Rooooadbiker

Hi,
I started cycling some years ago with an entry level mtb. Everthing was fine until one day i decided to tweak my saddle position because i felt it was too low and too far back. So i moved the saddle up, forward and tilted it down a lot. Since then i started developing an increasing quad soreness which led to quads overwork when trying to do high intensity sustained efforts; also my cadence dropped a lot.
I've never experienced this pain with the old position, it is localized in the upper thighs. When i returned to the old position everything was again fine. Then i bought a road bike and here is the problem: i started riding it experiencing a similar quads pain, it is localized higher compared to the mtb (front of the hips); i've tried every saddle position, even the same saddle in the same position relative to the bottom bracket with same shoes and pedals, it didn't work. I've tried long and short stems, even a +17° stem to exactly match the saddle to bar drop. I've tried different saddles, including a smp forma with which i can have a lot of seat setback (i have a 20 mm offset seatpost).
I've noticed it gets slightly worse when i'm in the drops. The cadence is high enough on the road bike (90+). The fact that bothers me the most is that i can't push forcefully as i do on my mtb; as a consequence i struggle to climb the same roads with the road bike at the same speed of my mtb, which is heavier and with low pressure tires. I've already seen a bike fitter but we didn't solve the problem.

Iride01 

Your issue is likely saddle position fore/aft along with height. And maybe even your foot position on the pedals. Though for me foot position usually affects my calf muscles.

But it'd help to know your inseam measurement and your bike model and size. Inseam is measured snug in the crotch to the floor. I don't particularly care if you have shoes on, just don't wear your stilettos or platform shoes.

Calsun

I would start by measuring the pedal to saddle distance on the MTB and compare that to your setup on the road bike. I orient my body quite differently on a road bike with its drop handlebars than on my mountain bikes where I am much more upright while riding. I use my back and stomach muscles a great deal more on my road bike as the drops allow me to do so.

It is easier for someone following you while you ride to spot problems with seat height and position. I do not think having a fitting in a bike shop is particularly useful. Even when I make adjustments on my bikes I ride for at least 20 minutes to get my muscles and connective tissue warm and limber. If I just get up on the saddle with cold legs I cannot accurately determine the optimum seat position.

Rooooadbiker

I've already tried to match the saddle position, measuring both with respect to the bottom bracket and to the pedal axle. It feels like my pelvis is much more unstable on the road bike compared to the mountain bike even with the same saddle in the same position. I've also already compared the saddle to bar distance and even reducing it (to be shorter than the distance on the mtb) on the road bike with a short stem didn't solve the problem.

Carbonfiberboy 

It would be easier to figure this out if we could see two photos of you on each bike in your usual position on that bike, one with cranks vertical, one with them horizontal.

philbob57

'Unstable' + pain makes me think saddle is too high.

Btw, I'm assuming you restored the seat position that didn't hurt on your MTB.

Iride01 

It might just be that you aren't use to a road bike position for riding. Though your burning quads tend to make me think your saddle is way too low and you are pushing a high gear ratio.

Still, more info about your bikes and you would help. Otherwise we can only just generalize about things that might be different for anyone since personal preference plays a part too.

Polaris OBark

Bike fit (or lack thereof).

Assuming the bike is the right size, it might be worth it to spend a few bucks and get a (better) professional fit.

If you want DIY, https://bikedynamics.co.uk/

freeranger

Your riding position on a road bike and off-road bike will be different. Road=bent over more, trail=more upright. While using the same legs, same muscles, they are being used in a slightly different position. I sometimes ride my off-road bike on pavement for a workout, and find I have to raise the seat higher than when riding trails. And while my position on my off-road bike is comfortable and works for me while trail riding, it sucks on road. Don't try to match position on the bikes to each other. They are meant for different purposes and each will have a "sweet spot" which works for where you ride them. Find the most comfortable position on your road bike and go with it for a while. Could be that your legs and muscles just need to "break in" to a slightly different position and the way you use the muscles. I am assuming the road bike is the correct size for you.

Calsun

Upper leg muscle pain is usually the result of the saddle being too low. The saddle height measurement should be from the top of the saddle to the top of the pedal at the 6 O'clock position. This is only a starting point and I always take a wrench with me and do not start making changes to saddle position until I have fully warmed up my legs, i.e after 20-30 minutes.

With my mountain bikes I like having a dropper seat post and one came with the full suspension bike but I had to add one to my hardtail bike. Being able to drop the seat gave me a lot more flexibility in positioning myself on the bike.

Rooooadbiker

I don't think the problem is the saddle being too low because as i said, on my mountain bike, a very similar problem started when i moved the saddle up (by a lot ~2 cm/almost 1 inch)and all the way forward; and tilted the nose down by a lot. So on the road bike i took as a starting point a position with the saddle all the way down and back, leveled. Then i started moving it up until it felt way too high; then i started moving it forward (reassessing saddle height). I've also tried starting with the nose down.
None of those positions worked.
I feel my pelvis more stable (i.e. feeling more on my "sitbones") on the mountain bike (with the old/correct saddle position) compared to any position on the road bike, even with the lowest saddle height and the same saddle.

Iride01 

Tilting the nose down a lot is an indication something is wrong with how you are doing things or that you have a wildly wrong size bike for you, whether that is the mountain bike or the road bike. Saddles pretty much should be level. Maybe a little tilt up or down, but usually up very slightly is typical for those that don't prefer them to be level.

Still, if you want some help you are going to have to answer some of the questions ask. Essentially, you've just repeated your original post.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yeah, well, this is all useless without photos.

Rooooadbiker

My inseam is 76.2 cm and i've already tried the 0.885 and 1.09 (pedal axle to saddle) formulas. I am 1.66 cm and my bike has a weird geometry with a reach of about 395 mm. I think the seat tube is very steep. I tried with a 70 mm stem though getting a very short position with the saddle all the way back but it didn't work. My cleats are positioned all the way back, it should be a safe positioning (speaking of muscular load).

One more thing i can notice is that the pedals are way more far apart on the mountain bike compared to the road bike.

Iride01 

It'd really help if we knew what bike you were talking about that has the weird geometry.

Perhaps it's really a TT bike and not what we'd typically think of for a road bike.

Pic's you can put in the Gallery here on BF and let us know they are there and we can find them to look at.

Until you provide some tangible information about your bikes and some of the other stuff ask of you then all we can do is commiserate with your aches and pains.

Road Fan

What does his 1.66 cm mean? If he means meters then it's probably his height, and I can compare: My height is about 167 cm, and my PBH is 81.4 cm. I think his 76.2 cm might not be the correct inseam measurement. If he has done PBH in line with usual guidelines, I think his saddle height should be from the pedal 83.1 or so, and from crank 67.5 cm, at least assuming his body data is accurate and the old rubrics work for such a short leg. I also wonder if his frame is small enough. I ride a 52 or 53 cm vintage-style (1970s and a980s) road frame, and his inseam is 5 cm shorter than mine. But his height is about the same as mine so he has a long torso and/or long arms.

OP: what do you mean by "reach?" I can think of about four different measurements folks have called reach. We throw around these terms, but there is actually a lot of ambiguity in them.

Rooooadbiker

Yes i am 166 cm and the inseam is measured correctly. I've tried those saddle heights and they didn't worked, as any of the other saddle positions i tried (a lot).
The bike is not a TT, it is a road bike with a custom frame. By reach i mean the horizontal distance between the bottom bracket and the headset (I've tried a 70 mm stem to see if it was involved in the problem but it didn't solve it).
Noticing that the distance between the pedal is bigger in the mountain bike lately I've tried a pair of pedals extenders but it didn't work either.
Describing the problem in other words, it's like i have normal strenght to push the pedals on the mountain bike, and no strength at all when i ride the road bike, with any saddle position.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yet once again, you won't be able to get any useful advice without posting photos. See post 5. You're wasting time and the energy of people who know a lot about it.

Iride01 

Road bikes and mountain bikes have different gearing. Mountain bikes will have more easier gears to push given the same riding conditions. So if you are just saying that you can pedal the hardest gear of your mountain bike easily on a paved road but can't pedal the hardest gear on your road bike without wearing out your quads, well... you are right, you can't and probably you should be able to as a normal thing. The big gear gets used once you've achieved a certain speed via the use of the lower gears that lets you pedal without cramping up your quads.

Still sharing some information about your two bikes and maybe even a picture might help. As well a better description of when you have this pain in your quads that you mentioned in your OP. Only while riding and it goes away soon after you stop riding or you get this after the ride.

Repeating your measurements isn't going to help without you also telling us the other stuff. You haven't even given us the size of the bikes.

79pmooney

Another thought. If this road bike is a fun ride, you may be seeing what I see any time I take out the old race bike I picked up last summer. My bike is as good as it gets for extracting everything my body had to offer by:

1) Fitting perfectly and feeling 100% race and

2) Subtly encouraging my body to go far harder than I planned. I frequently find myself riding a gear higher but also keeping up a good RPM. Faster! Fun! And I pay for it after on a regular basis.

Polaris OBark

In fairness, posting photos isn't enabled until the OP has more than 10 posts. (There is a workaround of creating an album.) That is why the spammers have to be content with phone numbers.