I need some advice. I'm 5'4" with a 32" inseam and currently am riding an '88 or '89 Alpine Monitor Pass MTB I'm guessing it's 'a 19" frame. My road bike is a 17" Specialized Sirrus approximately the same vintage. The road bike is fairly comforatble as to reach from the saddle to the handlebars and I feel that most of my weight is solidly on my rump. However, the mountian bike sadly is not the same story since I bought it I never have been able to fully dial it in. I find it okay over short distances (1 to 5 miles) but longer than that I feel that I have too much weight on my hands. In fact the weight on my hands is appearent when I first get on the bike; however, I'm not sure how to correct it. I'm pretty sure my saddle position is okay for peddling efficency and bike handling. I've tried running the saddle forward on it rails, but doing so puts me out of optimal positioning for pedalling and makes bike handling "whippy". I have noticed that after riding around 5 miles or so, that if I rest my fingertips and thumbs on the bars it shifts my weight back onto the saddle and it feels okay. My question is this: Should I consider raising the bars or should I look for a shorter stem? I know the bigger frame isn't helping much and it's probably too long for my torso, but I can straddle it okay so I know the frame fits within limits. What would be the effect on feel and handling if I raised the handlebars? I know another possibility is to replace the stem; however, this mountain bike is of the vintage that used a cantilever brake on the front and used the stem as a cable stay which is not very common anymore. All advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
John
[email hidden]
to reply prelase remove the "Nospam." from my e-mail address.
There are several cable hangers around that fit in the headset. Don't worry about the brake hanging feature of a stem. Get a shorter sttem. Best wishes for the holidays, John
I need some advice. I'm 5'4" with a 32" inseam and currently am riding an '88 or '89 Alpine Monitor Pass MTB I'm guessing it's 'a 19" frame. My road bike is a 17" Specialized Sirrus approximately the same vintage. The road bike is fairly comforatble as to reach from the saddle to the handlebars and I feel that most of my weight is solidly on my rump. However, the mountian bike sadly is not the same story since I bought it I never have been able to fully dial it in. I find it okay over short distances (1 to 5 miles) but longer than that I feel that I have too much weight on my hands. In fact the weight on my hands is appearent when I first get on the bike; however, I'm not sure how to correct it. I'm pretty sure my saddle position is okay for peddling efficency and bike handling. I've tried running the saddle forward on it rails, but doing so puts me out of optimal positioning for pedalling and makes bike handling "whippy". I have noticed that after riding around 5 miles or so, that if I rest my fingertips and thumbs on the bars it shifts my weight back onto the saddle and it feels okay. My question is this: Should I consider raising the bars or should I look for a shorter stem? I know the bigger frame isn't helping much and it's probably too long for my torso, but I can straddle it okay so I know the frame fits within limits. What would be the effect on feel and handling if I raised the handlebars? I know another possibility is to replace the stem; however, this mountain bike is of the vintage that used a cantilever brake on the front and used the stem as a cable stay which is not very common anymore. All advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
I'm 5' 4" and ride a 15" frame, and I consider this a tad large for an mtb, how you ride a 19" beats me 🙂
I've had flat bars, small rise riser bars, large rise riser bars, long stem, short stem etc etc and the best combination for all-round comfort and 'rideability' I've found is 65 mm long stem, with 25 mm rise with 60 mm rise riser bars. Currently I'm running it with a real small 'shorty' stem 'cos we're learning tricks and stuff, but I don't go for long rides with this setup.
"John L. Lucci" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
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I find it okay over short distances (1 to 5
Quoted message said:
miles) but longer than that I feel that I have too much weight on my
hands.
Quoted message said:
In fact the weight on my hands is appearent when I first get on the bike; however, I'm not sure how to correct it. I'm pretty sure my saddle position is okay for peddling efficency and bike handling. I've tried running the saddle forward on it rails, but doing so puts me out of
optimal
Quoted message said:
positioning for pedalling and makes bike handling "whippy". I have
noticed
Quoted message said:
that after riding around 5 miles or so, that if I rest my fingertips and thumbs on the bars it shifts my weight back onto the saddle and it feels okay. My question is this: Should I consider raising the bars or should
I
Quoted message said:
look for a shorter stem?
<snip> All advice on this matter is greatly appreciated.
Quoted message said:
John
[email hidden]
Move your butt back. That will take the weight off your arms. If you can't move your bars far enough back with a shorter stem it's time for that new frame or some time in the rack.
I'm 5' 4" and ride a 15" frame, and I consider this a tad large for an
mtb,
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how you ride a 19" beats me 🙂
That's because MTBs of that era had horizontal top tubes, not sloping ones. Therefore, the effective seat tube height is much longer on older bikes that on new ones.
