Mondraker Vantage Steering

Calx

Hi all,

My first post so go easy on me.

I'm returning to mountain biking after a lengthy break, mainly for fitness purposes. I used to be really into it but it's been well over a decade so things are very different. I got myself a this years' Mondraker Vantage R+ and have been really enjoying getting back out there, but the steering scares me shitless.

"super-light steering made it something of a white-knuckle ride" I read in one of the reviews, and this is no joke.
I realise this is supposed to be a 'hardcore hardtail' and i'm really into that, but does anyone have any advice on avoiding the near death I seem to be encountering every time the trail goes downhill. The bike is fast, I can feel that - but I don't think I'm hitting the speeds i should be before having to ease off for fear of losing it.

Any techniques I can try? (Other than just slowing down) Any adjustments i can make? With Forward Geo I've heard a lot about weighting the front fork too. I'd like any advice on getting down the trails fast and in one piece.

Nice to meet you all

Cheers

Dave

neilus

Hiya
I seem to be riding pretty well (for me anyway) at the mo, something i notice i do instinctively when im flowing is that im always looking 3/4 meters ahead down the trail. You identify anything problematic in advance so youre well prepared and gives you the confidence to attack knowing there arent any gremlins coming up cos you'd have seen them before.
Like when skiing, I imagine my body position as a smooth "S" shape, torso, upper and lower legs making the shape, weight centralised and springy.
And like in cricket, they say play with soft hands...not so soft that your hands will be flying all over the place, firm but not sqeezing the grips like mad which just seems to encourage stiffness/tension and poor steering. On a good run i feel like im just nudging the bars pretty gently to bring the change i direction i need and let the speed/momentum do its thang.
Ive had steering issues in the past ... im not very experienced myself so what ive said might be bad advice but they work for me...

rockmonkeysc

Try removing spacers from under the stem to drop the bars and get some more weight over the front.

Calx

Thanks both - I went out with this in mind today and It was literally as simple as getting my weight right forward, like way more forward than feels right, really quite counter intuitive but made all the difference. Appreciated!

Calx

Ha! Well that's reassuring.

"We’ll admit to struggling on the first couple of rides on the Vantage. To get the most out of it you need to ride the fork – getting your weight further forward than you might be used to is necessary to get the most out of the geometry. It’s similar to skiing – you need your weight forward, even if it feels counter-intuitive. Get it right and you’ll be carving corners all day long."

Source

lawman

Mondraker's need to be ridden pretty hard and aggressively to get the best out of them and require you to ride over the front of the bike all the time to get the front end working like it should. Takes a little while to get used to but I found once you adapted it worked well. Bit tiring on longer rides as you constantly have to ride 100%. I had a foxy for 18 months and liked but felt like too much bike for me a lot of the time, it did have a 160mm fork mind!

Calx

lawman wrote:

liked but felt like too much bike for me a lot of the time

Yeah i'm starting to understand this - it's quite a brutal, white-knuckle design.