Bike fit / correct riding position

supporting a lot of weight on my hands

Still sounds like saddle fore-aft and bars issue.

Think about what happens when you are standing up and bend over 45 degrees at the waist; head goes forward and arse moves backwards to counter-balance.

You should be able to do the same thing on the bike without having any support from arms needed.

Think about what happens when you are standing up and bend over 45 degrees at the waist; head goes forward and arse moves backwards to counter-balance.

Dirty

Still sounds like saddle fore-aft and bars issue.

Think about what happens when you are standing up and bend over 45 degrees at the waist; head goes forward and arse moves backwards to counter-balance.

You should be able to do the same thing on the bike without having any support from arms needed.

I've experimented with this, and I'd need to move the saddle back 6"

I did some laps of Regents tonight, and can reveal that dropping the saddle has made a bid difference, it's allowed me to rotate my pelvis forward, and it feels like I'm sitting "in" the bike, rather than being perched "on" the bike.

An hours lapping in the drops did make my right butt-cheek start to ache a little though, so clearly a work in progress!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzehUKAztnO8NDNkYWZiZTQtNjI1ZS00ZDU0LTgyNDUtNWFkNzk3YzRlNjI0/edit?hl=en_US a helpful explanation of why top tube length by themselves, without measure "how low to go" don't mean much.

I find I don't like anything higher than parallel with top of saddle much but I have long arms, for t-rexes it may be they don't like anything lower than parallel with top of saddle much...body geometry applies :)

On the Norwegian trip my powermeter showed a 40/60 L/R balance, dropped the saddle ~1cm ahead of Sundays ride and got 45/55, I'll drop it fractionally more and see if that brings me to a 50/50, or within a couple of percent at least.

Maybe your right foot is heavier.

On the Norwegian trip my powermeter showed a 40/60 L/R balance, dropped the saddle ~1cm ahead of Sundays ride and got 45/55, I'll drop it fractionally more and see if that brings me to a 50/50, or within a couple of percent at least.

45/55 is Close to what I find for most rides. Havent moved my contact Points around much since fitting the PM though.

I'll have a look tonight at figures pre and post 5mm saddle drop to check.

It evens out as you approach threshold. Which is opposite to what I expected.

Massive Guess - is one leg more flexible?

Maybe your right foot is heavier.

Are you saying we need a photo of both Dammits scales, and his feet?

Not his feet no, what with the nail injury story...

Opinions on saddle position from this crappy video? I'm tempted to say the saddle looks a bit low. Rider is going about 50% here and is 5ft3 tall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ1_z5FpBJk

Question for the hivemind: On my Charge Hob, when pulling back to slow down there's some tension in the muscles around the knees (not the joint)

I've cycled 40-50 miles a day for 5 days and lift heavy weights, so I doubt it's weak muscles, rather an incorrect knee angle.

Or can you expect some tension there and it's not to worry about and I should HTFU?

Opinions on saddle position from this crappy video? I'm tempted to say the saddle looks a bit low. Rider is going about 50% here and is 5ft3 tall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ1_z5FpBJk

Low - but some prefer it that way - some the other way around - the important thing is to only do 2mm changes at the time if you are doing a big effort on a new setup.

Low

This - IMO too.

Much too low.. freak! Sell your bike immediately!

Ok good, as I thought, she has been complaining of pain at the front under knee cap so it makes sense. Will raise 5mm and try again.

Much too low.. freak! Sell your **tandem **immediately!

fixed

~3 hours on the bike Tuesday night, deliberately slow/Z2, right hand trapezius/neck area was agony by the end.

Riding was on the hoods, very low power - so supporting a lot of weight on my hands.

How much core strength does a cyclist need- is there a test - can do plank for ~3 minutes or similar?

I'm really fed up with this, it's the only thing that stops me doing longer distances.

I had the same problem. Pushed my seat back around 2cm, so am now 9cm behind the bb and dropped the bars slightly. Pain has diminished enough for me to commute on consecutive days.

Heel flat on the pedal method at bottom of pedal stroke is a great check of where the saddle should* end up so you can mark that height on the post and move towards it slowly if well away.

*YMMV

I find if your setback isn't enough, doesn't matter how much core strength you have, you will end up putting too much weight forward eg on your hands.

Ok good, as I thought, she has been complaining of pain at the front under knee cap so it makes sense. Will raise 5mm and try again.

kati have exactly the same complaint, end up raising her saddle 3cm higher.

3cm!?

Indeed.

Mainly due to the flat/spd pedals, as the spd side increase the stack height considerably to make a big difference compare to riding on the flat side with office shoes.

I've noticed recently that I ride with my drive-side foot further from the cranks when I'm using flatties, and (I think) this is what makes my foot sore when I switch to spds. Not sure how I'd really 'fix' that other than wearing spds every day?

casual spd or leave casual at work.