What if I am going downhill and sense possible trouble. What is the first thing to do?
GET AS LOW OVER BB AS I CAN:
-getting low over the central balancing point of the bike (over the seat area and BB). If I get low the rear will move back AS A RESULT OF GETTING LOW
-elbows a bit forward as if doing regular (not military style) pushups.Or as if you were holding a basketball at chest level.
This will not work is the seat is high (impossible to get low in this case). So people move behind the seat as a compromise. This is not ideal as:
-the bike is not centrally and evenly balanced
-arms are already extended and can't be used pushing the bike forward if needed
-front wheel is unweighted and is ready to slip sideways which means imminent fall
Telescopic seat post may be an answer to the above dilemma. One word of caution. Sometimes the telescopic seat may still be too high even if completely retracted. This may give a false sense of security as I endoed once thinking that I was low because I retracted the seat but I was still overall high.
The picture provided helps understand this point. The seat is clamped in such a way that it will be still way too high for OVERALL (albeit fully retracted) downhill height for me.
