wingcommander

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t2e46jas6l...Movie.mp4?dl=0

I have had pain in both my knees, particularly my left one, and left hip for a while now. I have tried out different saddle heights, and setback.

I have also added all the spacers to the steering post as well, as I have been getting some lower back pain as well. The frame is a size 56, I'm 181 cm tall, and I feel a bit stretched out, FYI (the shop added a 90mm stem, and seatpost without setback when I got the bike).

I stretch regularly, do core exercises once a week, but to no avail.

I have contacted a physiotherapist to see if I there are some "fundamental" muscular problems that need to be taken care of, but as another safeguard it would be nice to hear from the people here if my bike setup and position seems okay judging from this short clip.

Thank you

deapee

I think it's fine. Most people are going to say it looks high because of how much you point your toes at the bottom of the stroke. In actuality, you could probably come down a CM, and if you did a lot of hill climbing where you were back on your saddle, I'd actually recommend it ... but for most people, that's looks to be a fine setup.

You haven't included how long you've been cycling, how many miles per week you're putting in, or what your activity level was like prior to hopping on the bike (if recent). Those are all pretty important pieces of the puzzle. If you've just gone from couch to 100 miles a week, you're going to have issues. Similarly, if you just went from 20 miles a week to 100 miles a week, you're going to have issues. And no, 100 miles a week isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but in actuality for the common person, it's a lot of repetitive motion.

Sojodave

I've seen practically every Youtube video about bike fitting. I finally broke down and got my self fitted to my bike and I was shocked how much they changed my "rule of thumb" fitting and what a difference it made to pain in my back, knees, and elbows. I know it sucks to pay for it, but getting a bike fit is well worth it.

RNAV

Step one is to ensure you have sufficient arch support. If you're standing in your cycling shoes, you should have enough arch support that it is mildly intrusive -- in other words, you can feel the arch support ever so slightly more than you'd want to if you were going to walk around in those shoes all day. If you don't have inserts already, you should probably get some -- I recommend the Superfeet cycling-specific inserts.

Step two is to ensure your cleats are positioned properly, both fore/aft and laterally. This, combined with the aforementioned arch support, have a HUGE impact on how well (or not) your knees track while pedaling. More than likely, a combination of these two steps will be more effective at fixing your knee pain than adjusting saddle height/setback (though those are important too).

Can't really tell from your video because your upper body isn't shown. Chances are you're getting back pain because the first two steps haven't been addressed. Once those are addressed, then adjust saddle height, followed by saddle setback, followed by handlebar height/reach.

If your position is crap, you can do all the off-bike exercises in the world and it won't make any difference.

You'd probably be better off spending the money on a professional fitting first.

Side note: Wing/CC, eh? I've been stationed several places CONUS -- if you'll PM me your location, I may be able to provide a professional fitter recommendation if you're someplace I've been stationed previously.

Hapsmo911

Heres a link worth reading

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com.../11/knee-pain/

wingcommander

Thanks deapee, I got the bike this April. One year before that I was cycling every day (on my trainer and outside), but the approx 6-8 months before leading up to this April, my motivation and mood was in the toilet, and my only physical activity was jogging a few times per week.

Slightly before (approx 2 months) I got this new bike, I started doing 30-40 minutes on my trainer (almost) every morning on my old racer (which is sold now), in addition to one or two 60-80 km ride per week with the new bike starting in April. Already back then I could feel the annoyances in my legs (left in particular), but (stupidly in retrospect) continued with my routine hoping my body would quickly adapt (which it has not). The annoyances I had a couple of months ago are now full-blown pains that keeps me off the bike for several days.

rmfnla

Very informative article...

wingcommander

Thanks for the input RNAV, and no I am not in the CONUS, I just happened to read a book about the Skunk Works before I chose my username for this forum : )

I agree on a proper fitting, but the places I've looked at, gave me the impression that they just charge 300 $ to adjust your seat / add shims to your shoes. The place I bought the bike at is a reputable Specialized Concept store, and I have taken the seat a couple of cm down from their initial adjustment, as well as removing the shims they added under my left cleats (the physiotherapist I just went to said my left foot was shorter because tight muscles had tilted my hips/pelvis, which needs to be corrected with stretching).

wingcommander

Looks great, I'll take the time to read through this.

milkbaby

I vote for seeing a good experienced fitter, somebody who's done a lot of fits for a lot of different people. It's hard to substitute for experience.

For Joe Blow like me and everybody else here on the forums, just from the lower body movie you look fine, but obviously something isn't working because of the knee and hip pain. Somebody with a lot of experience who can watch you from all angles might figure it out in a few minutes whereas internet experts like myself might never get it right. Good luck and hope you figure it out!

99Klein 

I think it looks quite low. If you're having pain, I'd raise it and see if it helps. As little as 4-5mm make a difference in my knees.

DrIsotope

Did I miss anywhere the OP mentioning where on the knee he's getting pain/discomfort? The exact location of the pain makes determines what changes need to be made. It's not perfect, but this is an excellent place to start:

wphamilton

Saddle is not low, because he's ankling a lot which keeps the knees bent more.

If anything I'd move the saddle down, 1 or 2 centimeters and see if it naturally reduces the tendency to toe down at the bottom of the stroke. Or affects the pain also of course.

woodcraft

Saddle looks high- unlikely that you could get your heels on the pedals without rocking.

but, as you've tried various things, some professional input is a good idea

to get things working well.

Carbonfiberboy 

OP's pedaling looks very nice. OP is not "ankling" as it is usually meant. He's dropping his heel on the downstroke rather than raising it. I think he would pass the heel test, i.e. saddle height looks good from knee angle, etc.

My first impression is that the bike looks tiny under him, so I converted to English and he's almost 6' tall. His bike size is more like 58 cm. Far from being too stretched out, he looks very cramped on the bike. If he dropped his elbows, his knees would hit his forearms by the look of it. As others said, hard to tell much without seeing the upper body also. With elbows well bent, the upper arm should make ~90° angle with the torso. When on the hoods with horizontal forearms, elbows should be in front of knees by up to 2".

This makes me wonder how long the OP has been riding in terms of years and miles/year. If he's a relative newbie, aches of this sort could come from many sources and training errors.

Looking at his legs, they look more like runner's legs, lacking muscle right above the kneecap and possibly the cyclist's "second kneecap". It's hard to tell from the blurry video.

If the above is the case, my thought would be to do some cycling-specific strengthening work in the gym, both for legs and back, as well as move to a larger bike.

RoadGuy

I'd agree with the Poster who wrote that the bike frame looks too small, and the rider looks cramped.

The saddle is up too high from the looks of the ankles, and the left side pain could be from the saddle position (hip rocking?).

The Rider is sitting way back on the saddle, yet he looks like he's positioned too far forward, and doesn't have room, another reason to think that the frame is too small. Could be the reason he has the back pain, too much drop.

I don;t think a fitting is going to do the Rider much good. The present frame is too small. Maybe what his body is trying to tell him is that he needs to look for a bike he can ride with a more upright position (larger frame, less drop, or maybe a hybrid?).

dksix

I would say correct or proper arch support for one's feet. I was having knee pain and numbing in my feet. I read about arch support and tried a couple of arch support insoles. Turns out I have pretty flat feet and what has worked for me is replacing my the "arch support" insole with just plain flat insoles. It has solved both my numb feet problems and knee pain. I believe the knee pain was due to my trying to twist, turn, move, wiggle or whatever I was trying to do to get the feeling back in my feet.

exmechanic89

My first impression as well was that the bike is too small, the rider looks cramped up, not stretched out to me. I'd go with the professional fitting idea. Actually OP, first you could probably just take the bike to a different shop and ask them what they think of the sizing. Maybe they'll have a few suggestions. Good luck.

woodcraft

I ride that same frame in the same size, & am an inch taller.

I'm sure that I'd feel cramped with the saddle pushed forward on a zero setback post & 90mm stem,

but I did start out with a set up similar, & have gradually lengthened and lowered.

(No pain besides some 'too much too soon' IT band issues, 'tho)

jfowler85

Try riding without the saddle.

wingcommander

Thanks for all the input !

Igualmente

I think I can see your forearms moving up and down possibly as a result of your hips rocking. I'm in the "saddle.too.high." camp. Just looks wrong to me. Make sure that while seated you can put your heel on the pedal with the pedal at the bottom of the circle (and without rocking your hips down to get your heel on the pedal). Make sure you can do that with both legs.