I think part of it is your physical proportions and fit. I tend toward a shorter torso and longer legs, so I'm naturally going to have less weight on the front wheel, especially with a long front-center.
I didn't mean to go so far as to say that the Susie (sorry for the misspelling earlier) was designed to make you get off and walk, but with Grant's philosophy, I just think it's unlikely he's designed the bike to "conquer the terrain". Chris On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 6:06:18 PM UTC-5 Mark Roland wrote: > I guess I am either blessed or cursed with less sensitivity in these > matters. I tend to ride the same roads and trails 80 percent (or more) of > the time, and over the years I've ridden them with lots of different bikes > with lots of different geometries and setups. I'm not sure exactly what > handling characteristic is under discussion, but on my normal single track > trails, I don't notice a lack of bite from the front tire of the Susie. The > Klunker bar does not overly entice one into aggressive riding, but I'll > dive into a dirt turn at speed now and then, no problem. When going up a > challenging hill, yup, the bike will wander a bit. In my experience, > whatever the bike, unless you are practically hammering out of the saddle, > you are going to experience some of that at 3-4mph on a sick dirt and rock > grade. > > The Susie per se is not designed to make you walk. If I were going to be > going out into the landscape aggressively, I could easily choose bars that > would get me level with the saddle on my Large. If I wanted more > aggression, I could put them on my Medium Clem L. I'm not sure it is > terribly helpful to compare the Hillibike geometries to current offerings > from the big boys.They share much more of a bloodline with my 1984 Trek > 830, able to traverse hill and dale, rock and road, with equal aplomb, but > with the ability to also get more comfortable via high head tube and longer > chainstays and small refinements in the geometry. And bigger wheels. > > On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 2:35:50 PM UTC-5 iamkeith wrote: > >> On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 12:28:41 PM UTC-7 Christopher Cote wrote: >> >>> I haven't ridden a Gus or Suzie, but I have had a similar experience on >>> more conventional MTBs. If I set the bars up high and back for ultimate >>> comfort, there's not enough weight on the front tire to "bite" into the >>> terrain, and handling suffers, IMO. If you're just tootling along, the sit >>> up and beg position is fine, but if you're interested in riding technical >>> trails or in an aggressive manner, you need a more aggressive position. >>> Given Grant's philosophy that riders should get off and walk more, I think >>> that is reflected in the Gus/Suzie design. >>> >>> Chris >>> >> >> ^^ Right! However, on a normal mountain bike that's set up this way, you >> end up doing wheelies while climbing, because the rear wheel is tucked >> under your butt. On Grant's long-chainstay bikes, you still have a chance >> of riding it out. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f5cb5e79-78e5-48d5-8b51-d59183827c7en%40googlegroups.com.
