No, haven’t done that. Good point.
I’m having a lot of trouble with fittings lately.
Everyone wants to slam the saddle back, to the point where some MTBs can’t go back far enough, but I always feel like I’m trying to get over the pedal.
I’m tinkering with running it forward and it seems to be getting closer.
OK, just wanted to mention it because if you sag the front along with the rear, the angle delta’s you mention between unweighted and sagged will level out a bit. On par with the sketch geo I ran for you (and others?) a while ago.
As far as saddle setup, unless you are having serious problems with that forward position, I don’t know a reason to push rearward. Droppers and modern geo almost demand a more forward position vs what may have been common just 5-10 years ago.
I’m going to keep trying it to see if it makes a big difference.
I found this video really helpful for evaluating if you have a good fitter. If you ask questions before signing up for a fit, it could help weed out a bad fitter.
Related, I tried My Velo Fit and I really didn’t like it.
Years ago I was told by an old hand that ideal stem length (or at least a starting point) is when riding if you look down the front axle shouldn’t be visible.
Essentially if the axle is visible in front of the bars it’s too short.
Old wives tale or good starting point?
It is a reasonable starting point, but there is more than just stem length that factors into it. Raising or lowering your stem will affect where the front hub sits in your view, even if you keep the stem length the same.
Not horrible, but the realities of modern components kills it to a degree. Consider that the horizontal part ot the bat (tops) is the reference and what happens to rider reach after.
Handlebar reach can vary from 65mm op to 100mm or more. This alone will impact the final location of the roder on the hoods.
Functional reach of the hoods is not a single value either. It’s not easily measured, but even hoods within the same brand have different lengths. Even if yku match bar reach, this can move a rider 10mm or more either direction depending on the hoods compared.
All that to say that there’s far more to this than a simple summary like tray.
Thanks both!
I moved to a -17 100mm this time last year, I’ve since pushed cleats to a much further back position and lowered saddle by a bit to solve a recurring saddle sore hotspot (successfully I should add).
Now wondering if having moved hips down and forward a bit if I need to add some reach.
Food for thought.
It’s meaningless as a fit rule these days (and probably always), but it’s also weird how often it works. Maybe it’s more of an optical trick.
Sounds stupid, but where exactly on the saddle should one be sitting? It seems logical to be on the widest part to spread weight more evenly but i always find myself comfiest on the skinner bit of the saddle, even across a selection of bikes. Is this indicating a saddle type preference or something else? I’ve tried adjusting fore and aft as well and kind of feel the same regardless. I wonder then if it puts quite a lot of load on my triceps as im trying to get more aero, and if i sat further back i would unweight my hands and arms more?
You should sit where the saddle supports whatever part of your pelvic bones are “down” based on your pelvic rotation. The idea that you sit on your “sit bones” isn’t really right unless your back angle is quite upright. If you go down the Google/Youtube rabbit hole of SMP saddles you’ll see lots of examples of pelvic bones being matched to saddles forwards of the sit bones.
Per the above, we typically want the wider parts of our pelvis bones sitting on the wider parts of the saddle. This can be the sit bones (ischial tuberosities) in some cases, but usually blends into the pubic rami with anterior pelvis tilt.
One basic check I mention to people is to look at where the end of your bottom is over the saddle.
Reach back with your hand while seated, hold it vertically along the back of your bottom and see where the saddle is in relation to your hand.
In essence, the typical “good” position should “shadow” your bottom over the saddle without excessive overhang or underhang.
Hoping I can get some help here. Really struggling with ischial tuberosity pain, mostly on my right but can happen on the left. Happens on both my XC hardtail and FS. Had fits on both, tends to still happen. PT said my right leg is 1.4 cm shorter, I started with a 3 mm shim on the right but it still happens. Worse with climbing, steep fire road like climbs but again can happen even on flat. One fit raised my seat nearly 30 mm on the FS, wide seat, longer stem. Really not a ton of change. I’ve tried multiple seats, lowering seatpost, handlebar position etc. The only other thing I can think of is I broke my left wrist 9 months ago and its somehow putting me in a weird position. My grip strength and forearm muscles are not nearly as strong as the right side. I dont really recall being in this much agony before the wrist fracture.
On our indoor trainer ride today my left hip flexor really fatigued on me today during a not super hard endurance ride. Generally it feels like my left hip flexor fatigues most rides, not but as bad as today. My Quarq says my left right balance on rides is usually 54:46 to 56:44, which would explain why my left leg fatigues more than my right, but not the hip flexor issue.
Anyone have any thoughts on positional changes / exercises to help with the left hip flexor issue?
1.4 cm is a big discrepancy. I’m curious why you only used a 3 mm shim. I would try taller (you’ll need longer cleat bolts).
The PT said to start with 3. Honestly it almost felt like it was starting to make my left side hurt and the right was not nearly as bad.
Im having issues with my feet. I can’t get past the three hour mark on the mountain bike.
I have custom insoles, but I’m wondering if my shoes are too big.
Let me explain. I have a very low volume foot, so my room up and down in the toe box is pretty ample, which can let my front foot lift up and down.
I’ve had fittings, but it never seems to address this, even with moving the cleats around.
I guess I’m just looking for others that have had the issue and what you’ve done to address it.
It’s very frustrating to be stopped during a ride for my feet and not because of fatigue or lack of desire.
Does this mean you can get past the three hour mark on a different bike, and different shoes?
Can you describe the issues more? Pain? Numbness? Where on the foot?
I have on the road/gravel bike.
Pain is at the ball of the foot, hard to explain the sensation, but it forces me to stop. Once off the bike and out do the shoes, it goes away.
Two possibilities come to mind:
Assuming you run SPDs, it could be localized pressure from a smaller platform and less stiff shoe. So maybe a stiffer shoe, and also one of the “trail” pedals like the XT 8120 could help (though their extra support is very shoe dependent).
Another theory which matches the loose forefoot but not so much that the pain disappears when you’re out of the shoes is that you’re “clawing” with your toes to find stability in the shoes. But I’d expect that discomfort to last longer.
Does your mountain bike have a modern steep seat tube angle?