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More helpful to tell him what to try than the early posts telling him difinitively it was the wrong size and to return it. If it feels right, it is right, and if a few adjustments make it feel right...
Well I was going to do some more tinkering yesterday but the weather put an end to that!
My rear shock is well under pressure. I used to have it much firmer but when I had it serviced the LBS said I was running too firm and adjusted it (this was without seeing me on it). It's over 40psi down on Trek recommended pressures and the front about 20psi under.
My new WTB pure also arrived which is easier to get level. Same saddle as before but the new version just seems to be slightly flatter in the middle. Then again, my old one was about 6 years old and had the cheap old style padding which has gone rather soft!
I'm going to try some other bars with a bit more rise. The bonty ones are 5mm with a bit of an odd sweep so was going to try some Funn ones as they are pretty cheap. Think 15mm rise will do it as 30mm might be too much.
Currently the bars are 750mm, seem wide enough so any other bar recommendations would be good. Looked at some Carbon ones on CRC clearance but they are 740mm.
Once I have the position sorted I can decide if stem is correct length.
Thanks for all your help so far! Learning curve for me as always been on a HT which was pretty much ready to roll fit wise!
Someone has offered a 2016 Stumpjumper Comp 2016 if I wanted to swap out but the spec seems a bit backwards. 2x11 I think and revelation fork etc.
Re the shock setup, you should probably forget what the LBS said, find the recommended sag and set it up for you. Plenty of you tube, magazine articles on this. Just need to get it in the right ball park
Re the sizing, can't really help except to say I've sent taller blokes on smaller bikes on the trails. I guess don't think about the actual frames size but more whether you can get comfortable on it without butchering the geometry.
Think 15mm rise will do it as 30mm might be too much.
I doubt 30mm will be too much. That's only 25 mm over what you have now, which isn't a huge difference. You have spacers under the stem, so even if 30mm is too high, you could move the spacers up and be back to where you are now.
So today lowered saddle by about a cm - feels better
Added 40psi to the rear and 25psi to the front - sag much better!
Some kind member from here is sending me some 25mm rise bars (same width) so going to out them on. Never changed anything like stems and bars before so it's all good practice! Back when I was in my youth it was a couple of spanners to tighten v brakes and that was about that!!!
Also - how to get rid of dork ring easily!?
Thank you for all help and advice. I took her for a spin today and apart from slipping in it's lowest gear which made the climb so much fun all was so much better!
Glad to hear it fella. It's amazing how much difference 5mm here and there can make to a bike fit.
After borrowing and tinkering a lot I made the following changes:
Saddle back about 1cm and now level
Saddle slightly lower
Stem shortened from 70mm to 50mm
Bars slightly longer (by 20mm)
Higher rise (20mm vs the original 5mm) and different backsweep to the new bars (7deg vs 9deg).
I have borrowed my mates Renthal 50mm stem and Renthal lite bars with 20mm rise and after figuring out how to get the correct adjustment using the marks on the stem and the grid on the bars they felt pretty much perfect apart from I was right on the end of the grips. Took it out for a decent run yesterday and its amazing how different it feels!
Therfore I am going to order the Renthal lite 35 bars and 50mm stem as they give me that extra 10mm each side. The gold colour does not look too bad, but having tried the Nukeproof bars and some superstar ones, they just feel right.
I have spacers under the stem so I 'could' try the 30mm rise and use less spacers but going to give it another few rides out over the weekend before placing my order!
Good stuff. Glad you've sorted it with a bit of persistence.
wow, that's a load of changes!
glad that it's feeling better for you though.
It was bit by bit changes, but having gone from wanting to just throw the thing out the window in frustration I am now happy that I carried on! Plus its first maintenance type of stuff I have done without the aid of LBS lol.
Now just to get rid of the Dork Disc!
It was bit by bit changes
Totally the right way to do it.
Get roughly there then one thing at a time to refine it.
Happy riding. 😀
@jayx2a your around my height and I'm running 780 bars,was told that you should have bars at width of shoulders then add 20mm either side,I liked the flat bars at first but now on 20mm riser bars and felt better,If your struggling with the rear shock,mobbed sell it and swap for the Monarch plus,more air volume,or see if your shock will take bands to reduce air volume and might get better sag settings
You need to take the cassette off to remove the dork disc (though I did cut mine off my Boardman in 2009 because that seemed too complicated! 😉 )
It takes me forever to get my bikes dialled in - which is one reason I don't change them very often. Tweak one bit at a time and leave it for a while to make sure that I'm not mistakenly thinking different equals better. After 18 months with my hardtail it is now dialled! I think the full-sus took a similar length of time too...
An interesting thing I found a couple of weeks ago was that having my bars pretty high felt great until I was going absolute full tilt trying to chase my faster mates, and then I couldn't get enough grip on the front. Up to that point I thought they were super comfy, great handling even at speed, etc. Before then I'd had them at their lowest and they were not comfy and not so good going down steep stuff. I've ended up about halfway between those extremes.
So don't be surprised if what feels great now evolves with you as a rider.
The other thing I've noticed is on a shorter reach bike I prefer wider bars to give me more effective reach from pedals to grips. 810 on the full-sus, 750 on the hardtail.
Dork disc is gone! The rear hub comes off with the cassette pretty easily so I just unclipped the disc and took it off!
I tried some wide bars and shorter stem but just didn't feel right having my arms that wide! In actual fact my final bar choice are 10mm shorter!
So final mods and changes with thanks to all my threads and help i have managed to do it all myself (might not seem a lot to anyone but it's my first attempt at more than changing pedals!).
Renthal fatbar carbon lite 740mm bars 20mm rise
Renthal apex stem 50mm
Steerer cut down - new star nut installed.
FSA carbon spacers (just because!)
Ergon GA2 Grips
Ergon SMA3 saddle
Saddle running lower
I know a lot of people thought the bike looked too small and in a way I have made things smaller, but it's so much nicer to ride, everything now just feels right.
Thanks for all the tips, job was made easier using the cheap x tools - torque wrench, star nut installer and saw guide. Also spoke to renthal with regards to torque settings and carbon paste and they were very helpful too.
Will update with pics when the sun is back out!