Bike fitting

well thx you all for your advice on this topic.

tankman

To illustrate how crazy it can get when you try and do it on your own, I just took the 2º of angle out of my saddle (nose down). I wanted to improve on two things. One, raise my saddle just a hair and two, when I move onto the nose (like riding hard into a headwind or TT efforts) with the nose lower-I feel all scrunched up, sliding down and feel too low-which I am sure is whats happening.

So I took out the 2º-ONLY. I rode for 1.5 hours and my shins had a dull ache, my sit bones felt spread out and also a dull ache in my gluts. ON the plus side I felt very fluid in my stroke, but lacking in power slightly. But the biggest thing and probably the cause of the dull aches was I was riding way off the back of the saddle now. LIke 2cm further back. My sit bones were on the flat back part of the saddle instead of the widest part where they are designed to be. When I moved forward-I could feel the seat digging into my crotch-unpleasant!! So that wasnt a very good solution.

NOw the chasing of the set-up begins....do I move the seat back? No, because it moves me too far behind the pedals. Do I lower the seat but leave the seat flat? Do I put the 2 deg of rake back in the saddle, but raise the saddle a smidge? I am sure like flattening the saddle-any move will have side effects.

My immediate thought and what I am going to do is go to the proffesional trained guy who fit me and see if theres a know solution for this move. IN other words, when you flatten the seat-you must then do this, this and that.

My coach and I discussed this before trying it, but he did warn that any change usually means some other chnages must be made-boy was he right.

Ray

rayhuang said:

To illustrate how crazy it can get when you try and do it on your own...My immediate thought and what I am going to do is go to the proffesional trained guy who fit me and see if theres a know solution for this move...

Ray, how come your fit needs changing after having been 'professionally fitted'. If you still have to play with the seat position, perhaps the fit was not so good?

EoinC said:

Ray, how come your fit needs changing after having been 'professionally fitted'. If you still have to play with the seat position, perhaps the fit was not so good?

I dont think theres anything wrong with slight tweaking to see if things can be better after a proffesional fit. Especially now in the off season or for me-just getting back in. Like I said-Ive never been more comfortable on a bike and that goes for the upper body and the -you know crotch!! Were only talking (I'm only talking) about changes in mm. Take this for another example-I am much more flexible than 3 months ago-so I can get lower on the bike without discomfort-so I can lower my stem or take rise out or go longer. Most proffesional fits are "lifetime" fits meaning they work with you as your body or needs change and they make "smart" changes based on science and experience..

But I am or was or will be again a racer and if your not always looking for a way to be faster-then your really not much of a racer if you ask me.

Quite frankly, I don't quite believe one can do a 2 degree seat adjustment without one of those special protractor as a guide.

sogood said:

Quite frankly, I don't quite believe one can do a 2 degree seat adjustment without one of those special protractor as a guide.

IIRC, he went from nose down to level. So, maybe he had 2 degrees of nose down or maybe he had something that just looked like it was about 2 degrees. If he went to level, he may have needed nothing more than a little torpedo level (depending on the saddle). Anyway, it doesn't detract from the essence of his post, which was that even very minor changes in fit and setup can have significant consequences.

The point I am trying to make was that manual adjustments without a protractor has a large margin of error. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ± 5-10 degrees.

rayhuang said:

I dont think theres anything wrong with slight tweaking to see if things can be better after a proffesional fit. Especially now in the off season or for me-just getting back in. Like I said-Ive never been more comfortable on a bike and that goes for the upper body and the -you know crotch!! Were only talking (I'm only talking) about changes in mm. Take this for another example-I am much more flexible than 3 months ago-so I can get lower on the bike without discomfort-so I can lower my stem or take rise out or go longer. Most proffesional fits are "lifetime" fits meaning they work with you as your body or needs change and they make "smart" changes based on science and experience..

But I am or was or will be again a racer and if your not always looking for a way to be faster-then your really not much of a racer if you ask me.

Acknowledged, Ray. How long ago did you have the fitting done?

EoinC said:

Acknowledged, Ray. How long ago did you have the fitting done?

I think in august. I compromised between the wobblenaught fit, my opinion and my coach today-lol I'm continuuing with a flat saddle and lowered it a smidge for this weekend. I hope to hit the raod tomorrow for 2.5 hours and Sunday for 3. Come-on snow-HOLD OFF!!

As for the seat angle-the biggest problem is lack of a micr-adjust seat post. One detant and Ive gone a lot-like you said-maybe 5º in one move. Maybe not 2 degrees as I originally stated-not that I am hung up on the angle in degrees so much as how it feels. When I get a micro-adjust on the bike-I will more than likely put a tiony bit of rake back in the saddle because theres no numb crotch when its like that.

Ray