Originally Posted by
goenrdoug
First thing, don't tense up. Your hands shouldn't have a death grip on the bars. I like to be in the drops and keep two fingers on each brake, ready. Make sure the other two fingers (on the bar) aren't directly behind the lever.
Next, when hitting a turn at high-ish speed. put the foot on the outside of the turn DOWN. So if you're turning left, put the right foot down and put your weight on it. This helps to keep the tires planted on the ground, carving a line around the curve.
If you really want to trip out, look of 'death wobble'. Then be sure that while descending on straights, touch the top tube with your knee(s) frequently (or constantly) and also pedal a bit here and there (even though you're spun out beyond the top gear.) These sorts of things can help avoid the bike reaching a resonance and vibrating wildly and killing you.
Thank you for being so thorough, I’ll do more research on how to descend safely since this is where I have the most issue. Over time I have learned naturally to scrunch my torso down and lift my quads up during descents because it gets the most speed without being so jarring, but I’m definitely guilty of the death grip. Mostly because I’m terrified of wiping out and it makes me feel more connected to my bike, but I can see how that makes the front wheel too rigid.
Question – about touching the top tube with knees, should it be both at the same time or alternating depending on which is higher? I have a tendency to favor putting weight in my right foot to feel stable, so my knees are almost never level when I’m coasting. I’m wondering if this is contributing to my feeling of instability, as I do the same thing during turns—my right foot is always between 5-7 o’clock. I never really thought of it as an issue, although that probably explains why I always fall to the right when I crash.
Originally Posted by
Kopsis
The tire size will make a difference - not because of the width but because of the weight. The tires on the Fuji are probably significantly lighter. The reduction in rotating mass reduces the gyroscopic effect of the spinning wheels, allowing the bike more freedom to make side-to-side movements.
It’s times like this that I regret studying chemistry in college instead of physics, haha. Are the lighter weight tires what cause the death wobble [MENTION=360047]goenrdoug[/MENTION] mentioned? I’ve noticed that lateral wind affects the direction of my front wheel significantly more than my Univega, although I’ve never lost that much control.
I’ll try moving my saddle back, seat post down, and removing some of the spacers from my stem. I was told by my LBS that the leg should extend about 90% at 6’oclock, but again that was for a much smaller bike so I could still reach the ground with no strain. As it is, I have to keep my foot flexed with heel ~4in from the ground to stay perpendicular. Makes it interesting at intersections when I inch forward in cleats to get a better position
