Bike fit / correct riding position

Currently rehabbing jumpers knee in both knees and my knees were tracking funny and have gone to speedplay with mega float and my feet not twist but my knees track beautifully. Physio blames lack of float for my knee problems. All about the squats now.

Had a bike fit done today at le Beau Velo.

Lovely chap who spent a ridiculous amount of time with me and also ran me through a bunch of exercises that will help with general stiffness*

Admittedly I've never had a bike fit before, but for £150 I heartedly recommend.

(*ooer)

Been commuting on my Straggler since Monday while the van gets MOT'd and fixed. 25 miles each way.

Monday, 580mm bars too narrow and low, got tingly finger and thumb tips. Also, SLR XC was less comfy than on my fatbike and polo bike... 1-bolt Pro LT seatpost doesnt hold its angle very well.

Swapped the bars for 750mm with 11° sweep, 20mm(?) rise and fitted a Fizik Pave.

Tuesday: Hands and wrists much better, but forgot Allen keys so when the 1-bolt post inevitably tipped back, I had to sit up more to relieve some (ahem) pressure. Left Achilles a little sore.

Wednesday: correct saddle angle, but Achilles getting worse. Wincing a bit as I got home this evening.

Zero commuting to 150 miles in three days probably would have been doable without the fit issues.

SS(MTB)EC17 at Inverness Saturday and off work to MTB the rest of the week.

I want to try moving my saddle back a bit. Is there any easy formula for how much I should lower it to compensate for every 1mm I move backwards?

I always measure my saddle height to a particular part of my saddle. That way, if I move the saddle forwards or back, I can soon see the overall change in distance between saddle-BB/pedal, and adjust accordingly.

I'm too lazy to do the trig, but eyeballing it to me suggests a 2:1 ratio, so 1mm of saddle height change for every 2mm of setback change.

Depends on the angle of the rails, basically

Did someone say they knew of a place you could get a bike fit which could be chalked up as physio for insurance purposes?

I've started commuting on my fixed, about 11 miles each way.

My knees have started to get quite sore - just sitting down for any length of time (desk job) they start to hurt around the front, feels like beneath the kneecaps. I've done some research and it seems to sound like "movie-goers knee".

Thing is, I use pedal straps so is a bike fit going to help me at all? I see everyone in here referring to their cleats and adjusting the float, which obviously won't apply to straps.

How about mixing it up to ease your knees into it. May be a day on day on gears. If it's stop start and a bit hill that s quite a bit of strain daily on your knees so recovery is important.
In the long run cleats would be better to give you adjustability and find a position that suits you better.

What gear are you running?

Were you commuting on a freewheel before, or have you just started riding the commute?

Were you riding fixed before?

If it's not cleat position it could be saddle height or set back causing the issue. Are you leg braking or have you got actual brakes?

Also, pain beneath kneecaps means lower on the leg, or behind the kneecap?

1/ are you mashing (rather than spinning)
2/ is your saddle too low? (you should a bit of heal drop and a comforably bent leg at full extension - nothing more)

^ super basic stuff but it catches lots of people out.

Fixed/free shouldn't make any difference {{{{ unless you're whip skidding everwhere and tearing your cartiledge a new asshole }}}

Any suggestions for places to look for general bike fit advice. Some knee pain on longer rides but there doesn't seem to be much around in relation to hybrids with flat pedals. Suspect the saddle is probably too low but would be useful to get some guidance for a starting point

Loads of reading material on Steve Hogg's site

Whilst this is up.... I'm after suggestions for making q-factors the same on bikes with different cranks.

I did a bike-fit for my road bike and was hoping to use the same shoes (with fancy insoles / perfectly fitted cleats etc) on my track bike as well... but it seems the QF is getting in the way of this.

Any suggestions?

I've been getting away with 3 pedal washers with my keo max pedals on my tarck bike to do what you are trying to do. Brings the q factors closer together by 6mm I think, but still not enough to cover the full difference. You might be able to get away with more spacers depending on how long your pedal axles are.

Cheers @Hovis - I'm using keo plus on both so might be comparable axel length to keo max.
Out of interest, is that 3 x 1mm on each side - therefore 6mm total? And did you buy the Look-branded spacers, or just normal washers? The branded ones ain't cheap!

sorry, 20 questions.

No worries. Got a bit of a mix going on with my collection that have come with my sram cranks over the years, and also some I bought from halfords. I think they were FSA branded? Yeah 3 on each side, I'm assuming they are about 1mm thick each

Cheers, I'll have a look at home. He sounds like an interesting character.

excellent, will look into it.
thanks again @Hovis

Any recommendations for a fitter in Brighton area or am I better just hopping on the train to London?

I'm thinking of getting a Marin Four Corners as a cheap tourer/adventure bike, but i'm unsure about what size would fit best.
My everyday at the moment is a Duell Professional 54x54 ctc with a 15cm headtube. I have tweeked it a little to get a riding position that suits me with an inline seatpost and a 60mm stem. This is due to me having a herniated disc in my lower back.

This all points to the 'small' frame size. However the reach and the tt effective lengths are confusing me. Is the reach of 390 going to be too small for me? Or do i go with the effective tt length of 55.5?

I'm not used to these less aggressive frames so i'm asking for help. Thanks

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I've got some new shoes, I had Bont Riots, I've now got Bont Blitz. Same size. I fitted the same kind of cleats in the same position (relative to the balls of my feet) and everything looks fine.

Also fitted same specialized blue insoles and feel like they've got the same amount of arch support.

My left leg has always tracked straight and been fine, but I've now got a bit of pain below and to the right of the left kneecap, from a bit of googling, maybe pes anserine bursitis.

I've also noticed my left foot doesn't quite track straight now. As the foot goes down, the heel comes out a little, then heel goes in at the bottom of the stroke.

Could the left cleat need to be moved either left or right a bit? I don't feel like it needs to be twisted one way or the other, so I suppose this is a Q factor question. Or is there something else I'm missing?

#internetbikefit at its best.