The MTB thread

[northwind]

Anyone who refers to himself by his nickname is not to be trusted I like the mag but their reviews are... erratic, let's say nicely. "So and so flew us out to Canada to try their new bike. We like it, funnilly enough! We look forward to their future bikes as long as they also fly us to Canada!"

I think tbh we'd both end up with the seat within a few mm, the more I think of it the difference in pedal position probably takes up half the difference.

I have always used the Badgers method. I swapped onto MBR years ago from MBUK as it had more rides and better reviews for my kind of riding. There are a few egos there now but they are trying to put some science it this kind of discussion.

Rarely need to drop the seat from that height either on proper rides and most trail centres (not been to scotland yet). It just a case of trusting the fork to roll through at times and doing what you can with your body weight. The advantage is you dont have to keep stopping and adjusting it and you can pedal through the smoother bits.

Over here biking is off the cards at the moment because the snow has arrived, which is fun but its going to be atleast April before any proper rides.

On the downhill type stuff (Dalby, Guisborough woods etc) I use to leave my seat high but drop of the back so the back of the saddle was in my stomach. Not sure if this is the safest thing to do but stops lots of seat faffing. Mind you I fall off a fair amount....

Originally Posted by Tim in Belgium

On the downhill type stuff (Dalby, Guisborough woods etc) I use to leave my seat high but drop of the back so the back of the saddle was in my stomach. Not sure if this is the safest thing to do but stops lots of seat faffing. Mind you I fall off a fair amount....

I can vouch for that

[northwind]

Originally Posted by northwind

I think tbh we'd both end up with the seat within a few mm, the more I think of it the difference in pedal position probably takes up half the difference.

Quoting myself, not a good sign... Anyway, I tried it and it turns out we basically have two different approaches to get almost the exact same seat height Worst disagreement ever

No it isn`t

[northwind]

Yes it... Ah, wait...

[Jayneflakes]

I run my seat high, so my leg is almost fully extended with the shoe clipped in. This stops leg pain and stomach cramps. However, when will they find a way to stop saddles giving me sore bits? I have tried several saddles and on my mountain bike is a WTB Ladies race saddle and on my touring bike is a Avenir Ladies couch! I have good padded shorts and still get a sore bottom... Not fair!

Another issue I have is hand pain, it got so bad that I gave up my road bike (So have a pair of 8speed STI going cheap if wanted) because riding the hoods left me unable to use my hands for a week. I work in a bike shop so have explored every avenue and ended up on flat bars again. To thinkI lived on drops in the nineties when I did cyclocross... Oh well.

As for mags, any one here tried Single Track? Ran by a guy called Chips and he knows his eggs!
I worked for a shop in Bath a few years ago that ran the team bikes for MBUK, back in the day when downhill bikes had 80mm of travel and ran on foam rubber springs! They were gits then with Loretz who I disliked because he learned everything from us (Yes, I know... Sour grapes) and also my boss wrote for another mag and always managed to advertise our shop! Hmm... very impartial I think...

Have you tried the Avatar or Alias seat from Specialized . I got the 155mm wide version and my sit bones stopped aching the day I got that . I also had a Koobi Splitfit saddle which came very close to being perfect .

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by xXBADGERXx

Have you tried the Avatar or Alias seat from Specialized . I got the 155mm wide version and my sit bones stopped aching the day I got that . I also had a Koobi Splitfit saddle which came very close to being perfect .

I have tried a lot of Specialized stuff over the years and it tends to be well made, last a while and work. However the saddle that gave me the most pain, excluding that foul Turbo that some git in a shop sold me when I was new to mountain bikes, was a Specie one.

The WTB one works well, but I know when I have been for a ride on it for more than a couple of hours. There is always that compromise between comfort and light weight. Extra padded girly saddles always weigh more than the rest of my bike!