Ok, some Specialized and the SC Heckler- anymore? (i.e. less than 13″ as a rule)

Most rules are less than 13″

😆 🙄

Giant are typically low, Anthem and Trance anyway.

Dunno if less than 13″ though – my rule isn’t long enough to tell.

how much rear travel are we talking?
Personally, I’d only consider 13″ a low BB on a bike with 6″ or more travel

Personally, I’d only consider 13″ a low BB on a bike with 6″ or more travel

Why ?

Anything with the name “Giant” on the side.

My Reign X is pretty low at 13.75″ static with 2.4″ tyres fitted. Considering that’s got 170mm of travel anyway.

IIRC the Reign is under 13″ static, at least with standard 100mm forks fitted anyway.

coz it’s not very **** low otherwise 🙄

Lower the better- I dont care about pedal-strikes, I guess under 13.5 as a rule (I know hardails can be lower)

coz it’s not very **** low otherwise

Well argued. You’ve made a strong case there. You’ve turned me around and I completely understand and agree with your point of view, even though I’ve had a 4″ travel bike with such a low bb, that I sold it cos I was fed up of constantly striking the pedals on techy stuff.

Must admit I hate low BBs too, pedal strikes are a pain in the bum. But the OP doesnt care.

You learn/train yourself though surely? Its idleness if you enter rocks etc with your pedals in the wrong place or……do you folk PEDAL still?! 😯

what if you are pedalling uphill through rocks / ruts / roots ?

It can’t have anything to do with “timing” when you’re pedalling uphill across very rough terrain.

You learn/train yourself though surely? Its idleness if you enter rocks etc with your pedals in the wrong place or……do you folk PEDAL still?! [8O]

what if you are pedalling uphill through rocks / ruts / roots ?

Short cranks and low profile pedals help, sometimes you need to pedal though, especially going uphill!

Love my Reign X, only time so far the low BB has been a slight annoyance was on the rooty/rocky climb of White’s Level at Afan though. Have since swapped the 175mm cranks for 170’s, am looking at some lower profile (and narrower) flat pedals, and have also messed about with the DHX Air shock pressures to stop it blowing through its travel quite so easily.

There are some bikes out there that IMO do have too low a BB though. Specialized Demo 9 anyone!

My SC Blur 4X has a pretty low BB. Don’t know the measurement but I had to adjust to it when I first got it, and that was coming of a hardtail.

My M3 feels like it has a 7″ bottom bracket, I hit loads more stuff than I used to with my cranks on my old Uzzi.

But it corners good 😆

my epiphany was reasonably low, not half as low as my blur 4x though; silly low with a long wheelbase = lots of fun. the superlight is low too.

You learn/train yourself though surely? Its idleness if you enter rocks etc with your pedals in the wrong place or……do you folk PEDAL still?!

No, I’m talking about when you’re pedalling through the rocky/rooty sections, or hitting sections big enough to hit the pedals even when you’re taking care to line them up right. Sure you could stop pedaling, but with care and judgement you dont have to – really only becomes a probl when you go from a higher BB to a lower one I suppose, its what you’re used to.

Sometimes you can get away with putting one low and one high to avoid single-sided issues that are taller than the BB height but sometimes you have stuff on both sides that’s > BB height too.

My Meta 4 has a low BB.
Only a problem when riding uphill in a rut. Otherwise it’s about timing it right. It just takes a bit more skill, really. The benefit to it all is a bike that feels lovely and stable at speed while remaining a joy to handle, especially compared to a longer travel bike with a higher BB. You’re sitting ‘in’ this bike, not ‘on’ it.

The Chumba XCL has a 13.5″

ime replacing a low bb height with a high one can cause just as many problems when climbing, i hate the feeling of a ‘high’ bike when slow technical climbing, some bikes feel like they will ‘stall’ or maybe i just need to go faster 🙂

I think the Cotic Hemlock has a low BB

I’m not a fan of high BBs, they always make me feel nervous on slow speed techy steep stuff.

stacey has a low BB

I think the Hemlock bb is perfect. I ride mine with the 4 inch rockers. I find it’s ideal in techy terrain and the best climbing fs I’ve ever owned.

Meta 5 is under 13″

Apparently my Pitch has a 14″ BB height so I must be a complete muppet I as regularly hit the pedals on the ground when pedalin over rocks n’ that.

Yeah trailmonkey, my bro in law got an ex demo Hemlock, he loves it with 4″ rocker and big fox36s up front. I think the BB is 13″, his previous Marin was 14″ so he’s feeling the lower BB gives him much more confidence on the techy steep descents.

steve_b77 sell me the pitch frame and buy a proper boutique full susser frame! 😀

My old Specialized Supercross had a 12inch bb height I think, it had 4.5inches of travel and was really good fun to ride.

I used to have an Orange patriot and that had a really high bb and it didnt ride that nicely.

Second the Meta 5. Can’t say I’ve even found it a problem for pedal strikes either. Even if I had (did I say I hadn’t) , I’d still easily prefer that to sitting on top of something with a 14″ plus height and feeling completely disconnected…

I think I’ve struck the pedals about 3 times in 20 years of riding with all sorts of bikes.

Just try a few hora, as one with a low bb that rides badly is going to be shite all use compared to a high bb that rides well.

Obviously there’s a trade off. The higher the bottome bracket, the higher the seat. Guess that’s clearance v handling?

I test rode a Giant Anthem X1 at the weekend – that had a very low BB. Very nice bike though.

Marin quad 140, very low for a given fork (much lower than my heckler when both running 36’s for example).

This one only works if you like it slack as well sir 😉

Cannondale Rush with a lefty, 12.75 inches.

changed the forks on my trance from 140ish Z1’s to 130recons at the weekend and had about 3 pedal strikes which is something i’ll have to adjust to. don’t mind though as it handles so much better.

3rd the Meta 5, it’s hardly a problem though: a few half turns will get you through most situations and then the low BB comes into its own downhill.

are we talking static height or with sag?

my old carrera (from when merrida/speialized made them) had a 11.252 BB, but that was a hardtail so doesn’t coun’t.

IMO sub 12″ with sag is getting a bit too low.

True- the fork height does effect the height

I did Afan on a P7 and was constantly bashing on stuff, got really annoying so i went back to my full sus Rift Zone