Having problems with my soul steering on twisty fast turns.
It’s the newer model running Fox Float RL32’s at 120.
It understeers badly.
Stem is a 100mm
Help please, love the ride, hate the handling.
Thanks

When you say “understeers” do you mean it’s actually pushing the front end wide (ie not gripping) or is it just slow to turn?

What bars? How many spacers/how much rise overall?

Fit a shorter stem, steer ‘from the hips’ not by turning the bars.

120mm forks and 100mm stems don’t mix well on a hardtail. Try an 80. And as above, bar height may be a contributor.

I don’t think I ever ran over 70 on my Soul

The soul usually steers v nice at 120mm.

I run a 70mm zero rise stem with 710mm bars and defo wouldn’t want to go longer, if anything I would go 60mm.

As said above, imagine your belly button is a laser that points where you want to go, bike will follow.

The Darcy Turenne “Tits and ass” school. Point with your tits, and your ass will follow.

Sound like you need a shorter stem. I start to notice the steering slowing down a bit for my tastes on slow speed tight stuff when I wind the forks out to 130mm (normally run at about 110mm) and I run a 70mm stem. Mind you its fantastic at speed when set up like this. When I bought mine (an old model medium) Cy said he thought 70mm was about perfect for XC type stuff.

Kearos

When you say “understeers” do you mean it’s actually pushing the front end wide (ie not gripping) or is it just slow to turn? What bars? How many spacers/how much rise overall?

It’s pushing the front end wide. Bloody scary at times!
30mm spacers. Low rise 660mm bars.

Thanks for all the above advice. Shorter stem it is then!

I ran my original soul at 125 with 90mm stem
My new soul I run at 120 or 140 with 70mm stem. Can be a trifle quick steering but you get used to it

Shorter stem should work better all round… But if you’re pushing the front that’s a traction issue more than a control issue. So… What tyre? Are you confident that the fork’s set up right? Assuming those 2 are OK I’d wonder about technique more than anything else, but obviously haven’t seen you ride.

Shorter stem, weight through the bottom bracket, don’t turn the bars, lean the bike!

Running 130mm travel with a 70mm stem. Lovely.

Unless you are riding a large frame I would imagine having 30mm spacers means your seat and handlebar height are very similar. This may mean you don’t have much weight on the handlebars which could account for the lack of grip you are experiencing whilst turning.

Hope that helps,

Thanks, running a large frame.
6’2″ so quite a drop to the bars.
I’ll try the stem.

Fit a shorter stem, steer ‘from the hips’ not by turning the bars.

This, though 100mm isn’t exceptionally long. Soul designed for a max 90mm stem length though…

Also, weight the outside pedal whilst cornering. This means get the outside pedal to the 6 o clock position, and carry your weight on it. Weighting the bike directly through the BB will essentially make the bike handle very neutrally, and is good practice as well as the fact it will probably speed your cornering significantly.

Oh, and look at the exit of the corner, not 6 inches in front of your front wheel.

Thanks. Have been ridding for years. Motorcycle trials, mtbs, triathlon etc, was ridding a trek ex8 before this with no issues so I’m pretty sure its the set up not me (hope so anyway…)
I’ll try the stem. Appreciate all the advice. Always ready to listen, learn and get faster!