my wife's new bike scares her

rayder

Active Member
my wife rode her brand new titus racer-x x-small mountain bike today for the first time and unfortunately found it hard to manage on the downhills. Her previos bike was the specialized hard rock women's specific size 15 (hardtail) I just looked at the geometry charts again(which is a joke because I'm not the mathematical kind of guy) but I did notice that this bikes top tube is about an inch and a half shorter. Does this mean alot or is it more likely she adjusting to going to full suspension with disc brakes? She says it feels fine going up and on flats. I'm paranoid that maybe we should have gotten the small instead of the x-small
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
sounds like the bike's too small. i would try a longer stem and maybe a layback seatpost to add some room to the cockpit (the local shop should hook you up) but the fact that she feels scared on downhills means she's looking over those bars too easily. i had a bike that was too small once and i hated it. top tube length is the most important measurement by far.
 

rocknrollgirl

Well-Known Member
I ride a RacerX. Although my bike does fit me, I remember feeling freaked out when I first got it because we dropped all this cash on my dream bike and I did not immediately love it. It is so much lighter than my other bike that I had trouble keeping the front wheel under control ascending and descending hills.

How tall is she?

Is there somewhere close by that you trust that you can take her for a fit?
 

rocknrollgirl

Well-Known Member
No way should she be on a small in my opinion. I know it has to do with her proportions, but I am 5"3 and 1/2...( don't forget the 1/2), and I am on an xs. NJ Jess has a small, and I stood over it and it was too big. We were also worried that perhaps I had ordered too small a frame size, but the xs fist me. I just had to get used to it.

How heavy was her previous bike? I dropped frpm 32 lbs to 25....that made a huge difference in how my bike felt.
 

Allamuchy Joe

Not White House Approved
JORBA.ORG
sounds like the bike's too small. i would try a longer stem and maybe a layback seatpost to add some room to the cockpit (the local shop should hook you up) but the fact that she feels scared on downhills means she's looking over those bars too easily. i had a bike that was too small once and i hated it. top tube length is the most important measurement by far.

The 1.5 inch difference means a lot. The bike will feel a lot "twitchier" because the wheelbase is probably smaller. Kind of light a fighter plane.

I know I had a similar situation. I rode around all day long on my 29er SS and then I switched to my Trance. The Trance felt unstable and twitchy to me for a quite a few minutes because I was used to the torque it took me to turn the 29er and my muscles were still trained for that bike. Pretty funny.

Try the longer stem and see how that goes. That might help out a bit in stablizing the bike for her.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
How heavy was her previous bike? I dropped frpm 32 lbs to 25....that made a huge difference in how my bike felt.

This is more than likely what's going on here. She's used to riding a lead brick, now she's got a nice-light bike with parts that are much more dialed. I think all she needs is a little time to get used to it and she'll be fine. If in a month she still hates it, then you have issues;)

-Jim.
 

CycleBoy

Sussex Bike and Sport
Shop Keep
I would also take a look at the head angle of the bike. The racer x is definitely a racey bike, which can be twitchy in the front end. See what the difference is. Also, just let her ride it a bit more and get comfortable. It's not unheard of to put a little more travel up front, but probably not something you want to do on a brand new bike.
 

rayder

Active Member
thanks again

the thing is now that at blue myn yesterday a few people more knowlegeble than myself saw her on the bike and thought it looked too small for her in that her knees were too close to the handlebars. while my wife was out racing I spoke with both Ellen and Jess who both ride small and are close to my wife's height. They were both very helpful and had slightly different opinions. Jess said she thought she herself should reaaly have an extra small while Ellen thought she needed the small for the top tube length. They both offered to let Lauren try their bikes bu t unfortunately we couldn't stay til the experts were done. They both said they didn't have alot of standover room if I recall. My wife's inseam is 29 and the bike's standover is 28.61 I investigated her prvious bikes top tube length and wouldn't you know it's the same as the small about 1.5 inches longer than the extra small. I believe either Jess or Ellen told me their inseam was 29 as well but I'm not sure. I'm very concerned alrady left messages at the bike store and at titus due to many people telling me the bike looked too small.
 
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