wheelbase

[clifford_bgrddg]

what is the advantage/disadvantage of a longer bike? my bike, which has xc geometry, has a wheelbase of 990mm. i was looking at new stock frames today and noticed they have wheelbases of 1050mm and up. why is that?

[tomacropod]

because they're not XC bikes. They're different bikes for a different purpose. Their geometry is what makes them different.

But mostly it's because when you buy a tubeset for a bike like an XC bike you have enough tubing to make, say, an 18" seattube and a short top and down tubes. With trials bikes, the seattube is really really short, like between 9 and 14 inches, so you have more tubing left over...hence it gets added to the front end. It's just good economics really.

- Joel

[clifford_bgrddg]

no i mean is there an advantage to having a longer bike as far as leverage or something?

[tomacropod]

yes. UCI frames make much better cheater bars than XC frames.

- Joel

[rush]

Go the cheater bar.

[starass]

because they're not XC bikes. They're different bikes for a different purpose. Their geometry is what makes them different.

But mostly it's because when you buy a tubeset for a bike like an XC bike you have enough tubing to make, say, an 18" seattube and a short top and down tubes. With trials bikes, the seattube is really really short, like between 9 and 14 inches, so you have more tubing left over...hence it gets added to the front end. It's just good economics really.

- Joel

LOL... Really economics

[tomacropod]

fully. Bike manufacturers pretend they think out geometry but really...they don't. It's all marketing, you can sell anything if it's marketed correctly. As evidenced by the current high-BB revolution. You can't ride those things.

- Joel

[Mat_P]

off topic here...
tomac, im loving your new sig...fuckin awesome :P

anyways, carry on

[decline]

its just to help keep the cockpit a little more open. w/ moves starting to get as big as they are u want to be able to get as much body english as possible on some moves. i ride a python short...mod...but i like it cuz at 5'8 or 9 its got plenty of room for me and its super twitchy. but longer frames tend to have a look of flowing better just cuz they dont twitch like a short mod will. and u can gap further

[epock7]

Wheelswitches are impossible on a bike with a short wheelbase and low bb. I used to try on my old beater bike and with it's 1020 wb and -40ish bb, they were impossible. I literally could not put the front wheel on anything over 2 feet. Now with 1065 and +10 it is a billion times easier. I'd like to try them on something like a typhoon or something...

[va_tick]

fully. Bike manufacturers pretend they think out geometry but really...they don't. It's all marketing, you can sell anything if it's marketed correctly. As evidenced by the current high-BB revolution. You can't ride those things.

- Joel


Did you mean +bb revolution?

[tomacropod]

yeah sure.

- Joel

[Ottawa_biker]

my XC bikes bb is in the negetives thanks to my rigid fork and it sucks for everything