Bike fit / correct riding position

Ugh. Jogging. Disgusting.

I've bought Spec MTB shoes with MTB cleats already on two years ago, instant comfort.

Tried to copy over the position of cleats relative to foot to set up a pair of commuting shoes, and not instant comfort. Sigh, that means a few hours of twiddling...

Knees not happy, instant annoyance.

@hippy was your switch to mid foot a gradual change or did you just make the adjustment and ride? Looking into it myself as I've also had achilles problems this year. From what I have read it feels weird when trying to accelerate rapidly but is an ideal position for long rides. Any advice on which shoes allow this much adjustment? Need something narrow like a Sidi or Mavic.

Narrow is no good for proper midfoot as you can't drill holes for cleats far enough v back. Shimano are good because they're wide. You might be able to get away with moving cleats back rather than proper midfoot. If b that's not far enough, Speedplay do an adapter that can move cleats v further back. Need to adjust saddle and bars too for full midfoot. It's a pain.

I have epic overlap on my 29er and fatbike. If I move my cleats back my fit issue will be replaced by a broken face issue when I fall off all the time.

As a short arse I really should just ride a 26" MTB and leave this big/fat Wheel fad stuff to the grown-ups. But its too much fun.

Running irritates my already pissed off achilles. After a coldWinter with lots of running. Suddenly blasting a cycling holiday, on a New undialled bike, and building a TSB of an epically bad -116*. Something was always going to snap.

My thinking is that if you run and have pronation issues. Its worth slamming the cleats back to reduce the stress overlap for running and riding.

(*for the nerds)

I'm sure this has been both asked and answered on previous pages but...

Can anyone recommend a bike fit in central(ish) London for a reasonable price (under£150)?

in general terms, you get what you pay for

Can't recommend anywhere specific but my advice would be stay away from the computer fits (Retul etc). Go for a traditional fit with an experienced fitter.

I'm going here tomorrow.
http://www.racerrosabicycles.co.uk/

I went for one at Condor which was around that price. It was OK and seemed to clear up some niggles I had but it wasn't as comprehensive as others sound from reading descriptions on here.

How do road/touring bike fits convert to MTBs?

After an hour or so on my MTB I start to get numb hands whereas I'm fine on my road bike. MTB mainly gets used for canal towpaths, winter commutes, etc rather than actual mountain biking.

How was your fit? Recommended? How much did it cost you?

Cant afford a fit at the moment so brought book by Phil Burt and using video capture with Kinovea video analysis program. Need to redo in shorts and with a stand & camera rather than phone but looks like will be useful, was feeling 100% in this shot but looks like hamstrings arent flexible enough or saddle too low, going to see what happens when i raise it

Is it possible for for someone's ideal cleat alignment to change as perhaps they develop strength or flexibility in some parts? I had a cleat alignment a few months back but I feel I need another one now.

Shift your saddle forward, run longer stem, maybe.

#internetbikefit

My GF and I have just done the competitivecyclist.com fit calculator, and it appears our frames are roughly right for us. But, its recommending my saddle drop by at least 10cm and hers by 13cm?

Could we really be that far out on our saddle height? We've essentially been riding it at a height that feels comfy.

Not a chance. Is it not something like you're measuring from pedal axle to seat and the site is giving you a BB to seat measurement?

Or you've mistaken cm for mm

We've just checked and we're definitely measuring it correctly. The measurement is from BB to top of the saddle and both our measurements are out by quite a lot.

As an example, her current comfortable riding position is 74cm, yet the fit calculator is recommending around 64cm.

The inseam measurements you entered, did you take those as directed with a level or stiff book hard up against your crotch? You can't just use a trouser inseam.

I just tried it with my inseam (35", offhand) and it came out with 78cm, which is 1cm more than my normal saddle height, so you're measuring or typing wrong somewhere

Yes, we did everything correctly. The only reason why I'm a little puzzled, is that all the other measurements on the calculation page were all within 1-2cm of what was recommended. Its only the BB to saddle measurement which was out by such a large amount.

so you're measuring or typing wrong somewhere

Yup, we just checked. Again. She'd entered 71cm instead of 79cm for her inseam. Its correct now!

Yup, we just checked. Again. She'd entered 71cm instead of 79cm for her inseam. Its correct now!

How about yours? Same error?

No, probably a slightly different error. I was measuring from where it showed in the diagram, but its appears to be better to just measure just through the seat tube. Mine is still out by around 6cm, but its a lot closer than it was.

Some good points made in here about following 'formulas' for setting saddle height.

Another useful Steve Hogg article