Geometry – so I’ve never really been to fussed about geometry normally I just get on and ride and within a week it feels cool, that was until my latest bike a new style chameleon. On this bike the front end just feels to high, now I realize this is the fashion to have loads of travel but I’d be happy with 100mm I reckon. No point having loads at the front and none at the back, and I don’t buy this ride the fork bollox.

So geometry what does it all mean? A head angle of 68 degrees is slack so good for high speed stability but slow at cornering. A seat angle of 66 is going to be bad for all dayers but good for 3 hours in the woods. Then you have top tube length long for long distance and long bodies short for the opposite. Short chainstays go fast long are just shit right or more stable.

I’m looking at buying a charge blender geo

Top Tube Length
551mm
Seat Tube Length
384mm
Head Angle
68°
Seat Tube Angle
66°
Head Tube Length
110mm
Chainstay Length
419.1mm

Or giant STP geo

Top Tube Length
584mm
Seat Tube Length
15inch
Head Angle
69°
Seat Tube Angle
74°
Head Tube Length
127mm
Chainstay Length
406mm

I’m after a do everything bike n favor of shorter rides and downhill over uphill my two previous bikes were a santa cruz chameleon first edition and a cannondale chase, really I want a 16inch seat tube with 100mm fork but that doesn’t seem to exist in the guise I want.

So geometry what does it all mean?

I'm not sure what angle your coming from.

Just what does geometry mean, think the frames i've chucked in have confused things.

Sounds to me like you just want a normal hardtail mountain bike – you don't need anything that's focussed in a particular direction, just a regular trail frame (as opposed to pure race bike). Kinesis Maxlights are good, as are dozens of others.

The magazines have gone off on one about geometry – weirdly it is in the opposite direction to car magazines: If you saw a review of a sports car and the magazine said it was great because the steering was really slow and stable you'd think the car was boring! Apparently though that's what the magazines think we all want.

Most people do normal trail riding, and enjoy a bit of singletrack downhill – and that's why most bikes are designed for that kind of thing! They don't need to be extra slack, they're already optimised for most of us.

I'm not sure what angle your coming from

sniggers. am i the only one that got that….

jam bo – no 🙂

to the OP – I think you're looking into things too much!

I found a similar thing with my Chammy. The whole bike felt really tall, not just at the front, but it felt as though I was sat on it, not in it. I think that was more to do with the 13 inch BB height which is just way too high for a hardtail for me. I also bought a large and should have bought a medium, but I don't think it would have made any difference to the tall feeling. I now have a Genesis Alpitude and that feels great.

As for your 2 choices, the STP will climb better with a lot of seatpost as the seat angle is steeper and won't put your bum over the back wheel so much. Dirt mag really liked the Blender for razzing about the woods with not so much emphasis on the climbing. Do you have the wheelbase and BB height measurements?

to the OP – I think you're looking into things too much!

your probably right, i just want a 100mm travel frame for hacking about on. They used to make yeti dj frames in 15", sadly know only 14"