Carrera Subway Zero Chainline woes...

Good work!

"Hirsute headwind heroics!"

Heheheheheheh! Cheers Suffolk, I've done 80 miles already this week commuting on it too. Gotta a hilly new Loopy out through scenic NW Kent lined up this weekend on it too.

Can't get enough of this skinny wheeled SS thang :)

Latest discovery in my own personal world of cycling knowledge. Latest installment = Stems, aka "How to turn a comfy bike into an instrument of Torture".

A picture of three Stems.

I've been experimenting with various riding positions, I've noticed that as the weight is still slowly coming off AND I'm getting more flexible around the midriff that I can now 'reach' forward and grab the bars more comfortably that before on this bike. As I've said before its a very different riding position from the Dawes fixie in the other thread which I've kept as my 'control' bike whilst I experiment with this lump. Re-focus on them stems in the piccie above.... on the right is the original stem that came with the bike when it was about to go into the skip at work, in the middle is an adjustable stem, on the left is what I though was the answer to my position woes. I was wrong.

The original stem fitted with the 3 stem spacers to me feel's a bit too far forward, on a long (for me) run of say 50 miles my shoulders and wrists start to ache and my neck joins in too a short while after that. It actually takes the fun away from riding, thats summat I definitely don't want. So, a while back I bought the adjustable stem, after much fettling and riding I find that when its set like this...

...everything in the world is at one, the flowers wave their leaves at me as I zoom past, birds serenade me with their merry toons etc etc etc. BUT, there's always a but, there's a slight creaking sound when I use this stem which I guess is from the way they bolt together to make 'em adjustable. This worries me when I'm hanging on for dear life on more challenging parts (for me) of my rides. Is it safe to ride with this kind of adjustable stem 4evar or are they really only to be used for setting up bikes and finding comfy spots?

I thought I could further inprove my ride quality by bring the bars back to the steerer and celebrate my new found bendyness buying that little Uno stem, but no, the steering feels 'odd' and my knees feel too close to my hands even on a short run. I dun a wrong un there I feel.

In maximum hurt-mode using the original stem the Saddle/Bar position is this...

...but using the FatManFreindly-adjustable stem the position is this...

It doesn't look much, but the difference in comfort is amazing. Ideally I suppose they bestest way is to replicate the dimensions of the adjustable stem with a solid stem yeah?

Onwards! To comfort city.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist and prefer my saddle about 40mm higher than my bars, but I totally agree, it's amazing what even a few mm adjustment willdo for comfort.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist and prefer my saddle about 40mm higher than my bars

Aha! Now, y'see thats the bit that I just can't get on with, as soon as the Saddle goes above bar height I'm in The Realms of Pain it seems. Maybe I'm just not strong enough in the upper body department to support my own weight on longer (for me) ride? If the Saddle is just a smidgey bit below Bar height like you can see in the 2nd piccie I'm comfy. I do Yoga with my partner (not a euph, promise!) 2 to 3 times a week so I'm reasonably flexy for a 50 y/o fella but the more I look around at other peeps bike set up's the more I see Saddle above 'bars.

The other thing maybe is the bike is too big? It's an 18" frame but I'm shortish at 5ft 8", short legs too @ 29" so I'd have thought its more about my 'shape' than any fault with the bike?

Get your saddle position right firsr:

• seat height;
  
• seat set-back.
  
  

With that in the bag, you can then put the bars in a position that's comfortable for you.

Quite likely that it is the joint in the stem that's creaking, but if everything is torqued-up correctly, it'll be fine: there are guys on here using adjustable stems to drop the bars on their fixed TT bikes.

However, a one-piece stem will be stiffer and won't creak. It is also preferable to reduce the number of spacers as far as possible and trim the excess steerer tube.

Two useful resources in this regard:

• old school diagram;
  
• new fangled calculator.
  
  

Your bike doesn't immediately strike me as being too big.

Brill links, thanks as always Mr Suffolk.

There's a lot more to setting up a bike than 1st realised, live n learn eh!

Here's me n machine for size comparison :)

One thing I have noticed is that the bottom bracket height is a lot higher off the ground than the Dawes BB in contrast so the Carrrerererererera's saddle has to go up further than on the Dawes to get my (short fat Hairy) legs to extend comfortably and get some power into the pedals. Luckily the 'stand-over' height (I believe its called) is fine even with my petite inside leg measurement.

There's a lot more to setting up a bike than 1st realised, live n learn eh!

All part of the fun, no?

Yes, I'd seen that photo and still say your bike isn't too big. #internetbikefit

The distance between the BB and the saddle should be constant between the two bikes, subject to a) the length of the cranks and b) the height of the saddle.

Stand-over height is a "canard": although it has practical implications (if you can't figure out how to lean your bike to one side, when stationary), it is irrelevant as far as a good fit is concerned.

Keep up the good work!

All part of the fun, no?

Thats true, thats how I've "dun-good-learnin" so far!

I mucked up in what I was trying to describe about the saddle height on the Carerererererererera, I meant the height betwixt the ground and the saddle is more on this than the Dawes because the BB height is higher on the Carrrrrrrreara, which I'm guessing is because it's really just a MTB (hence the high BB clearance for stump n rock jumpin') with horizontal drop out/track ends I believe, sorry for the confusion.

I'll measure BB centre to saddle height later on both bikes and see how they compare, crank length will be noted too.

I'll hand homework in ASAP assuming a dog doesn't eat it or it gets run over by a bus.

Stats!

Dawes and Carrarrereara cranks are both 170mm. You was correct about BB tosaddle height on both bikes too Mr Suffolk... you've done this before haven't you!!!..., 69cms (27") from BB centre to upper surface of saddle. I'm guessing thats ok given my legs are 29" or so long.

However, due to ground-to-BB centre height difference on each bike Dawes = 25.5Cms and Carararrerea = 31.5cms this has pushed up the ground-to-saddle height on the Carrarerara to ~98cms (38 1/2") and the Dawes tops out at 94.5cms (37 1/4").

Out of interest I measured the centre of the handle bars to the centre of the saddle on both bikes and both measure 67cms.

Word of the week, "canard". Noted! Thank you :)