100mm on a Trance? Surely it is 100mm on an Anthem, not a Trance?

Not on my one which is the original one and came spec’d with 100mm forks:

Trance provides all the pedalling efficiency you want from a hard tail frame but with the added versatility of 4 inches of travel.

Fork Fox FRL, 100mm

I’ve struggled with eaxctly this with my Flux – it’s great on the smooth singletrack but you’re right, point it downwards over anything techy and wasn’t so much fun.

My flux is HL but I found shortening the stem and getting wider riser bars definitely made a difference. Moving the forks from 100 to 120mm sealed it for me, IMO it totally transformed the ride. Do it, it’s like getting a new bike.

And as people have said, a dropper post also would be a great idea.

Jeepers.

We’re onto the second page, and no-one has asked the OP about the air pressure in his forks.

How much sag are you running in the forks, and do they dive? If you’ve not enough air in the forks, you may find that the front end dives on descents, as more of your weight is over the front of the bike. Try putting in a little more air to firm the forks up, and see if that helps. Then, if it doesn’t consider spending all that money on shiny stuff. Air is free.

A rough guide: First, ensure the SID’s positive and negative chambers are balanced – assuming it has them. For XC, aim for about 25 – 30% sag when on the bike in your normal riding position. If you don’t have an o-ring on the stanchion to measure sag, just put a zip tie ’round it. If you have more than 30% sag, consider adding air.

Also double check the height of your seatpost. A quick way to do this is (again) to sit on the bike in your normal riding position. Put the heel of your shoe on the pedal, and backpedal to the lowest point – the point where the pedal is as far from your bum as possible. If you have to stretch to do this, then the seatpost is too high. If you’re not sure, backpedal with your feet clipped in (It’s helpful to be next to a wall and on level ground for all of this, by the way) and see if you can feel your hips rocking from side to side. Get a friend to check this if need be – if your hips remain level throughout the pedal stroke, then you’re good.

I hope all this helps. My initial reaction was ‘how long is that stem?’ as 100mm is pretty long these days, but then I’ve no idea how tall you are. Not also that your bars are already pretty high, as you have plenty of spacers under the stem. If you need risers with the stem at that height, it might not just be too long a stem – it might be too small a frame.

Any road, I’d suggest tinkering with the air pressure first – air is, after all, free.
HTH,
Ben

cheers mate, the sag is around 25%.

I do like a high seat, I just feel more power is available like this.

I’m 5 10″ btw.

the frame is medium

I might get a smaller stem before anything.

Only skimmed the thread, so apologies if someone else said this but:

Move the saddle back!

You’ve got an inline post and the saddle as far forward as it’ll go which is really very far forward indeed, much more than the bike was designed for. This is guaranteed to induce the kind of stability issues you’re talking about.

Move the saddle back and then it will need to be lowered a bit of course too. The lower and more rearward centre of gravity will probably transform the riding and cost you nowt.

You do not want your saddle too high. Your pelvis should not be rocking to and fro. It’s easy to put the saddle up high and think ‘yeah that’s good for power’ but it’s an illusion – I used to do this until someone pointed out that my pelvis was rocking. I lowered it to a point that felt really far too low at first, but within a few rides I was used to it and now I appreciate that it’s much better for spinning, and the handling benefits are huge.

Plus it costs nothing to try.

You must stick with it for a few rides though, don’t just do it, sit on it and reject it though cos it’ll feel really weird at first just cos it’s different.

Another thing you can do is alter the sag front and rear. 25% or 33% or whatever are not golden rules. Different bikes, forks, riders and trails mean different settings work. I have maybe 40% sag on my 5, but with more pro-pedal to control compression.

Shorter stem would also be good. Shorter stem and saddle further back will move your whole weight backwards – to where the bike designers expected it to be!

But again – any change you make, give it time. It’ll all feel weird at first.

Sefton – do you get any knee pain at the front of your knee?

As Molgrips says, try tinkering with the saddle position – it won’t cost you nowt.

One other thing – is the sag at 25% with any Gate or platform on?

To reopen this thread. As I mentioned on page 1 I’ve just lowered the SIDs I bought for the flux down to 100mm. I bought the 120 SIDs to get a 15mm maxle but always had the intention to lower them. I rode it for a first good length proper ride yesterday post the reduction in fork travel and was really impressed how much better it climbed at the extrem end of the gradient range on climbs I’ve done before in other setups. Considerably less lifty and more control over direction. I’m glad I made the move and from a XC perspective I’d rather adjust my riding and improve my technique on the downy bits and have the benefit on the ups. Of course it does depend at what level of gradient you get off and push as to if it’s worth it for you…..

I went from a 5 degree riser stem to zero degree on my flux to get better climbing 🙂