BROOKLINEBIKER

I took my Surly Trucker bicycle to my LBS for repair. The bike fit felt fine when I rode into the shop.

When I rode it home, something felt off. As I have spent considerable time and money on bike fittings, I became concerned.

The seat felt tilted up a bit. It also felt low on the back of the seat on the right side and I feel like I have to force myself up on the left side to avoid a feeling of sliding to the right.

I note this LBS has an issue. When they put bikes on the stand they don’t clamp the bike to the seat post but instead hang the bike from the nose of the seat. They claim this doesn’t damage the seat.

I did place a level on the seat and it seemed to be generally level right to left on the back of the seat.

The seat is a Selle Italia Sport Gel Flow Saddle purchased in Jan. 2022.

Any thoughts on what may be going on?

zandoval 

It's good that you got a fitting but you are the one who makes the final adjustments.

If I saw the way my bikes are set up now 30 years ago it would be a long LONG laugh...

BROOKLINEBIKER

To clarify, I'm trying to determine why my bike went into the shop feeling like it fit well and no longer feels like it fits after they serviced the bike.

For example, might something on the seat been damaged or moved while the bike was being serviced that now makes the seat feel unbalanced or not level?

zandoval 

I get ya now... It could be a number of things but I would look into handle bar position first. For me just a few milometers change in Handle Bar Position or Seat Angle and Height makes big changes in my ride. Sometimes when the bike is hung from the bars and seat, my preferred method, the head set on the bars can get offset. That makes a very noticeable change in a ride for sure.

Don't forget to take careful measurements of your bike positioning after you solve this problem.

Iride01 

The bike shop might have inadvertently changed something. Or maybe they thought your saddle was tilted down obscenely and thought they were doing you a favor leveling it up some.

Does it really matter if you don't find any damage. Just put it where you want it. Sometimes I have annoyances that makes me do small adjustments to my saddle position. Maybe you are just having one of those annoyances.

79pmooney

Question - was the seat clamp bolt(s) tight? If not, the seat could well have rotated back from the bike's weight plus any wrenching force they used. (Is it tight now? If yes, they may have tightened it after discovering it was loose but by that time they had already lost the original setting.) Now, I'd athunk that you would have noticed the seat moving on your own before taking the bike in.

I would have zero issue with hanging my bikes as the shop did on any of my bikes. If something moves, that's on me. Or on a seat or seatpost that is about to fail on its own. In all of those cases, that shop's hanging would just be the messenger.

And here, once again, I profess my love of two bolt seatposts. With two bolts, it is unlikely that both bolts loosened. So you could tighten one, counting the turns to tight, sit on it and if not right, back up those turns and repeat with the other. The huge drawback to one bolt posts is that once, loosened, all reference is lost. But you can mark the seat rails with a magic marker or piece of tape, measure the seat nose to handlebar distance and put a yardstick on the seat and measure down to the bar. Measure the seat height. I like to mark the post with tape at the top of the seat tube but be aware that if the post slips down, that tape may be pushed up. Safer is exactly 1" above. Or pedal to seat top. A little harder to judge but nothing to slip or lose. I measure to a point half way between nose and seat back; marked with tape. Easy to replace the tape and tape location isn't to the mm critical. (For me, seat height is, to the m, critical.) With those notes, you can duplicate positions. Sadly, this does need to be done before anything happens and most of us don't bother.

Perhaps the shop should adjust their practices to always clamping the post shaft. (Lawsuit and irate customer prevention.) Takes more time and slows taking the bike off the stand to set down, open the QR and properly set the wheel in the drop out, something that perhaps might need to happen a few times while dialing in brakes, wheel alignment, tires, etc. I do my wrenching at home hanging my bikes by the seat nose through a rope loop. Yes, most of the time the loop is back by the post but initially there is often a moment (maybe longer on one of my heavy bikes when I am feeling weak) that the bike is hanging by the tip; like yours was. I love the quick on and off and being able to set the bike down for every rear wheel placement so easily.
'
I don't have all the facts here. Not placing blame. But I am suggesting that ensuring seat position (and handlebar/brake lever positions) are both secure and documented means that the critical bike fit dimensions can be replicated if ever lost. Those are numbers no bike shop has unless they took the time to document your bike when you brought it in. Shops work on low profit margins, low pay and at times a lot of work with big backups so the incentive to do that documenting simply isn't there. (Unless they are working on and loosening that part.)

curbtender

Could be as simple as the seat raised or lowered for a test ride. Try adjusting it and then mark the height at the seat collar with a marker or piece of tape.

frdfandc

Hanging a bike from the saddle doesn't change any seat positions unless the seat post clamp or seat rail clamp bolts were loose. I can't tell you how many bikes I've hung from the nose of the saddle over the years. Probably most of them. Without issue. If there was a loose bolt and something moved, we always tried to put it back as close as the previous position was.

Do you know your bike fit measurements? If you do, just check them with a tape measure and make the correction(s). No biggie. Things happen and it's easy to correct if your measurements are off.

Kontact 

Aside from up and down, your saddle could have moved right or left. AND, if you were riding with the saddle slightly off center, the mechanic may have fixed that and you are feeling the straight saddle now as weird.

I don't know what your fitter did, but Cobb saddles actually recommends having the saddle nose off center. Do you have notes from the fit?


Other than that, hanging the bike doesn't move saddles except if they are already loose. But I agree seat height might have accidentally changed.

tomato coupe

Is this a trick question?