Re: Leather Saddle Update

On 5/21/2025 12:12 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

zen cycle <funkmasterxx@hotmail.com> wrote:

On 5/20/2025 5:43 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 5/20/2025 2:00 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 5/20/2025 8:02 AM, Roger Merriman wrote:

>
Only sore wrists/hands or rather arm pump is from 1980/90’s  MTB’s on long
descents, where you could get for arm pump, some of my fellow Gravellers
get arm pump ...

>
What's "arm pump"? I'm unfamiliar with the term.
>

Sore fore arms from braking, on longer technical down hills, aka stuff your
constantly reapplying the brakes.

>
Ah. I remember my wife complaining about that from one long, steel
descent. She refused to ever ride that hill again.
>
Thanks.
>
>

I’ve not heard it ever used by roadies but MTBers whose terrain will push
brakes rather harder, and why they have 4 pot and bigger rotors and so on.
>
This said my MTBing even at my weight two pot seems ample the SLX finned
stuff I’ve yet to get it to fade, which I did with the original brake set,
with the same rotors.
>
Roger Merriman
>

>
Wrists, neck, and arms will get sore from braking down a long steep road
descent.
>

I’m sure though not to the same level as say 90’s MTB even the CX bike I
had with truely woeful cantis, while did I did need to keep pulling and
quite hard, and generally focused more on braking than on the Gravel bike
with discs, wasn’t enough to give me sore arms I am admittedly fairly
solidly built and all that.
 Ie good reasons that MTB’s went disk first.

It doesn't have much to do with the quality of the brakes. In a road bike position on a steep downhill, you have to keep your ass on the back of the the seat but reach forward to the brakes and keep your head up. By steep downhill I'm  thinking well in the double digits range. One downhill that meets these details is the Cathedral Ledge access road in New hampshire.
https://www.strava.com/segments/5725330
The overall is only 10%, but there are long sections over 20%. The pavement is narrow and choppy with frost heaves, so you can't just let it go. By the time you get to the bottom your hands and wrists are sore from the death grip on the brakes. You have to stretch out to keep the real wheel on the ground, so your neck is sore from the extreme angle looking forward while on the steep downward slope.
Disk brakes won't heal any of that.