Setback Seatpost? Shorter Cranks?
 

I'm in the process of getting a fit and wanted to ask fellow clydes what they think. I've got a 64cm Soma ES. I'm 6'7" with a 35.5" inseam - so shorter legs and big torso.

A. When you have go get a setback seatpost to get you in the right position -> might that indicate your frame is too small? Just seems to me like a setback seatpost means something isn't right - but the fitter says we can make it work.

B. I'm getting fit to resolve ankle discomfort and knee tendonitis and the fitter is recommending dropping from 175 down to 172.5. Anyone else have some leg pain alleviated by going down? I originally had 180's back when I first bought this bike - so when the fitter said 172.5 my jaw sort of dropped. But I'm willing to give it a go for now.

I went from 172.5 to 165, could not be happier.

You will feel like spinning instead of grinding.

I'm going to go ahead and assume your back and arms are at nice angles.

Shorter crank arm is awesome! Less leg flapping up and down, so way easier to maintain higher cadence. Less leverage for climbing, but if you have the gearing and no crazy climbs, you're probably fine on that.

+1 for giving changes time.

I'm 34" inseam and played with 165, 167.5, 170, 172 on my fixie (48x17 gearing). 165 was so fun for going fast but I took too much of a hit on climbing leverage. I loved 167.5, but was cheap and could only find a used 170 locally. So I've been riding 170 and it really feels like the longest I'd go. Otherwise I feel like my legs are flapping around on down hill/ high cadence.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...05713f8ec4.gif

I accidentally ordered a 172.5 crank once and rode it for a year before changing out to my normal 175 and I really don't think I noticed the difference (besides needing to move the seat height etc). I mean... 2.5mm is tiny.

I can tell when my seat is off my a couple of cm's......its really annoying that that little bit of difference a body can notice. I hate it!

A couple cm is huge.

Agreed about the difference a couple cm's can make. It can be huge.

I imagine it depends how sensitive one is.

I'm not sure, but I feel like it's even possible to sense finer adjustments. For example, there's the feeling when something is very off, slightly off, and then a feeling when somethings just not right. Those last ones are tricky.

Anyhow, to the OP, I would encourage trying different (Shorter) crank arms.

As a point of comparison, try picking a single middle gear then try a climb, flat, and decent (pedaling fast enough to feel the gear engaging) to get a sense of the difference in crank arm lengths. I found the most noticeable difference at the highest possible cadence.

Thanks all for the advice! A couple cm can indeed be big - at least in handlebars I've noticed this.

smaller circles for the knee, less angles, makes sense to me if you have knee problems. My new bike came with 172.5, normally been running 175s for yrs. I can't really feel the difference normal riding, but seems easier to spin up to speed. Mt seat to bar drop is a smigg bigger. It worked for me.

Best of luck and health!

You can also think of it as different amplitude sine waves.