had the zero offset on there ostensibly to allow me to get low and open up my hip angle. The result was that I felt crowded with a 12cm stem and no spacers. Also had a little more pressure on my hands than I liked, though it wasn’t terrible in that I’ve done 6 hour rides on that fit and felt comfortable.
Moving the saddle back just one centimeter took a little weight off my hands, which is great and I felt less crowded in the cockpit. The best part is that it feels like I can get much lower more comfortably and my back is naturally flatter. It’s silly to think I can tell the difference but it feels faster.
I’ve been through this process before with other bikes. Move the saddle back until the magic happens, become convinced that an aftward placed saddle is key to a good fit and then end up with a hip angle that’s too closed.
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This slammy boi? I think for that price I’d probably just trim the headtube and have more stem options since I don’t need to go direct to a new fork.
@Mankato_Pet_Cremation_LLC It’s a True North, made near Guelph, ON. The owner was bit of a dick to deal with. He changed the spec on some of the parts I ordered with the frame without telling me (silver headset instead of black, 6-bolt hubs instead of cl, etc.). I mean, I was probably a clueless customer at that time and maybe not awesome to deal with, but seems kinda egregious in hindsight.
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these dudes are fine for 20$
There’s another Syntace clone out there but I haven’t had one in hand.
FSA also has their own lowboy version
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is there a way to tell from the outside which cheap stems are safe and which are made from pressed potmetal?
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Other than empirically probably not? But it does seem like there’s some space for a youtuber to build test rigs for stems and bars and just do destructive testing of cheap ebay components on camera
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good point. i wonder also if there’s a reliable way to identify factory of origin amidst the constantly shifting sea of company names