Rear Grip

[Bomble]

I’ve always had problems with the rear locking up very easily on my Trek Rail, I put it down to my lack of skill but having ridden a Whyte E160RS ive realised it’s not me On the Whyte it hardly locks the rear and it’s as though I’ve had a massive skill increase
I’ve swapped the same wheel and tyre from the Whyte onto the Trek today and it was back to the same, it just locks super easily.
Tried different brakes, tyres, shocks, pressures, body position etc but still the same.
Any ideas?

 

[Bomble]

Where’s Gary when you need him

 

[MBj1703]

Learn to brake

 

[Bndit]

Put some Sram brakes on it and it will lock no more

 

[Bomble]

Learn to brake

That’s what I thought the problem was till I rode my Whyte

 

[Mcharza]

Suspension low- and high speed compression also affect the grip of the tyre.
Are you able to adjust them?

 

[Bomble]

Yes tried both, it’s slightly better with a coil but still nothing like the Whyte. Might try a downhill spec tyre or swap my carbon wheels out.

 

[Mikerb]

with the same tyre/tyre pressure etc the amount of grip the back wheel can grab is down to 2 things. The first is about the amount of downward pressure applied to it when braking. That downward pressure can be a mix of the weight distribution of the bike plus rider position. Note that when you brake there is a tendency for rider weight to go forward ( which the rider can compensate of course) but also for the front of the bike to "dive" especially if the fork compression is too light and probably also with a steeper head angle and shorter wheelbase.
The second is whether the rear wheel remains in contact with the trail and that is largely achieved with a rear shock setting..probably mostly low speed compression and rebound. If the rear wheel skips it obviously will not find good grip.