What little thing have you changed with your riding that has made a big difference to your enjoyment?

Recently, I have changed from being a masher to spinning a faster cadence and can now ride a lot faster/further than previously.

Made a couple of 2 or 3mm adjustments to set up and they have worked wonders too.

1 finger braking
higher cadence (on the road, at least)
a mate did me a bike fitting for free, and raising the saddle to the exact height has helped too.

Most recently, wider bars. It’s a revelation

Putting a stiffer stem on.

20mm bolt thru reba.

track, track, track…

Brought my road bars up 10mm. Amazing.

Moving to both 15QR and Coil fork. But that’s not really little I guess.

brakes inboard of shifters and hence comfy one finger braking with more control i.e. more fingers wrapped around the bars 😀

Wider bars
Bolt through 25mm hub
Mahoosive front tyre
Avid Matchmaker clamps, coz dey is da pimp shizzle, bro. Or something.

an extra 3 inches on the size of the front and rear wheel 😛

3 inches is NOT a small thing! 😥
😆

Riding with faster riders, learnt just how fast you can ride through stuff…

it depends what you are comparing it to and what the original size was i.e. % increase from original 🙄 😉 😆

a short stem made a massive difference. 1st time from c.120 to 90, them to 70mm. Both times handling on DHs was transformed. Maybe I’ll try 50mm…

Sorting my gears out, too. Had 26/32 chainrings before because thats what I had. Now on 22/36, steep climbs are doable again!

36/22 rings.
Puts me right in the middle of the spread without faffing around with changing up and down at the front. I’m sold.

that shows how much its horses for courses, with my 22/36, I seem to stick in the same cog on the back and just switch between granny on the steep climbs and middle on the descents.

I seem to stick in the same cog on the back and just switch between granny on the steep climbs and middle on the descents.

nearly a singlespeed!

Forgetting the liner to my shorts yesterday and riding with my Calvins under my shorts has resulted in a big chaffed bit on my ar5e… So I guess that was a small thing that made a big difference..

On a plus point, i rotated my risers forward and that made quite a differnce in a good way for free.

nearly a singlespeed!

I suspect that mainly riding my singlespeed might be the root cause behind me doing it yes 😳

lol @ stilltortoise.
er… replacing my Setavento with a Soda. Still Ti hardtail, not much change in geometry or weight, but boy it’s so much more fun!! Looks pimpier too 🙂

to be fair I don’t ride a singlespeed and have no plans to do so, but using 22/36 means I flick from one ring to another on the front more than going up and down the cassette

shims and footbeds in my shoes

Not small, but moving house. Coventry to Taunton is like hell to heavan.
Proper small changes – new front mech and new grips.

I’d thought that my old XT front mech would last forever until I removed it and realised how bent it was. No more blaming the mis-shifts on cheap chainrings!

one finger braking at any speed

Dropping my saddle to go downhill.
20mm front wheel.

i had some coaching (road shh) the the first time,, mainly cornering,,

i had most of it sorted at the start but one tip that realy worked was to change up two gears before turning in ( yes up) then when you have the bike past the apex and the lean angle was reducing you can stand and sprint out of the corner withoout spinning out and having to change up while still lent over and doing crazy rpm
it was amazing how much you can pull away out of the bends now

also works well off road go on try it

nice soft loo roll make a huge differance…

intervals,tubeless and lots of riding….

Dropping tyre pressures from 40psi to 30psi. Suddenly all those sketchy descents were full of grip.

rich c: sod all this 1-9 go 3-1

big difference for me came from moving the shifters and brakes inboard about 20mm. I was surprised how much of a change in control it made.

maxxis hollyroller on the back.

Did an old favourite decent, previously I’ve done the bottom section off the brakes (it starts with about 15-20m of rooty drop in so need to scrub off some spped before the singletrack). Not any more, the complete lack of rolling resistance was incridible, the gradient isn’t much, but even releasing the brakes before corners seemed to make it pick up speed!

Only problem is can someone recomend me a 2.35+ front tire to cope with the extra speed? Never thought I’d say this, but 2.35 SPC kevlar highrollers were found wanting!

Straitline pedals.

Used to run DMR flats for blasting about the local woods, DH type stuff and clips for long XC rides and Alps trips. Since getting the straitlines, I’ve not bothered with clips since as they are so good everywhere.

Caffeinated energy gels after 10hrs.

Moving the stem down 1cm on my Handjob.

Suddenly it climbed OK, steered better and was a great bike rather than a good one.

What’s so good about 1 finger braking? I’ve always used 2 since BMX days, and the fact that my current levers fit 2 fingers very nicely. Are you guys gripping on that tight you can’t lift another finger off?

Moving from SPD’s to flats. Has taught me to pedal smarter on techy climbs and gives more confidence to try those “oh sh*t” steep rocky bits

Prescription Oakleys. Finally, I can actually see a decent line before it’s too late.

Lighter (much so) forks; from coil Pikes to Magura Menjas – saved about 800g. Has transformed my Motolite.

And having gone back to QR from 20mm I am surprised to find that I am still alive.

condoms

Exception series tyres.

On a much cheaper note, moving my saddle up about 15mm, what a huge difference that one made!!