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A fellow tool collector who lives nearby offered me this bike. It needed air in the tires, the kickstand mounted properly and maybe needs a seat.
I've noticed that with the few mountain bikes I've ridden, there's a lot of my weight on the handlebars. The steering is very "quick" - it seems to change direction too easily. You can make quick adjustments in direction but it never feels really stable. What is the reason for this? Steering head angle? Or is it just the steering neck and bars? Or the leaning forward riding position? Can changing something make it more stable?
If I can't make it a more relaxing ride I'll be forced to sell it.
 
I read somewhere that a short stem leads to "quick" steering,
and a long stem gives more stability and precise control.
Weight-Fig.jpg

https://cyclingtips.com/2015/03/how-does-stem-length-affect-a-bikes-steering-and-handling/
 
Yup, a short stem and narrow bars can both make steering geometry 'twitchy.' Don't believe me? Try gripping your bars near the middle and ride. The farther from the headset centerline, the more gentle and exaggerated the sweep becomes.

It puzzles me how people can ride using aero bars. Lots of crashes, I guess.
 
On the other side of the same lever, wide bars give you extra power for the turns. It's not surprising that MTB bars have gotten wider, it's leverage to move those big tires. There's a formula for the changes you need to make to keep things stay the same handling wise, for every 20mm wider on the bars, you should go 10 mm shorter on the stem
 
Lol rereading my own words, I wasn't exactly clear on how to help the OP. In order to tame your steering, if you don't have a longer stem, try wider bars.
 
Not a fan of the widebars for a few reasons. Primarily, I've been riding in the dirt behind bars less than 27" wide (most on my current rides are 670mm) for around 34 years. Second, they don't fit in certain places, especially between trees and in rock gaps on the kind of trails I spend most of my time on. Clipping a bar or bashing your hand is not great, especially at speed. Lastly, putting widebars on a bicycle that was originally designed for otherwise will affect the handling that the bike was originally intended for. Yes, that handling could improve but then again, it could also be detrimental.
 
Not a fan of the widebars for a few reasons. Primarily, I've been riding in the dirt behind bars less than 27" wide (most on my current rides are 670mm) for around 34 years. Second, they don't fit in certain places, especially between trees and in rock gaps on the kind of trails I spend most of my time on. Clipping a bar or bashing your hand is not great, especially at speed. Lastly, putting widebars on a bicycle that was originally designed for otherwise will affect the handling that the bike was originally intended for. Yes, that handling could improve but then again, it could also be detrimental.

635-645 club here
 
Thank you all for the advice. I feel that the quirky steering is in the rake of the head and the trail of the fork. I plan to make some angle measurements later today. That feature is probably great when your running through tree lined paths. Meanwhile I've decided to sell the bike, it's just not my kind of bike. Although I admit it was fun to ride the last couple days. I expect it will sell quickly. I cleaned, lubed, and tuned it up and took some great photos.

 

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