Counter intuitive solution to a problem that may not exist

Had my Kenevo well over 5 years now and have always got on well with it. Occassionally I’d feel a bit like I’d be prone to an OTB – too far over the front. Last year I mulleted it  – 29 front end from 27.5. To be honest, it totally transformed the bike – felt great climbing and descending.

Then I built my Big Al – never had a bike that feels so sorted geometry wise – it’s longer and lower than the Kenevo, but not massively.

Now, sometimes on the Kenevo on a techy section, I’ll feel like the bars are ‘under me’ a little too much with a feeling that my weight is going to go over them.

I’m sure a lot of this is just to do with adjusting body position – and I do find myself adjusting my weight a little further back to compensate. It’s only really come to my attention since riding the Big Al so much

However, I’m thinking – would swapping from the current 35mm stem to a 50mm stem help with this? I’ve always had a habit of bringing bars back towards me and a higher rise to allow for my long legs/short torso, so a longer stem might feel counter intuitive, but maybe pushing the bars away might actually help?

Need some guidance before shelling £100 on a new Hope stem

Need some guidance before shelling £100 on a new Hope stem

Borrow a stem first?

Try raising your brake lever position to see if that will help get your position further back and less of a “over the front” feeling.

Borrow a stem first?

Well, there is that option

Probably need saving from myself tbh – standard practice for me would be to buy one anyway with the intention of selling the one I don’t prefer. And it ends up sat in the spares box forever

https://amzn.eu/d/23IxeZM

Try raising your brake lever position to see if that will help get your position further back and less of a “over the front” feeling.

Could do and I’ve read this before – they aren’t angled too far down though. I tend to sit on the bike, stretch my arms out and make a straight line with my fingers to get the angle. Don’t really wan’t them verging on horizontal, but there’s room to move them up a bit – will try it

@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – it sounds like your Kenevo is too small for you. I had the same problem with my last full sus bike. At the time I bought it, it was bigger than my previous bike and felt more confidence inspiring, however as I started to ride more challenging stuff on it, it had a tendency to throw me OTB.

A longer stem may help the ergonomics of your arm and elbow position and allow you to better resist pitching moment, but it isn’t going to change the weight distribution which is the fundamental problem IMV.

Now having two bikes that fit me, both a full sus and a hardtail, it’s amazing how much more confidence inspiring they are.

I’ve had similar feelings on my bike, especially when switching between different rigs. A longer stem might help, but it’s also possible it’s just a matter of adjusting your riding style/position.

surely you want to shift your weight back a little on the FS as you have suspension? IME you ride a long travel HT like a pogo stick to some extent…

It’s my experience that you just have to try this stuff out. My approach is cheap stem first. I have a couple now, to help me test for fit as bikes come and go. Same with bars too.

I did ride with a chap who had a tendency to buy frames a size too small, fit the fronts out low and go OTB with a much greater frequency than one would expect. Looked like a T-Rex riding – all cramped in and hunched.

Have you considered dynamic fork sag? If there’s not that much difference in fit between the bikes maybe this is a factor?

it sounds like your Kenevo is too small for you.

It’s a large and I’m 5’11”, so I think it’s the right size

It is reasonably old school geometry though, hence I’ve had my head turned a bit by the Ragley

Have you considered dynamic fork sag? If there’s not that much difference in fit between the bikes maybe this is a factor?

It’s not so much that I’m actually going otb – the front is nice and slack, 180mm forks and a 29 front end when it was originally 27.5. it’s actually really good on steep stuff. It’s more an occasional feeling of the bars being too close when I’m hovering over the bike with my weight centered

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR

180mm forks and a 29 front end when it was originally 27.5

That’s a big change  – was it the kenevo that came with 180 boxxers and 27.5 wheels originally? And you have a 180 fork and 29 wheel on there instead?

That’s a big change  – was it the kenevo that came with 180 boxxers and 27.5 wheels originally? And you have a 180 fork and 29 wheel on there instead?

It was the original kenevo with 180mm Lyriks

There was some talk on here when I did it that I would be daft sticking at 180mm when I went 29 up front – however the bike works so well in this set up generally. The consensus with other Gen 1 owners that have done the same is that it’s an ideal set up.

However (I know reach is static) this, combined with a couple of spacers under the stem will have effectively brought the bars quite a bit closer – so maybe a longer stem would suit it. Gonna try on anyway and see

Yeah, 29er wheel and spacers will have brought the bars up higher and a lot closer to you – and reach isn’t static there –  raising the front end with the larger wheel will shorten the reach a little.

Is it a 29er lyrik, or a bigger fork? A Zeb/38 will have a longer a2c also, to that will contribute a few more mm to the raised front

EDIT – comparing the Big Al o the Kenevo – 480 reach on the Big Al in Large, 455 on the Kenevo – and bear in mind that a hardtail’s reach gets longer under sag, while your Kenevo with the lifted front will be a bit shorter than 455 – it’s no surprise you feel the Kenevo is a bit underneath you.  I remember a similar feeling when I bought the a Last Fast Forward, was just a bit longer than everything else I had at the time, my other bikes quickly started to feel too small, and I liked the extra length of the frame so much that I’ve had three Geometron frames since

Ah. Not that similar then.

Big Als are super slack as are Mmmbops like mine.

The ‘logic’ said I should run a 35-40mm stem on the Bop, but I went back to 50mm to get more weight on the front and it improved matters greatly.

Borrow a stem first, maybe?

ScienceofficerFree

Ah. Not that similar then.

Could be a 40mm difference in reach, I’d say – that’s two sizes for some bikes