Ok so 30 years ago I did a lot of cycle touring, dropped bars, 1000’s miles a year. Fast forward after a quarter century break from cycling and I want to just do easy,short distances for exercise. As a larger lad I picked up a hard tail Merida 400 and, yes I’m out of practice but I find the bike’s handling twitchy ( steering wise) especially at low speeds.
Is it me being out or practice?
Or flat wide bars?
Or Slack head angle?
Suspension ( when I brake hard It goes down on front suspension)?
TDLR: find mtb twitchy steering, ideas?
by Real_Dr_Tiny
7 Comments
Narrower bars will be more twitchy as moving your hand a shorter distance will move the wheel more.
Its probably just that you’re rusty/getting used to a new frame
Nice view though!
That’s how it be, modern MTB and drop bar road bikes are pretty much the opposite in terms of handling. I wouldn’t call my MTB twitchy but maybe sensitive. definitely a perk when you’re on the trail
You could lengthen the stem if it feels unusable but I think you just need to get used to it.
May not help a huge amount with the twitchy feeling, but in general, your bars look like they’re rotated a little too far forward. Rotate them backward, so the sweep comes to you instead of pointing up into the air. It could help control the twitch.
Longer stem.
It could be the short stem. I’ve read longer stems might make a bike feel more stable, so 10mm could make a big difference. I wonder if flipping the bars completely forward would do the same thing, not that I would want to ride that way more than once.
That head tube angle should make the bike feel the opposite of twitchy tbh.