I’m thinking of buying one for my t129, as I sometimes feel the reach is a little short.

J know it’s only going to give me 5mm extra reach, but I think ill notice it.

Has anyone used one?

Thanks

Never heard of them.

Superstar components and works components make them. I’m not sure if any other companies do.

Some of the Santa Cruz syndicate were using some last year to fine tune their geo I think.

Are we talking an angleset of some type or a concentric type affair to leave the geo alone but to move the forks forward in head tube?

Op description sounds like the latter, if so I haven’t heard of them either?

It’s the latter. I prefer the reach of my bike with a 60mm stem but prefer the handling with a 50mm stem. So this would put the reach in the middle.

It’s the sort of minutiae tweakage I’m prone to but seeing as I already have angle sets in both bikes it isn’t an option! 😉

http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/reach-adjust-headsets-21-c.asp

Bear in mind that it’ll increase the stack height compared to most headsets so if you’re running no spacers you’ll have to raise your bars.

I’ve run normal and angled Superstar headsets and they’ve been grand, don’t see any reason the offset ones shouldn’t be good too

“a just”

😯

Are people really sensitive enough to notice 5mm difference in reach, or is this just another “kings new clothes” kind of thing? I’m sure some could notice the difference but I’m damn sure I wouldn’t.

I guess this raises the question : does anyone notice the shortening of reach when using an angleset? Presumably the headtube at the upper headset is approx 5mm further back than the head cup – and in fact when you get to the height of the centre of the grips the reach is probably reduced by ~10mm (due to the angle of the headtube).

personally, I don’t think 5mm is noticable, but I guess it might have an affect

Boarding bob, it was an auto spell error on my phone.

It doesn’t sound like much, I know but I notice the 10mm from different stem lengths. And 5mm makes a difference with stack heights to me. Luckily I run 15mm of spacers allready.

5lab – I have thought about that in the past.

I guess this raises the question : does anyone notice the shortening of reach when using an angleset? Presumably the headtube at the upper headset is approx 5mm further back than the head cup – and in fact when you get to the height of the centre of the grips the reach is probably reduced by ~10mm (due to the angle of the headtube).

yeah i noticed it and had to tweak my saddle slightly and rotate by bars forward a little bit

Are people really sensitive enough to notice 5mm difference in reach, or is this just another “kings new clothes” kind of thing?

My thoughts exactly.
Why not just roll the bars forwards a tad? Or move the saddle back?
Thing is, on an MTB, you’re constantly moving around, not just sitting there like a sack of spuds and 5mm is gonna make bugger all difference.

Looking at standard sizing, going from s-xl on eg a Trance the difference in reach is s-m 29mm, m- l 13mm, l-xl 21mm.
I know I have often felt a small is too short and a medium is too long so have used a stem to change things. So I think you may well notice 5mm.

Thing is, on an MTB, you’re constantly moving around, not just sitting there like a sack of spuds and 5mm is gonna make bugger all difference.

It is that moving around that makes these changes so noticeable.

Why not just roll the bars forwards a tad?

Bars have up and back sweep to consider too, rolling does all kinds of things to position

akira – Member

Some of the Santa Cruz syndicate were using some last year to fine tune their geo I think.

A lot of them I think- and Ben Cathro’s been using one since they came out, but then he’s 9 feet tall and has arms like a gibbon, so he doesn’t fit his team bike. Which I always think is weird, when they put it in the promo shots since it’s basically saying “Our pros think the bike we’re selling you is the wrong shape”.

It’s a really small amount of change but what I found when I first fitted an angleset is that really small changes matter more when it’s “too little” to “just enough”, and a little addition to too little can be a big deal too. Whereas the difference between “enough” and “more” isn’t so huge.

Confirmation bias, on both sides…

Something else that Ive learned, I’d never seen these.
But as others have said, I can’t see the point in them, adjust the reach in other ways.

granny_ring – Member

adjust the reach in other ways.

There’s no other way to adjust frame reach. Well, you can slacken/steepen the entire bike, or change sag, but that’s not a smart way to do it. Changing stem length, or bar or seat position, doesn’t achieve the same.

Right, you’re a lot more in the know than myself but for 5mm I’d be doing either the bars, saddle & stem even if that isn’t the proper way to reach adjust!

Right, you’re a lot more in the know than myself but for 5mm I’d be doing either the bars, saddle & stem even if that isn’t the proper way to reach adjust!

which won’t achieve the results of a reach adjust headset and probably create more handling problems for the OP. also buying a new 5mm longer stem is probably close to as expensive as fitting one of these reach adjust headset….

I’m not being funny, but some of you must be awsumz on tha rig if you can genuinely notice these things.

I’m not being funny, but some of you must be awsumz on tha rig if you can genuinely notice these things.

Sadly it doesn’t work like that. I notice pretty minute things with bike setup. I wish I didn’t but I do. And when I’m noticing problems it negatively affects my riding, which is annoying. I’m not slow but I’m far from a great rider!

I notice a huge difference in steering feel between a 50mm and 35mm stem, so I’m sure I’d notice a 5mm change. Rolling bars forwards or back changes effective stem length so you can’t get around that change in steering feel. In terms of reach and fit, after a couple of years on the same bike I came to the certain conclusion that I preferred the reach in the steep geometry setting but the head angle and BB height in the slack setting – that’s a 10mm change in reach. And then noticed that although I preferred steep to neutral (5mm longer) it wasn’t a big difference to me, whilst neutral to slack (another 5mm change) felt a much larger difference because that was the bike going from just big enough to too small.

So I’d say Northwind is bang on with this – if you make a small change which takes you from not good enough to ok, that change is far far more noticeable than a change from ok to better.

I see this often in my day job working with bass players – a 1dB increase in amp loudness is subtle at most but if it’s the difference between being too quiet and loud enough to be heard it’s well worth having. If it’s the difference between being loud enough and able to go a bit louder when you want, then it isn’t.

I’m not being funny, but some of you must be awsumz on tha rig if you can genuinely notice these things.

you are not being funny and no one is claiming to be awesome. we have just made small changes to our bikes setup and noticed the difference.

how do these work with tapered steerers?

There is a CAD image showing the installation on this page

http://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/stretchset-reach-adjust-headset.htm

granny_ring – Member

Right, you’re a lot more in the know than myself but for 5mm I’d be doing either the bars, saddle & stem even if that isn’t the proper way to reach adjust!

It’s all a bit like adjusting ride height by changing fork pressures. Yes it’ll do it but it’ll have other effects. You want the bars where you want them at the end of the day, it’s about compromises you make and compromises you don’t want to make.

(it’s nothing to do with being a riding god; I’m a riding knobber. But I’m annoyingly aware of small changes, in fact I was out for a ride today and I was constantly annoyed by the fact I’d changed one of my levers’ reaches slightly, after 5 years of using the same brakes on everything my brain just objects if they’re not exactly how they should be. It’s not making me a better rider, it’s just that I like things to be just so, and it bothers and distracts me if they’re not.

It’s no different to buying a different size frame- I’m on a large Remedy despite being a medium person, just to add some length. But for some reason, that’s OK but people freak out about headsets.

chiefgrooveguru – Member

I see this often in my day job working with bass players – a 1dB increase in amp loudness is subtle at most but if it’s the difference between being too quiet and loud enough to be heard it’s well worth having. If it’s the difference between being loud enough and able to go a bit louder when you want, then it isn’t.

Well, that’s the trouble with us bass players – we never know what we really want……

chiefgrooveguru – Member

I see this often in my day job working with bass players

The bass player rehab industry is small but important, thanks for your good work! Changing lives, one string at a time.

Would it not have been easier to find a 55mm stem?

Would it not have been easier to find a 55mm stem?

only if he wants to achieve something different to a reach adjust headset, with a longer stem your handle bar is put further over the front wheel and affects steering. With a reach adjuster headset the wheel and stem move 5mm together. the reach is increased but the bars are in the same position relative to the front wheel.

Holy thread resurrection!

Just found this thread googling for ‘reach adjust headsets’ – as one does while one’s chilli is simmering…

I’ll confess that I’m not sure I’d notice 5mm of extra reach, but…

Moving your steerer forward* 5mm means you’d need to fit a 5mm shorter stem, to maintain the same cockpit. that’d take me down to a 55.

5mm extra reach, and a 5mm shorter stem? Yeah, I reckon I’d notice that…**

[Scratches chin, wobbles off to check on dinner]

(*or backward)

(**and I’m officially the crappest cyclist in town)