Bike Fit

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

FetterSteve

Active Member
Location
Fettercairn
Just spent some time setting up my bike as per guidelines in Andy Pruitts book and wondered if anyone else has used his methods.

Following his instructions I have dropped my saddle by about 15mm and moved the saddle from all the way back to all the way forward . Didn't have time to go for a ride but will be very interesting to see the difference it makes. Biggest change was position of my knee relative to pedal axle as the set up I have been riding with ( which admittedly wasn't totally comfortable ) was miles out from where Andy says it should be.

Will have to wait until tomorrow to try it,
 
OP
OP
F

FetterSteve

Active Member
Location
Fettercairn
60 odd views and no opinions........:huh:


Tried out set up and got thoroughly rubbed up the wrong way by my saddle....ouch

So did some more reading when I got home and found Andys method rubbished by no less than Peter White and as a result am now even more confused. This weekend I am going to revert to original arrangement and see if it was really that bad.

Back to square one I think
 

Sleeping Menace

New Member
Location
UK
Ok.. I know I'm going to have a peasants revolt outside my door, complete with pitchforks and flaming torches..
but I found the fit info in the Pruitt book to be terrible, and I don't know ANYONE for whom it's helped much.

Try this one:
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO

as with any fit advice, it's a starting point, not a definitive answer, but of all the ones I've tried (including wasting money on a bike-fit).. this was by far the best and got me into a great position. I've done very minor tweaking since, but this did get me 95% of the way there..

Hope this helps..

........................
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org

Cycle related blog entries, including a few 5 minute reviews:
http://anotherdooratthe.endoftheinternet.org/category/cycling/
 
OP
OP
F

FetterSteve

Active Member
Location
Fettercairn
Thanks for the links guys.

I'm just getting into Road biking and am doing it mainly for fitness

My main reason for fettling was that I just cant get comfortable in my saddle. I'm doing 25 or so miles and it's either painful on my sit bones or else my manly...chunky thighs get rubbed raw.

I started of on a Brookes B17 and am now on a Charge Spoon.

On thing the fit did tell me is that I seem to have one leg slightly shorter than the other and I'm wondering if I am set up for the long leg and therefore overreaching on the other side to compensate and hence causing the problem.
I guess its just a case of small incremental changes to find out what works for me.
 

Baggy

Cake connoisseur
I had a bike fit from a local coach who uses a mix of common sense and the Lemond method (the competetivecyclist.com calculator is based on the Lemond method). Based on the calculations, my saddle needed raising by about 3cm, but having assessed my leg flexibility and cadence (I twiddle) was advised to raise it no more than 2cm otherwise my hips would rock. This seems to have worked pretty well for me.

I recently had a look at the Andy Pruitt stuff and re-measured according to his methds - the fit came out more or less the same.

Incremental changes are a sensible way to go...
 

yello

Guest
As mentioned elsewhere, such bike fits are a starting position. Don't be afraid to tinker if you're not comfortable.

Re KOPS (knee over peddle spindle/axle) not everyone swears by it. Equally, cleat position over the ball of the foot. Many cyclists have changed from that advice and find it more comfortable.

Personally, I'm not overly impressed with Pruitt's book. I started with the competitive fit calc (mentioned above) and have tinkered from there.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
I use competitive cyclist and found it very helpful, especially saddle set back from bottom bracket, the different types of fit are very interesting as well as not everyone wants a "pro " fit , i find the eddy fit the best for me.

I have 2 bikes that are the same size yet the amount i have to have the saddle back on the rails to get the same amount of reach the a same size stem are completely different based on the frame geometry.

I find KOPS a starting point but it can be misleading as we all have different leg lengths.
 
OP
OP
F

FetterSteve

Active Member
Location
Fettercairn
Well weekend is over and I thought I would update you.

I decided to ignore the book and go for comfort especially doing something to alleviate the unwanted pressure in an unwanted place if you get my drift so decided to go for a more upright position. I set the saddle height and pulled it most of the way forward and fitted a 20mm shorter stem. I also fixed my cleats in different positions depending on the perceived difference in leg length. When I checked with a plumb line , my knee was almost 50mm in front of the pedal spindle but decided to try it anyway...


The result.......19 pain free miles yesterday and 31 pain free miles ( my longest run to date) today. Not only that but my legs were a lot less tired than previously.

Go figure!!

My assumption is that its just a better position for me and that maybe its letting me transfer the power better hence the less tired legs.

Does make me think I may be a Frame size too big not much I can do about that now.

Thanks for all the comments and here's to racking up the miles in preparation for my first 100k run next month
 

yello

Guest
Does make me think I may be a Frame size too big not much I can do about that now.

Does sound that way doesn't it. Sounds like you've countered that by adjusting saddle and stem, which makes sense under the circumstances.

If you're comfortable then it doesn't matter.
 
Top Bottom