The Bike Fitting Mega-Thread

I no rite? That was at the start of the fit. Weirdly I’m quite happy to ride there for an hour or so indoors (longer outside), with a bit of shoulder discomfort but that isn’t getting me across the line of a long distance event :slight_smile:

Definitely a work in progress. I’m going back for the front end after I’ve gathered some parts and corrected a stupidly short gear cable housing that limits what adjustments I can make. Sorting out range of motion in my hips is probably going to take a while and I’d like to consider a different saddle.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no bike-fitter or physiologist so I can’t say right or wrong. All I know for me and my body, I wouldn’t last more than a few minutes with that posture and position.

@mcneese.chad and others curious for take on my current fit problem.

  • Get occasional knee pain, front/bottom of kneecaps

  • Knee angle at bottom of stroke is 34-35°, foot angle pretty good at bottom (not too toe or heal down)

  • Saddle fore/aft: (self-measuring so a little tough) tibial tuberosity is about 10-15 mm forward of pedal spindle

  • At 3 o’clock (just during this part of pedal stroke) I’m too heel down

  • Cleats put axle just a couple mm behind 1st metatarsal (good I think)

  • Reach to bars about as long as I’d want, though could stand with a bit more drop

Seems like to address knee pain I need a little less leg extension (maybe aim for 30°) and knee a little further aft/closer to pedal axle at 3 0’clock. So how to get there? Raise saddle? Move saddle aft? Little of both?

I’d try saddle aft only at first. Try 10mm rear shift and leave saddle height alone to start.

You will end up lengthening it purely from the rear shift, do just do one adjustment for now.

Then ride it a bit and see how it all feels.

Makes sense. I’m just worried about further increasing my reach a full 10mm. Doesn’t a saddle height increase also ease knee angle and forward extension at 3 o’clock? So if I did 5mm aft AND 3mm up (or is that too much together?) maybe then I’d get my knees better positioned and better keep with my bar reach and drop needs?

You can try a split move. But you will still be opening up your reach, no matter what you do. As you increase saddle height, along the 73* seat tube angle, that also pulls you away from the bars a bit.

In general, you want to set the rear of the bike to achieve the proper saddle position to set your “engine/motor”. You do that first and then move on to the front end position. It’s usually considered a less than ideal approach to use rear positioning to make up for a bad front end setup.

So, try your stuff, but you want to look at stem/bar setup after you address your saddle positioning. That could be a stem length/rise change or even new bars with shorter reach and/or drop. Lots of ways to get to the desired location.

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Before:


After:

Please note that my back looks super-extra curved in these photos because of the curved white stripe down the centre of the back of my Tri suit - I’m not actually a hunchback :laughing:

On the back end the saddle came up about 5mm, went back about 12mm and once the front was adjusted I settled into a slightly different position in it due to less pressure so a little further back than before. On the front we added a 50mm riser, flattened the extensions so there’s only a slight rise and brought the extensions in for less of a bend in the wrist. Cleats went back about as far as they can go on Mavic shoes.

Probably less aero - but I’m not the strongest rider and likely to be out for a long time on my long distance events and comfort (who am I kidding - survivability) takes priority :slight_smile:

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Chad are you still taking pics/videos for possible feedback? lol

Sure. Happy to help.

Crank length.

Determined by inseam or tibula/fibula measurement?

Or none of the above?

Thanks!

That’s quite the can of worms with lots of opinions and not a lot of concrete info.

None. Hehe!

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Hmmm…better to have a higher saddle position w/“standard” length crank or lower w/longer crank length?

One of those “it depends” situations?

Then add to the consideration

  1. Range of motion
  2. Corresponding front end height
  3. Hip angle (sacrum to thigh)

And maybe others…

Position and component selection is far more complicated than many people realize. Seldom can you change one variable with affecting another.

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I know. That’s why I haven’t done anything yet.

I’ve had two bike fits, one old school style and one hi-tech; both put me at pretty much the same saddle height but I can’t help but think things might be better if I was lower/longer on the bike (e.g. stability, power, long hour comfort).

To make things even more complicated, I’ll be TTing on my road bike which requires another set of measurements. One thing is for sure, I can’t get low enough on the front end as I would like.

I’ll try to get around to doing some position vids next week so I can better analyze.

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Cool. I’m happy to have a look and help if I can.

I tried to upload video, but it kept saying wrong format. Anyway, my focus is mainly on the cockpit here. My opinion, I moved forward quite a bit, and thinking I need to not only go to a longer stem, but get my stem parallel. Thoughts? I could send a video if you need it maybe email, or FB. Thanks for any feedback.

Yeah, you have plenty of bend in your arms. If you stretch and drop a bit, I think you would be fine. Hard to tell, but it also looks like you are pretty far forward on the saddle? Just checking to make sure you are comfortable and properly supported there before changing the front end.

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The current stem is a 110, +6 and the bar reach is 122! I am super forward on the saddle, just how I like to ride, no issues with anything-pain, discomfort. I have new enve bars on order, but the reach is only 80. I want to order the enve stem, I think a 130 or 140 should work as long as I can get it parallel or maybe a negative rise.

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A theoretical fit question!!

So, I’m 5’9 currently riding a small giant propel (535 top tube). I’m very happy with the way the propel fits and about all I might do is drop the bars another spacer this year though not strictly necessary.

I’m looking at getting a TT bike and have come across a well priced Ridley Dean however the bike is an XS while Ridley size chart suggests a S. Now according to the spec there is plenty of saddle height capacity and from talking to other TT riders in the club it seems a size even smaller than the size I would expect to take for a road bike should work just fine with the TT position as you end up further hunched over the bars. In theory I should be on a S rather than XS but feel perhaps the XS will also work for me. Any thoughts you might have to share would be much appreciated.

For what it’s worth Giant say I should ride a medium propel but I know from experience that it’s a bit too long for my liking.

Dean geo chart:

Propel geo chart: