deacon mark

Ok I have my road bike set and have not messed with the adjustment in at least 2 years. The seat has not moved or anything and I have not grown taller. For some reason I notice that when I was riding the seat could be a little higher and it might feel better to ride. I was not having any issues and in fact been riding a huge amount averaging 225 mile weeks with the last 7 days of 350.

Well I moved my seat up yesterday just a bit maybe 1 cm or little less than 1/2 inch. Today I went out to ride and wow what a complete different. Everything about it felt much easier. I felt like I had more power and legs less cramp ed, much easier to stand and pedal. I cannot believe how much of a difference it made and wonder if anyone after years of same fit has done this and noticed the improvement. That is all I did not one thing else changed and I am not exactly sure of the amount but it was not much. I can hardly tell looking but I felt it the whole ride. Could it be riding more something changed?

berner

I hope you keep a record of bike fit measurements for future reference. Park Tool has a road position chart you can download and fill in your own numbers. I've been doing that for a number of years and it is interesting to see how my position has changed over the years. Glad you found an improvement. That is hard to do.

Redbullet

I've "been" there. However, after 1-2 rides you might come back to the old performance. And don't be surprised if, moving back the saddle after a longer time, you'll have again a short time and small performance boost. You can probably switch between the two positions (around 1 cm difference - both might be optimal) every 10-15 rides and feel that small and short time performance boost.

canklecat

I often make minor adjustments to suit how I feel that day or week. Maybe 1/4" to the stem/bar height, 1/8" to the saddle height, fore/aft position, etc. With age related wear and tear and multiple injuries, I listen to my body.

I do keep reference marks or tape on the default positions, but those are just guides.

I remember a documentary movie showing a young Eddie Merckx personally supervising the setup of his bikes, including using a level and ruler to check the saddles after his mechanic set up the bikes. But a few years later another documentary film shows Merckx making his own saddle adjustment on the fly, just roughly jerking it into position. After a serious crash during his prime, and cumulative injuries, he seemed to adjust the bike to suit how he felt that day, not how things *should* be based on his youth or rigid guidelines.

Chris Froome is the same way, maybe more extreme. His mechanic has talked about letting Froome do whatever he feels is right for that day. Some rides Froome's saddle position looks normal. Other stages his saddle looks so low it's almost like his knees are on the verge of hitting his chin. And he's always looked awkward on a bike, like a pterodactyl swooped out of the sky, stole a bike and went racing. His odd physique probably defies most conventional bike fitting guidelines.

Cypress

Seat height is so specific to the individual. What works for one person is doom for another. I've had bike fitters comment that my seat is too low, but I see a noticeable drop in power and an increase in hamstring cramping if I raise it 0.25mm higher than it is.

I know it's in the right spot when I get a 1:1 ratio of VMO to hamstring cramps. It means both sides of my legs are working appropriately well.

colnago62

GCN did a video on saddle position. They found out that a lot of riders change the saddle position frequently. They talked to a team mechanic or manager, can’t remember which and they said as long as the rider doesn’t try go to far, the let them do it.

Carbonfiberboy 

1 cm is a lot!

canklecat

Other little things may affect bike fit feel for some riders. A few years ago I noticed little difference between my bikes with crank lengths of 170, 172.5 and 175. Within 15 minutes of riding they all felt the same to me.

But late last year I started noticing a difference. It mostly showed up in minor knee twinges, muscle fatigue during a ride, soreness after, and sudden cramps.

For several months last year my main road bike was an older 1993 Trek 5900 set up with Biopace 52/42 eccentric chainrings. There isn't a huge difference in the 52 ring -- it's only very slightly not-quite-round. But I could really feel the difference in the smaller ring -- it *felt* like it gave me a bit of a leverage effect. Took awhile to adapt, mostly by slowing my cadence from 90 rpm to 75 or slower. My pedal stroke is already choppy, better suited to platform pedals. So Biopace worked out for me.

In January I had to take that old Trek apart for a long overdue total overhaul, especially the headset. So I decided to swap the Biopace 52/42 rings over to my '89 Ironman, which had been wearing 50/38 Vuelta round rings and felt perfectly fine that way.

Soon I developed knee pain and persistent soreness. Made no sense until I methodically checked everything and realized the Trek had 170 cranks while the Ironman had 172.5 cranks. On the Ironman the Biopace rings felt surge-y, herky-jerky, odd and annoying.

I swapped the entire crankset over to the Ironman. Problem solved. The 2.5mm difference really mattered, at least with my 62 y/o knees and choppy pedaling style.

Now the 175 cranks on my Univega hybrid feel odd, too long. If the saddle height is off even slightly, either my leg feels hyper-extended (tight ligaments behind the knee, pain around the patella, hamstring cramps at night), or the saddle feels too low with consequent faster fatigue of my quads.

When I first got that bike I loved the way the cranks felt. Now I'm considering putting 170 cranks on every bike to minimize variables.