Bike fit / correct riding position

I'm having a new bike built up and need to decide how short to have the steerer cut. I've spent a lot of time playing with the geo online and due to a long head tube I plan to slam the stem. So, how much should I leave above the stem for now to be safe?

Start with it too long. As you can’t glue steerer tube back on if you cut it off.

Do a couple of shake down rides and adjust the bar height. Once you find a comfy position consider cutting the steerer but still leave a little excess.

Once new bike thrill wears off you might find you are not so keen on staying so low. But if you are then consider a further trim.

Totally agree with this, but was curious if there was an agreed amount. 20/30/40mm?

All of my bikes have 20-30mm hanging around. I'd rather the bikes remain useful for someone else (or me, if I need it) than give a shit about the clean steerer. Even my TT bike still has 20-30mm poking above the stem.

Yep, 30mm sounds like a good amount. Cheers

bike fitting for endurance riding (in or near London): who? jorrit at strype street?

jorrit at strype street?

100%

You might not want to hear this but gym work did wonders for me for the distance riding than bike fit.

does offer follow ups? basically i'm trying to decide between him or the bike whisperer

urgh.

i am so, so unlikely to do gym work. i basically have a knee issue which is being exacerbated by riding anything more than 150km. no idea why it's started now, but i feel this might be as good a time as any to go and actually get someone to look at how i sit on a bike.

Yeah, but if you have a fit issue, no amount of gym is going to back it go away, you might just cover it up a bit.

Often if you're trying to correct a fit issue, especially if you've already done some damage, you will need to do a bit of both: bike adjustment and rehab work, be it stretching or strength work.

yeah fair, I did go to an actual gym, didn't enjoy it but had to be done, sorted my upper body and core for sitting on the bike for longer times.

yeah, i know there's not going to be one magic thing which fixes it :(

I mean, there might be. I went to midfoot and my Achilles issues stopped dead.

On ultras a saddle height change can be the difference between finishing and ending up off the bike for 6 months.

I'm just letting you get mentally prepared for the chance that you need to do some other work to help the issue resolve.

What if Sherritt told you a diet would help you achieve a better aero position ;-)

He has, many times. More to do with less weight = less saddle drama.

The other day I jumped on the scales dressed and was 93kg w/ 10.1% BF. During normal race season I'm normally 88kg and ~12% BF.

I'd love to be 10kg less but I've only managed that weight once and I was miserable, doing crazy miles and the whole year was almost a write-off.

@plasticniki if your knee actually needs to be worked on, I can thoroughly recommend Steve here: http://www.cadenceacupuncture.co.uk/

He sorted me and many others out whilst I worked at Rapha. I think about ten of us were seeing him at once. I had long distance induced knee pain after riding to and from BCM, as well as riding it. I was doing my RRtY that year and also a Cent Cols Challenge that year so I needed it fixed, quick. After six sessions in a three weeks period it the pain was genuinely gone.

I never stretched, did gym work or really took care of my legs. Turns out my left quad wasn’t at all happy and both of my legs and glutes were incredibly tight. He showed me diagrams etc of how the quad attaches to the knee and why it was causing my knee pain. If you can stand needles, it really, really works. I also think there’s great pleasure in a needle releasing tension. Feels like an elastic band being skipped when it’s pulled really tight.

flutes were incredibly tight

Hit at bandcamp.

Lol. Thank you.

I do of course also recommend being fitted. My issues were likely exacerbated by an ill fit.

Won’t say anything

:-)

I was actually using fit measurements, tyvm. I had my fit and a follow up with Scherrit when I was 20. They were only three years old when I did my knee in, but they no longer worked for me. I wasn't to know that until it was too late. Didn't feel any discomfort at the time, only after. Also note that I said 'likely' exacerbated.

Any recommendations for a bike fit in South / central London? Ideally not crazy expensive, but getting some groin pain that’s keeping me off the bike! Cheers

Could see velophysio. She does bike fits. But also groin pain might not be bike fit related or need physio. So double whammy.
Otherwise, jorrit at strype st cycles .

Any saddle/position suggestions for numb knob syndrome. Possibly due to a anterior pelvic tilt pushing my perineum into current saddle nose (Arione). I inherited a fair degree of tilt at birth - (thanks genes), which has gotten worse in recent years for a number of reasons. Plan to do some off the bike restorative work, and have a few bike fit tweaks i'll be making in the coming weeks. In the mean time I'm wondering if any particular saddle design/shape is better for anterior tilt e.g. cut out saddles, flat or dipped top rather than curved. Saddles I'm considering, Selle Anatomica X2, Rivet Independance, Selle Italia Novus Boost Classic, Selle SMP Stratos. Any suggestions welcome.