Anyone found a Scandal29er too “head down”ish for trail use?

I’ve just moved from the South Downs to the midlands, and went for a ride around Cannock Chase last week – my Scandal 29er suddenly feeds very sketchy in terms of my weight being high, forwards and when the fork is compressed the front end is very low (so the short steep “riding down the rocks” bits felt rather too close to an OTB moment for my liking. I ended up riding with the fork locked out to avoid the low front end causing issues.

Has anyone had any success with a slackset on a Scandal 29er, did it make much difference?

I do have options to raise the bars (they can come up an inch), put risers on, and even to swap to a larger size frame (I’ve got a larger but identical frame built up as a rigid singlespeed), but would appreciate some input before investing time / money swapping parts around.

(Is the frame just fundamentally to low at the front for trail use?)

Thanks all,

Mark

a bigger frame will increase the front-centre, shifting your weight-share back a bit, and meaning you could use a shorter stem without getting cramped.

(a slackset will do sort of the same thing, but won’t give you any more room between the saddle and bars – meaning a shorter stem may leave you feeling cramped)

(try both?)

use a bit more pressure in your forks? – and reduce the pressure in the front tyre to deal with the small lumps and bumps.

use a go-go-gadget seatpost? – so the saddle is fighting you aver the bars.

(Is the frame just fundamentally to low at the front for trail use?)

definitely not. A scandal is close to perfect for the awesome singletrack at Cannock.

Saddle too high? Get a dropper post and drop it and yer arse over the back wheel for the gnar!!

Fat(ter) front tyre and more fork pressure, my Superlight exhibited the same sort of issues. Shorter stem helped too.

How long is the headtube on the frame? I’d imagine it’s a fairly standard length.
Apart from that the height of the front will be determined by your forks, stem and bars, not the frame.

When i first bought mine, i ran a 100mm fork with old quick release, this got replaced by 120mm Rebas with slackset. I actually preferred running it at 120mm but with normal headset and sold the slackset on, the extra 20mm slackened it off a fraction anyway i guess.

How long is the headtube on the frame?

Don’t On One’s run a shorter than usual headtube to give extra standover? That’s why they recommend 400mm seatposts, if I remember correctly.

But yeah, dropper seatpost!

The frames are CEN tested with 100mm forks hence they are only sold as such bug I’ve seen entry with 120mm. Even Brant I think ?? But the frames geometry do appear to be steep.
I was looking at one and went for a slacker Trek Stache 😀
Swapping to the bigger frame but with shorter stem would help

This is the stuff I was thinking of:

On One FAQ

Thanks all, that’s good confirmation that it’s worth fiddling before thinking of other frames. Now to find out whether my 100mm 2012 rebas are swappable to 120mm…

I am selling my reba xx forks which are 120mm.

I ran them on my scandal (also selling!)

Sounds to me like you need some smaller wheels….. 😆

I’ve got a scandal, But I had the slackset fitted from new and it’s never felt twitchy or too steep.

Scandalous – tempting but I’m trying to keep it low cost, unless someone wants to buy my 100m forks though that is.

Iainc 😆 has their been any discussion on this on the forum?

Sounds like you just need the bigger frame.

I have 100mm Rebas on a 19.5 and never felt it was too steep or twitchy.

And i am normally the first to slacken off a bike or raise the bars.

Get a Reverb. Sorted.

Actually, what was I thinking? Go on a skills course. 😉

Cheezpleez – oi! I’m rad to the power of gnarr already, just planning to graduate to gnarr plus

Twitchy isn’t the issue, I like the fast handling, certainly don’t want to lose that. I’ve an on one 456 with girly-sized wheels (see what iI did there Iainc?) in pieces in the garage that I never gelled with, too vague and slow handling for my liking hence the switch to the scandal but now just some fine tuning needed

Conversely I have found mine better than I expected on steep stuff – running a 100mm reba. Better than the 26 inch xc hard tail it replaced for sure. Gotta nice short stem and wide bars on which helps I think.

Riser bars, shorter stem. I rode mine like that for years and loved it on every trail there was.

80mm stem, 720 mm low riser – spot on.
Biggest improvement I made was bolt thru forks.

Which bit of the midlands have you moved to? If you want a different style of terrain, natural, rooty etc try the south midlands, Lickeys/Wyre forest etc

Obviously this hasn’t answered your question, just welcoming a newcomer 😉

Yeah Cannock can in places be loose and sketchy but Wyre Forest is smoother singletrack on dirt/mud

A dropper post could well be the answer. I’ve got an Inbred 29er which have the same frame angles AFAIK with a dropper post and Rebas and have no problems with the handling on the descents. I even use it in tight singletrack as you can get lower into the bike on the corners.

Dropper posts seem to be getting a lot of votes … I did drop my saddle a couple of inches half way around and it made a difference – I’ll have a try with the seatpost dropped by as much as a dropper would allow and see how that works out then decide if it’s worth the expense/weight/extra bits to break.

I’m currently running a 19.5″frame with a 70mm stem and 685mm wide low rise bars (I’m 6’1″) – I may try swapping the suspension forks onto the singlespeed (that’s the next frame size up) and see how that goes to help decide what parts to build where. Which makes for a singlespeed lap of Cannock – how gnarr is that? (I’m not gnarr enough to try it singlespeed AND rigid – although I’m sure there are folks who will say it’s fine that way for real men).

I’m close to Daventry, and will check out Lickeys/Wyre for some other places to ride as Cannock is an hour away.

I’ve got a weekend pass for the wekeend of the 21st Sep (8 month old twins at home so that’s a rare occurance) so am contemplating what to do – a welsh trail center weekend is top of the list right now, hence wanting to get the bike set up right before the off.

Cannock is perfect for singlespeed. Short sharp climbs are what they’re best at! Can’t speak for rigid though; I’ve not made that jump yet…

I run my Scandal with 715mm riser bars and a 60mm stem. It’s awesome on trails.

Then again it’s a 26er so a bit better generally 😉

Rode the Dragons back at Brenin on Sunday, now that is a punishing trail on a HT but the bike never struggled, just me 😀

Is a 130mm fork on a 19.5″ 29er frame overkill?
70mm stem and 740mm bars

I’d try a dropper mate it will make a huge difference to how you ride the bike. It’s the best thing I’ve fitted to my ar$e up head down race bike.

80mm Reba, 50mm stem & a low-rise bar on my SIR9 round Cannock.
Its about as good as any bike I’ve ridden, but will get the fork serviced & up to 100mm when I put the rigid back on for the winter.

I rarely ride the Monkey Trail though. Most rides I use the Follow the Dog as a start & finish but extend it out over Sherbrook Valley side, on some of the quieter trails. Theres loads of stuff over there thats perfect for a Scandal etc.
Happy to lead you round a few but in honesty you cant get that lost over there.