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Bike agility and handling

Could someone explain why my old Lapierre Xelius is more agile and handles more tidily than my Supersix Evo? The Xelius remains composed and neutral when shown some twisties, while the S6 evo sometimes wants to sit up in a bend, and with more than 30 degrees of lean it wants to fall into the turn...

Both bikes are set up with the same fit. Here's a video of the Xelius at work, which the S6 evo would not enjoy (France by the way so I'm on the right  1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kogqzXUMPY

Thanks for any thoughts !

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6 comments

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peted76 | 2 years ago
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This has zero to do with tyres.

The answer is frame geometry (wheelbase length, head tube angle, bottom braket height probably being the main factors).

Don't ask me to explain it.. but I know exactly what you're talking about, my TCR can be flung around corners like an agile cat, however my defintion sort of glides around corners like a swan and needs more work to get around tighter corners at speed. The definition has a slightly longer wheelbase to the TCR and I think a lower BB also.

The Supersix Evo is known to have a slightly more relaxed geometry than other bikes.

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jaysa replied to peted76 | 2 years ago
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'Like an agile cat' - ha ha that's it! The S6 evo is my daily driver so it always make me smile the way the Xelius turns corners before I've planned them smiley Maybe its me but the evo gets upset by fast tight bends like in the middle of the video. Cheers for that!

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TheBillder | 2 years ago
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Tyres? I've had those symptoms on motorcycles with tyres on the way out. Also a horrible high speed vagueness on a bicycle that I spent ages trying to find, which turned out to be caused by a badly patched tube on the rear.

So it might be worth trying a tyre switch.

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jaysa replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
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Thanks. Could be worth a try. The S6 evo has Conti GP4000 tyres that are fab but getting old...

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jn46 | 2 years ago
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When you say same fit, does that mean same stem length and bar reach on both bikes, or are they different in order to hit the same fit coordinates. Without knowing the full geometry of both bikes it's hard to say what is causing the difference, but most likely it's the combination of trail, front centre and body weight distribution.

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jaysa replied to jn46 | 2 years ago
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Thanks! I think the bar reach is the same, but the Xelius has a slightly shorter stem - 110mm instead of 120mm. I'm between saddle centre and saddle back for safe braking ...

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