# New Bike Day :D



## ChrisEyles (3 Jun 2018)

Well, not quite as I've had the bike for a little while now, but this is the first time I've actually got to use it in anger! 

This winter I struggled with poor performance of V brakes in the wet and mud and have been lusting after hydraulic discs for a while. That was enough of an excuse to get on gumtree to treat myself after getting a new job, so without further ado here's my new ride, a 2010 GT avalanche  














The bike's a large frame, whereas I normally take a medium. However it comes up quite short for a large so the reach is pretty much perfect. It's also pretty tall though, so I've struggled a bit to get the bars low enough: 






But should be able to fix that with flat bars rather than risers. Might try a slightly shorter stem at the same time. I know it's a bit of a fad at the moment but I could get away with it without cramping the cockpit too much, and I'm curious to see what it does to the handling. 

...not that much really needs changing there - I was initally a tad underwhelmed riding up and down the road outside my house at low speed, but out on the trail today it's probably the most natural handling MTB I've ridden yet, and surprisingly easy to throw around for a large-ish heavy-ish frame. 

Itching to get out on the trails now!


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## Big Dave laaa (6 Jun 2018)

Genuine question but why do you want the bars so low? Most modern hard tail geometry sets the bars quite high, so that you don't dive too low when you compress the fork. Obviously it's a personal choice but I'd feel uncomfortable on steep descents with the bar set that low.


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## Threevok (6 Jun 2018)

I love an Avalanche. I had one or another in my life for so long, I miss having one.

Agree about those bars being low though

Look how high they were on mine for comparison


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## ChrisEyles (6 Jun 2018)

Haha, maybe I am still stuck in the 90s when it comes to MTB geometry.... on my old-school MTBs I've got on best with the bars being 1"-2" below the saddle at optimum pedalling height, and that's currently where I feel most comfortable on this bike too. 

Because the frame is slightly larger than I usually ride, there's less seatpost showing (the pics show the seat just shy of optimal pedalling height), so although the bars look low compared to the head tube, they're currently roughly level or just below the top of the saddle when the fork's set at 85mm - 100mm travel. 

When I put the fork on full travel (135mm, probably a tad longer than intended for the frame but I think the avalanche is burly enough to take it) the bars are sufficiently high that I feel like I'm having a little difficulty weighting the front wheel as much as I'd like going into turns. It feels awesome on descents, but slightly sketchy diving into fast flat turns. 

I guess I could compensate for this by bending my arms a lot more and getting my chest down towards the stem - never really had to do that on any of my retro MTBs. 

I'd also like to have a play with a shorter stem, and my thinking goes that if the bars are coming in towards you, they'll also need to go a tad lower to keep weight over the front wheel. Should still be plenty easy enough to shift weight back for the downhills though. 

Does that sound halfway sensible... or am I missing the point of modern geometries here (entirely possible!)?


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## ChrisEyles (6 Jun 2018)

Been out for quite a few after-work blasts on this one already and other than the above niggles (which in practice are more minor than they probably read) I'm loving it


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## Threevok (7 Jun 2018)

Wider bars will get you lower. Shorter stem (on it's own) will not though. You would need to go longer with your existing bar size.

You can also try a stem with a lower rise, or use one that is reversible (so you get a minus rise)

I have wide bars and long stems on both my bikes - 780mm bars and 110mm stem (3 deg rise) on the Inbred, and 800mm with 90mm stem (5 deg rise) on the Virtue. Both have the saddles above the bars

PS : Don't run the forks above 120mm. That's how I killed the frame pictured above


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## Crackle (7 Jun 2018)

Have you been down the Widowmaker on it yet?


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## ChrisEyles (7 Jun 2018)

@Threevok thanks for the tip, I was wondering about this a little, will keep the forks to 120mm or below! 

I'm running 720mm bars which I get on with really well. I've already flipped the (90mm) stem for a 17 degrees negative rise, which looks odd but I found it necessary to get the 30mm riser bars low enough. 

I've found long stem and wide bar give a less responsive handling than I prefer, hence the wish to go shorter and lower with the stem. I've got a +/-7 deg 60mm stem, +/-17 deg 90mm stem and +/-7 deg 100mm stem to play with as well as some flat bars on order so should be able to arrive at a set-up that works for me. 

The ideal would be a relatively bent-over riding posture for XC mileage, with the right weighting over the front wheel in my natural attack position, that's also easy to shift weight backwards for downhills. Don't know if that's all achievable with one set up though! Don't mind so much about manualling perfomance as I suck at that anyway. 

@Crackle - not yet, but looking forward to it when I get the chance - been a while since I've ridden it on a hardtail, should be fun


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## Threevok (7 Jun 2018)

In which case the 60mm maybe the best although you may then find 720 bars a little narrow. It's all trial and error

It's very hard to keep the nose down on an AV - especially on steep climbs - even with the heavy beast of a fork like my Tora's.


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## ChrisEyles (7 Jun 2018)

Gonna try the 60mm stem with the 720mm flat bars and see how I get on. Would definitely consider going a bit wider if that doesn't do the job.

I do enjoy clearing steep and tricky climbs and so far haven't had any problems with the front lifting or wandering excessively (usually struggle with that more when I get tired and technique goes to pot).


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## Threevok (7 Jun 2018)

The Mill Road section of this climb was the biggest problem on the AV

https://www.strava.com/segments/10073581

I used to stand and lean forward with my hands basically 6 inches each side of the stem

The climb the other side is the same

https://www.strava.com/segments/4954743

That's the problem living in a valley - you have to climb out before you start having any fun


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## ChrisEyles (11 Jun 2018)

Just fitted the 60mm stem and took the bike for a spin around the local BMX race track, and it feels very nice indeed. 

The bike still handles very nicely, both in and out the saddle. I'll have to get used to it, especially at lower speeds but first impressions are I like the 60mm stem more than the 90mm one. Will have to see how it performs on steep uphills before getting too excited though. 

Bars still feel too high to achieve a nice efficient mile-munching posture but the flat bar's in the post to solve that. 

I also ordered a dropper post the other day..... even though I got a bargain basement one it was still eye wateringly expensive for a seatpost! But having ridden a friend's bike with dropper post recently it was pretty awesome, so I grudgingly reckon it's just about worth the cost.


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## ChrisEyles (11 Jun 2018)

One other quick question - for those that can/do manual, is ease of this affected mainly by reach or bar height? 

I pulled off my first ever proper manual (first time I've ever held the balance point over the rear wheel even for a second), which I guess must be down to the shorter stem. Sort of hoping that dropping the bars won't reduce my fledging manual back to my usual front wheel lift...


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## Jody (11 Jun 2018)

ChrisEyles said:


> One other quick question - for those that can/do manual, is ease of this affected mainly by reach or bar height?



Higher rise bars and/or shorter stem will make it easier to manual.


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## ChrisEyles (11 Jun 2018)

Yeah, I suspected the higher bars were helping with the manualling too. 

I'm having quite a lot of fun playing around with different set-ups to balance long-distance comfort & efficiency and playful handling. 

And my inner nerd enjoys calculating sines & cosines of head tube angles to work out how much flipping the stem etc will raise/lower the bars


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## Threevok (11 Jun 2018)

ChrisEyles said:


> One other quick question - for those that can/do manual, is ease of this affected mainly by reach or bar height?
> 
> I pulled off my first ever proper manual (first time I've ever held the balance point over the rear wheel even for a second), which I guess must be down to the shorter stem. Sort of hoping that dropping the bars won't reduce my fledging manual back to my usual front wheel lift...



Lucky you - I can't pull the simplest of wheelies on either of my bikes - due to the 90mm and 110mm stems no doubt

Thinking of going 60mm on the Virtue though


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## ChrisEyles (11 Jun 2018)

@Threevok - the avalanche wheelied a little too easily when climbing, even with the 90mm stem (current seatpost probably has too much setback)... but I still can't keep the front up in the air for more than four or five pedal strokes without looping out or crashing back down to earth. Guess it's just practice! 

Manualling was a bit of a breakthrough though, still can't do it but now seems tantalisingly possible rather than totally unachievable!


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## Threevok (11 Jun 2018)

Yeah, as I mentioned before, they can be a handful on climbs, even when standing up


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## ChrisEyles (29 Jun 2018)

@Threevok switching to an inline (dropper, but that's irrelevant) seatpost seems to have made my avalanche much better behaved on steep climbs. 

Only drawback is the reach to the bars now feels a smidge short when seated, but I think I can live with that as the standing reach feels pretty darn good as is, and I like the more easily loft-able front end with the slightly shorter stem. 

Loving this bike, took it out to the local trail centre with friends the other day and it was great. Pretty fast (compared to my old retro bouncer) with a really confidence inspiring planted feel on the descents. 

What I was looking for was something between the monster-truck sheer capability of the 29er hardtail I used to ride and the quicker, more playful handling of my 90's rigid 26" bike.... and I reckon I've achieved that to my satisfaction.


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## ChrisEyles (29 Jun 2018)

Oh yeah, and the dropper post is flippin' awesome, though anyone who's ever ridden one on technical terrain will already know that  

Last tweak to make will be fitting those flat bars when they finally arrive in the post. I don't think I'll drop the actual bar height by more than 1cm, but it will mean the stem is no longer flipped and slammed so I'll be able to play around and see what feels best.


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## ChrisEyles (2 Jul 2018)

Just back from a day's riding beasting myself around North Dartmoor. Nineteen miles with ~2,500ft climbing, a route I've done before but it wasn't half hard going in the heat! 

It's the first long-ish tough-ish ride I've done on the GT and it performed admirably. The in-line seat post clamp has worked wonders on the climbing. It still requires quite some bend of the waist to weight the front wheel and stop it wandering about, but the front didn't lift on me once despite tackling some pretty steep semi-technical climbs and it felt like all that was holding me back on the way up was my legs, which is the way it should be! The dropper post allowed me to ride a couple of big bouldery drop-offs in ways I'd not even have attempted with a rigid post, and put a big smile on my face on some of the faster descents.


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## ChrisEyles (4 Jul 2018)

I've got a week's holiday between jobs this week, so not content with having quite sore legs from my Dartmoor outing, I did Exmoor today on the GT (the bike was my leaving present to myself with some of the overtime I was owed). 

I knew I was absolutely knackered when I got back to the car (well, a bit before that actually... I might have had to push the last hill climbing Dunkery Beacon the second time), but I just mapped it and it came out as 22 miles with 4,600ft elevation, which is definitey a record for me! 

As well as some brutal long climbs, there were some pretty epic descents, and it surprised me quite a bit how much tougher terrain I can comfortably handle on this bike compared to previous MTBs I've owned. I always assumed rider skill was by far the biggest factor, but it seems that hydraulic discs and a half decent fork count for quite a bit too.


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## Threevok (5 Jul 2018)

Yes a decent fork and brakes make all the difference

BTW - GT triple triangles ride like an anvil - so if you can manage all that rocky downhill stuff, imagine what you'd be like on a full susser ?


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## ChrisEyles (5 Jul 2018)

When I rode a few of the Exmoor sections on my old FS bike it was certainly faster on the rocky downhills, but not necessarily any more fun. 

On a groomed trail at a trail centre you can be confident there won't be any nasty surprises around the corner (or if they are, they will have been designed to be essentially rideable) carrying that sort of speed is great. On natural trails I try and keep my speed down a bit so FS tends to just means a bit more braking in places, which can sometimes be tricky on those sort of loose rocky descents. 

The only places I've actually really missed rear sus have been in long slogs through fields where livestock have trampled up the ground and it's been baked solid by the sun into a bumpy mess. I find it really hard to compensate for that sort of terrain with good body movement, with the result that you get bumped all over the place expending a lot of energy to go forward quite slowly. 

There's certainly not much flex in the GT frame, but I've taken a few drop-offs on it now and I'd say it feels reassuringly solid rather than anvil like


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## ChrisEyles (5 Jul 2018)

Have to say the dropper post is a huge factor too in descending confidences.


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## Threevok (5 Jul 2018)

Shame I can't get one to fit the Virtue

I may stick one on the Inbred though


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## southcoast (6 Jul 2018)

Threevok said:


> Yes a decent fork and brakes make all the difference
> 
> BTW - GT triple triangles ride like an anvil - so if you can manage all that rocky downhill stuff, imagine what you'd be like on a full susser ?



Why not have both, hardtail and full susser?


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## Threevok (6 Jul 2018)

southcoast said:


> Why not have both, hardtail and full susser?
> 
> 
> View attachment 417932



Sweet 

There are not enough "likes" for this post


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## ChrisEyles (6 Jul 2018)

Nice!


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## southcoast (7 Jul 2018)

ChrisEyles said:


> Nice!



Thanks, it’s a 2001 Avalanche. I have covered most of the North and South Downs on it. Bought it new from a shop in Fulham.

Your bike looks nice, really good condition for a 2010.


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## southcoast (9 Jul 2018)

Threevok said:


> I love an Avalanche. I had one or another in my life for so long, I miss having one.
> 
> Agree about those bars being low though
> 
> ...



Threevok how many GT Avalanche bikes have you owned?


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## Threevok (9 Jul 2018)

southcoast said:


> Threevok how many GT Avalanche bikes have you owned?



I've built two AV's over the last 6 or 7 years - A 2005 frame and a 2007 frame


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