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Old 05-07-11, 11:48 AM
  #128  
Trouble
Sloth Hunter
 
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 408

Bikes: 03 Lemond Zurich (Sold) 07 Steelman Custom steel road bike

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Many thanks to those on this thread who contributed with good solid information and insight into some of the mysteries of bike fitting.

The video about lowering the bars has helped me a lot, I am riding with a lot more bar drop than I thought I could stand and I don't see ever riding with the bars higher again. I've moved from a 110 stem flipped up, to a 120 flipped down with no spacers...and I could go lower. An observation; the front end of the bike is so much more comfortable when standing on the flats and climbing. I used that as a gauge when I lowered the bars on my mtb, also flipped my stem and no spacers.
It eliminated neck and shoulder issues because I was wanting to drive my torso down past my shoulders, now I can round out my shoulders and handling bumps is not an issue, it no longer transmits or radiates up my arms into my neck/shoulders and riding with a bend in my elbows seems much more natural.
Incidentally, now the front end hook-up when cornering, especially on the mtb is insane.

As prescribed by many; as you lower the bars, move the saddle back a tiny bit for balance.

Also on the video, how to pivot at the hips to allow for a straighter back which improves neck alignment has made riding in the drops more comfortable and much more frequent. And the positioning of the saddle along with how you sit on the saddle info (in addition to lowering my saddle using Steve Hogg's method of saddle height) has eliminated any saddle comfort issues I have ever had. There is a lot more hamstring/glute engagement resulting in more power, less fatigue in my quads.
Another indicator that I use; when sitting up no hands and peddling, too high and the bike veers to the left or I just don't feel stable in the saddle. Just right, I can peddle sitting up no problem.

Someone mentioned (I think) about how counterintuitive some of these changes seem/are and they were so right.

Also, the advice about leave it alone for a while has finally sunk in and is no longer adding to my problem.

Last edited by Trouble; 05-07-11 at 12:56 PM.
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