6/22/09 McAllister Park

In my continuing quest to conquer my back problems, I tried out a different bike today. I rented a large 29" Specialized from Ride Away Bikes. I wanted to see if a different bike had any effect on how my back does during a mountain bike ride. I learned some things.


First, I learned that I really like the 29" wheels. They rolled over everything and really smoothed out the trail. They aren't so awesome that I'm going to rush out and buy a new bike tomorrow, but when it comes time to replace my current bike the new one will have 29" wheels. Definitely.


Second, I learned that I really like SRAM's trigger shifters. They just feel very intuitive. I've been riding Shimano XTR shifters for over 10 years, and it only took me about fifteen minutes to get used to the SRAM shifters. Fifteen minutes after that I was in love with them. They just worked great. The ones on the bike were the X-7 model, so I figure that the top-of-the-line X-0 models probably work even better. I'm definitely using SRAM on my next mountain bike.


The big takeaway from the day, though, was a change to my seating position. Since the bike was a large, which is bigger than I usually ride, by the time I got the seat height adjusted the bars were slightly above the seat. My current bike has the bars about two inches below the seat (or more). Bars below the seat is the standard position for mountain bikes (and road bikes, for that matter). I found that the bars being seat height made a huge difference. My back wasn't perfectly pain free, but the difference was very noticeable. I immediately ordered a new high-rise handlebar when I got home. I have high hopes for it.


So, renting the bike turned out to be well worth it. It's always nice to learn new things.