_ForceD_

I’ve never had a professional bike fit, but I’ve always wondered about how/if one would be helpful for me. My bikes are all older CroMo or Aluminum road frames with traditional geometry (i.e. level top tube). Recently I’ve had some discomfort on one of them in the rider-saddle interface. Typical numbness, and prickly sensations down there. I happened to stumble across a DIY bikefit process and figured I’d try it. Turns out, based on what and how it tells you to measure, my seat was just about ¼ inch too high, and my handlebars were about ⅛ inch too low. I just finished a post-adjustment ride. That combo of a little more than just a quarter-inch total made a big difference on the amount and location of pressure ‘down under’ in the rider-saddle interface. Yet it’s not perfect. I’m wondering is sliding the seat forward an ⅛ inch or so would make it even better.

Dan

Crankycrank

Possibly. Try it and see. Almost any bike fit I've seen, pro or do-it-yourself, can get you very close and the final nirvana takes some experimentation. You can also try tipping the nose up or down. For me the longer the ride the more a poor fit shows itself so try riding as long as you're up to and see what happens. I've discovered things like the pedals were too far outward, cleats in the wrong position, stem too long/short/high/low, bars too wide, etc. Your body usually speaks.

SoSmellyAir

I have never had a professional bike fit either, but it is not the be all and end all. Even those who once had a bike fit needs to adjust their positions as their bodies change with age and/or fitness levels. Generally, if your saddle is set more or less level, moving it forwards also increases the saddle height, so that the overall distance between saddle and bottom bracket stays more or less the same. I have recently adjusted the fore / aft position of my saddle, based on these videos:



Both videos give short shrift to the old Knee Over Pedal Spindle rule-of-thumb. Turns out, I had the saddle slightly too far forward. Of course, a few rides after fixing that issue, I bought a new, slightly shorter saddle, so the process begins anew.

easyupbug 

Do it. I have old man shrinking and along with bringing the bars up for the first time in eons have raised the saddle nose up on some of my saddles and slid pretty much all forward with positive results.

79pmooney

Also, consider going for rides with the wrenches to play with the seat clamp, the seat pin, the stem and handlebars. Bring tape so you can mark the old setting. Small changes in seat tilt can make huge differences. (Single bolt seat clamps can be very hard to adjust systematically, especially on the road. Seriously consider going to a 2-bolt post where you can finesse the tilt very easily and return exactly to where you started. Thompson and Nitto both make very good ones.)

For reference seat tilt, lay a straight edge on your seat and measure down to the handlebars. For handlebar rotation, hold that same straightedge under the flat portion of the drops and place a piece of tape on the seatstay.

easyupbug 

^^^ great points for 79mooney, I have been using the inclinometer on my iphone for years to set these. Probably should carry a straight edge as he suggests for the set up but I pick a reference spot on the saddle and use it to place the phone. I end up with different angles, a few degrees anyway depending on the design of the saddle as I have several saddles that work well for me, vintage to the latest whizbang, Turbo to Ergon.

SoSmellyAir

I am not sure if this applies to your case, but at least one of the videos I linked above advises against having the saddle too far forward (e.g., to compensate for reach) as doing so would mean having more of one's weight supported by one's shoulders and arms, leading to sub-optimal balance and upper body soreness.

I did not know the iPhone has a level function; learn something new every day.