Congrats to myself for celebrating my birthday yesterday with a new (and also my very first) MTB, a Trek Fuel EX8. I've been riding on the road for 15 years but I'm new to mountain biking.
I live in Pasadena, CA, so anyone who's from the area and can give me some directions for nice trails let me know!
Yeah it was indeed too high, I measured the distance between my BB and top of the saddle on my road bike and set this to be the same on my MTB but it looked a little weird and also did not feel that comfortable. I lowered it by about 15mm which seemed to be a lot better. I don't know what the general rule is for saddle height comparison between road and mountain bikes - if there is really one?
I have a question - when taking the wheels out and putting them back it it's somewhat tricky to avoid the brake disc not touching the brakes, and it's difficult to see if that's the case. Is ther a trick to this?
I know a couple guys who got into MTB's after serious road biking do the same thing. The high seat will feel more natural to you at first but it will take only your first moderately squirly downhill to cure you of this
As someone who pretty much started with MTB's I did the opposite - I had to learn to put the seat up to get more power and spin on flats and uphills. Just playing around with seat height on your first rides will probably teach you all you need to know.
Nice bike!
The high seat made me wonder if the frame is large (long) enough for you.
For cross country style riding (as opposed to downhill and jumping) the seat positioning should be very close to road positioning. For steep descents and very rough ground, lowering the seat makes it easier to move around the bike.
I have a question - when taking the wheels out and putting them back it it's somewhat tricky to avoid the brake disc not touching the brakes, and it's difficult to see if that's the case. Is ther a trick to this?
So what if the disk touches? It won't hurt anything. Some people have problems with the pads closing together when the wheel is removed (hint: never squeeze the brake lever when the wheel is off) so they make a spacer to keep the pads apart while the wheel is removed.
I actually have a spacer and put it in on my way home, but it was quite difficult to take it out afterwards. And I couldn't put the wheel in again without major brake friction. Will take a closer look today.
I purchased an EX8 about 2 months ago and I totally love it. Always nice to see another one out on the trails.
Ride hard!
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