Looking for your advice

Ride MTB
1

I am new to MTB and recently got this Grand Canyon 7 | CANYON CA a medium, (that was their suggestion even though my road bike from them was a large :man_shrugging:)

I think I have the seat pretty much dialled in but my hands feel heavy - like my handbars are too low for me. It looks like it was set up as high on the stem as it can go from the factory, (all the spacers are underneath). Am I looking at a longer stem now or is there something else I can do?

I will say that I have only ridden this once so far so I don’t know how much is me needed to get used to a different frame/style. It was very comfortable except for the hands.

Thanks.

2

You might be able to rotate the handlebars in the stem to raise them a little bit, but I don’t think you want to get a longer stem as that will slow down the responsiveness of the steering. What sort of terrain have you ridden it on so far? I tend to ride with my seat lower on my MTB compared to road/gravel bikes. I’m absolutely not an expert on mtb fit though.

3

Rotating the stem will bring it closer to me and will likely make it worse. Can I add another spacer? One of the thicker ones would likely be enough extra hight for me.

Just some trails so far.

4

If you have room, spacers should be fine.

5

Thanks. I will get some and try one of the 5mm ones.

6

Another option might be to replace the handlebars with ones with a larger rise.
For example these have a 30mm rise which is more then you’d get with spacers. I haven’t looked but I’m sure there are options with various heights. I’m not sure I’d recommend going that high, but a 15mm rise might help

or

Just in case you don’t have enough room on the steerer tube to add a spacer.

1 Like
7

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn’t considered changing the bar itself.

I am going to try adding a spacer first and see how that goes. Less $$$

8

modern MTB’s have really really wide handlebars. You can also look at cutting them down a bit. I know on a 2021 Giant, it was no problem to cut them down 1" on each side.

bringing your hands together might help. You can just move the controls in 1" first and see if that improves it.

2 Likes
9

If you want to test out different height riser bars, you can head downtown to Recycle Cycles, they have boatloads of new/used bars and tools available, you can quickly slap a different bar on, see how it feels, until you find the right one. Great prices for the used stuff.

4 Likes
10

is there away to increase preload on that fork? that would raise it a bit if you can increase the static height on it…

11

Maybe but as a more generous individual, the shock pressure is already pretty high :kissing:

I actually have the seat up and back a bit more now. I added a fairly big spacer and then rode this evening to check things out. Part way through the ride I stopped to rotate the handbar a bit and that seems to be more comfortable.

I expect a bunch is me getting used to a different style and geometry from my road bike. Regardless, good fun so far :+1:

1 Like
12

I wouldn’t use shock pressure (preload) to adjust ride position, you should set to adjust SAG. The amount will vary by fork and riding style and preference.

MTB definitely feel weird switching from road or gravel bikes. If you are riding mtb trails then you should be much more mobile on the bike, this can make a setup that fields uncomfortable pedaling long distances work really well. If you are using a MTB to ride shorter sections of single track and city trails in-between I would try to make it feel more comfortable with things like riser bars.

MTB fit definitely seems harder to figure out then road.