BarracksSi

I don't see what the wheel size has to do with it.

How are you determining your seat height? People around here forget that there are occasional riders who still want their seat so low than they can put both feet flat on the ground, so I'm wondering what you do when you adjust yours.

The quickest way to get in the ballpark is to sit on the saddle and put your heels on the pedals, then see how far your legs extend as you pedal. If, with your HEELS on the pedals, your knees lock completely straight at the bottom of the stroke, and your hips aren't rocking, you're sitting high enough, or at least within a centimeter or two. This way, when you pedal with the balls of your feet like you're supposed to, your knees will get the correct, slight bend that they need.

I'm trying to make sure you're doing this right so that you don't hurt yourself. We've had stories here and there from riders who hurt their knees by spending too much time in a bad position.

There's a bolt underneath it somewhere that you can loosen. Most riders do well with a mostly flat saddle. The most common mistake I see is tilting it too far forward, which makes your butt slide forward and puts a lot of weight on your hands.

fietsbob

Just a quick seat height check note: try pedaling for a little while with your heels on the pedal's axis.
Your leg should be fully straight and barely touching the pedal.

theres accurate measuring schemes from the Pros to be found, this is just a quick check..

comfort dictates the Handle bar height relative to the saddle , performance riders with speed over comfort go lower ,

JRA casual bars at same height or a bit higher , leg length dictates Saddle height.

espuma

Make sure the headset is not loose. That could be the problem.

groceries

The retailer steered me away from a surly cross check as he said they "do something" to the geometry in the smaller sizes. I have also read about shenanagins with geometry as bikes get smaller (ie to accomodate larger wheels).
My main gripe is just that I bought this bike as a town bike that can cover fairly large distances at speed and I'm disappointed that although I can take my hands off the handle bar, on my last bike (a carlton which was way too big for me) it begged me to take my hands off. As I'm riding in the city I don't have much to dodge but I do have to look behind and change lanes.

I've got a mountain bike (size 16" with a short stem) and a civia loring (which I thought had an issue but discovered you just have to get used to - it is designed to carry a load on the front). I still want a touring bike and am eyeing a long haul trucker (50cm with 26" wheels).

BarracksSi

If the headset were too loose, it would be clunking and banging. I'd say the real reason it flops over so easily is that it's a singlespeed and doesn't have all the usual cables (shifters, etc) that resist bar-flopping.

This girl took her LHT on a cross-continent tour over the past year:
https://abikeablefeast.blogspot.com/2...ble-feast.html

groceries

This is my set up at the moment. I put the seat up and tried riding heel on pedal and rocked as I rode so I don't think I can go higher. I seem to be leaning forwards quite a bit (ie over the handle bars).

BarracksSi

Your bike's too big, and the saddle is tilted awfully far back.

Then again, maybe you have a really, really long torso.

You need to find a better shop if you can.

groceries

The riding position seems o.k. I don't like the lack of stability and that seems to be a matter of trail (or is it rake?). I'm just going to have to ride it and I may get to like it, but I miss my old bike as on a cold morning I could ride along with my hands in my jacket.

fietsbob

as far as reach, you could try a shorter stem ,so the bars are closer to the seat, keeping the handle bars at the same height.
just not needing to reach as far..

You may want to get frame and fork checked for alignment, fork has several ways it can be off, in relation to the steerer tube ..

groceries

My reach seems fine. I ride hands on the bar and in the aggressive position and I don't get tired.
I'll make enquiries about fork alignment. I would expect (eg) a sprinter to handle like mine but not a general purpose bike.

groceries

Which ones are they? I thought the casseroll was halfway between a racing bike and a touring bike = middle of the road bike?

groceries

I've lowered the stem and it has a completely different feel now. It still has a little lurch to the side when I power off but now I feel as though the bike is surrounding me now. I also undid the brace under the seat and turned it around; this made the seat slope down a fraction (rather than point up). I may try a mustache bar as in traffic I feel a bit more vulnerable. A mirror would be handy also. I'm experimenting with a shorter stem in the picture.

groceries

no-hands balance: what makes a bike squirrely?
I found this thread on another forum which describes my problem:

"Didn't really know what to title this thread...but I've got a 58cm 5.2 Madone that I put about 350 miles/month on and have owned it for 3 yrs after upgrading from my trusty steelie. Smooth ride but always been curious what part of the bike geometry makes a bike unstable when you sit up/no hands for a break.

This came to light when I rode a Ridley Damocles yesterday and really noticed the difference. I used to be comfortable *bombing* down hills on the steelie with my mitts on the handlebar stem...would never attempt same on Trek. The Ridley brought back that same confidence...very stable. It was also a great deal firmer of a ride and seemed to be much stiffer in the headset area (virtually zero give in the forks under braking...my Trek forks track aft at least 1cm at the tip under braking).

Geometry specs- Trek top tube about an inch longer thus I'm just guessing that this places the center of gravity farther aft and the potential root cause of a less stable platform. Thoughts???

I knew I shouldn't have ridden that Ridely...now I know what I'm missing....:"

----
Agree hands-off stability is better than ultra-quick steering, at least for the riding I do. On high speed descents, will take a bike that takes a bit of steering effort to change direction and holds it's line over bumps rather than one that's darty any day. Plus, it's nice to be able to ride no-hands confidently when sitting up to stretch or take off the rain vest.

https://www.cyclingforums.com/cycling...squirrely.html