in today's video we're gonna talk about how different writing technique plays in two different frames II AMA trees a lot of people will ask me what bike I recommend for them and without being able to see how they ride or where they ride or what they ride or anything like that it's really hard to make a recommendation when I'm out reviewing bikes some bikes feel like the bikes of yesterday like the 2000s when it rewarded a certain riding style and then other bikes like what I'm riding today my Banshee paradox are at the pointy end of the spectrum where it's super modern super aggressive and requires a completely different riding position than those other bikes and so it's hard for me to make recommendations to people without knowing what you ride like so I'm gonna demonstrate a few different ways that I've seen people ride and tell you which frame geometry suits that best I see a lot of people riding steep sections like this a more traditional way I'm gonna demonstrate where you get your hips way behind the seat and almost fully lock your elbows that's how we rode in the 90s because we didn't know any better so some bikes suit themselves well this this bike doesn't here we go way behind the seat and you can see it's a really rigid experience I've got no human suspension going on but a lot of people ride that way and slack head angles and long reaches do not suit that style very well I'm gonna go demonstrate that one more time these are the butt buzzers your butt's buzzing the seat and you can see how jerky that was so I used to ride like that in the 90s before I got used to modern bikes and before I developed some better technique I see a lot of people riding that way especially hard tails and modern bikes like this don't work very well for that the reach is long our elbows are almost fully locked we're at the end of our rope so we can't really steer we don't really absorb much and that's when you see people go OTB over the bars when they land they're so rigid they just kind of catapult themselves over if you do ride like that and some people do and some people don't change riding like that much the geometry of a more traditional bike is more suited for that style so a shorter top tube steeper head angle not so much reached because you've got more range of motion with that shorter front end and it's a little bit steeper so the wheels underneath you more so it's easier to wait on the turns and on the downs about half the bikes I review these days are better suited for that traditional old-school riding style so when I'm reviewing a bike and I talked about this suits old-school riding style better that's what I'm talking about it's it's more comfortable for that style of writing the other half of the bikes I'm riding these days have modern geometry modern is an evolving term and so we have to be careful what we call a modern bike but there is a big shift in bikes lately especially with the reach so the modern bikes have this forward shifted weight balance where the front end is inches ahead of you and inches may not sound like a lot but it makes a big difference in how you ride especially if you still have a traditional riding style so as these bikes get slacker as they get longer you need to modify your riding position to suit these and once you do that that's magical I love it it took me a while to get used to these newer bikes in fact most of the bike magazine and pink bike guys it took them a while to get used to it - they didn't use to like the longer bikes but now we all like him because we've learned how to master that so let me show you what a more modern riding style more modern approach on that same obstacle with a modern frame will look like alright notice where my chin is and how bet my elbows are here I'm completely over the front and I carried a lot more speed through there and was way more in control let's try that creepy crawling rock crawling style so I'm over the front when I'm riding most of my weight my chest my Chin's a head of the stem most of my weights pushing on that front wheel and I have a ton more human suspension so when I get to the bottom I can extend and take out that big hit instead of you know making my whole body hit that so on a more modern bike on steep downhills you're gonna have to get over the front more

modern geometry also changes how you climb with the longer front end you need to be aggressive and get over that front end or the front wheel will lift you can't just sit on the wheel lean back and spin up you can do that on flat mellow trails but let's show you what a modern bike can do going up that same section I came down you'd be surprised that these longer slacker bikes actually climb extremely well alright let's talk a little bit about cornering I'm gonna come in and demonstrate how a traditional old-school rider wood corner how I used to corner when I cornered that way it's gonna be a little bit more upright more steering with the bars and less with the feet and kind of centered over the bottom bracket that's very different than the modern one so here's the traditional old-school style

so yeah that's a lot of steering with the handlebars keeping the pedals level so you have Center weight right over your bottom bracket but modern bikes you can't really turn like that very well it felt super awkward when I was doing that on this modern bikes like this also timber jack santa cruz chameleon kona Hanzo those bikes with like a little more steeper head angle shorter reach trek stache those sort of things they still steer really well like that because the bars are close to you all you have to do is stand up and you just steer that way but when you get on these more modern longer bikes you completely have to change your technique or it will feel awkward you'll be pushing the front wheel that's what a lot of people do they get on a modern bike and they push the front wheel because all their weights over the bottom bracket in the front is just totally light they either blame the head angle or the reach or something else or the tires but what it really is is body position and you're gonna have to get over the front of that bike a lot more let me demonstrate I'm not a perfect corner I'm still working on this but you will be able to see a big difference between the two

so I'm not trying to bag on people that have an old-school riding style I know a lot of people do but as I've taken more clinics and learn how to ride my bike better and adapt it to the more modern geometry a modern riding approach coupled with modern geometry is amazing it feels so different than the traditional riding style you can still have fun no matter what you do but when I have reviews and I say this bike rides more traditional or more old-school that's what I'm talking about sent it over the bottom bracket a little more upright maybe behind the seat when you're going down stuff and when I say it's more modern you're over the front attacking the trail and really taking advantage of that good body position it makes a huge difference and a lot of people say there's no such thing as a bad bike these days I disagree with that there I've ridden a few bad bikes but what there is is the wrong bike for your riding style and so if you don't want to change your riding style and you ride old school you're not gonna like the new bikes because the front wheels gonna push your weights not going to be in the right place and if you don't change your technique they're gonna be awful if you're willing to modify your technique and really get over that front you will be rewarded with more speed more control and I feel like it's more playful I know there's this adage that shorter bikes are more playful and you can goof around on them more once you get used to a long bike I can still bunnyhop it really well I can still manual it well and the confidence I have in corners and steeps and even climbs is unsurpassed so instead of sizing down on bikes I'm finding myself sizing up on the old school ones because I want that longer reach and then I put an angle set in to make it slack or you just get a bike that's already modern like this thanks for watching I'm curious to hear your comments are you an old school rider kind of in between or a modern rider be honest and share your thoughts I'd love to hear them I also encourage you to check out some of my reviews in every review I try to teach you something and a lot of my viewers learn stuff even in a bike review of a bike they're not interested in thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe if you learned something and if you like this content so you can be notified when more comes out thanks for watching there's a party in the mountains and you're invited