Bike Set Up - Advice?

[quote="Dombo"][quote="Marek"]Dauphins are very good for this. Make sure you write down all the measurements afterwards so that you have them for prosperity.

Cheers

Marek....

[Snoop Doug]

Oooooo you're a bunch of cynics

Fair point. However....

I pretty much expected that my old alu frame road bike basta rdised TT convert would fail the test so I was ready for that.

My road bike, which is less than a year old and set me back plenty has some shortcomings which really should have been identified @ the time of purchase. I know this now because Dauphins took the time to look me over, measure stuff, fiddle about etc. Won't bore you with all the details but in summary - wrong kind of seatpost, steerer has been cut too short resulting in handlebars too low. Handlebars wrong - I can't comfortably reach the levers, and stem too long. None of these things individually are waaaaay out of whack but together - they add up. Of course over time, I've adjusted my body into a less than desirable position to accomodate these shortcomings. It'll cost me around £250 to put this right - maybe it shouldn't have been wrong in the first place? Caveat emptor and all that.....I accept my share of the responsibility, but I'm not the expert.

Dauphins also reckon I could easily be running with 172.5 cm cranks - would fit my geometry better and give me more potential oooomph (my words not theirs)

So - like I say - another vote for Dauphins - more news when I gets it

Snoop

[Elliot M]

what is the "wrong kind of seatpost"?

while i don't wish to criticise the bike-fitting service, for an existing bike, i would pay for it and make it clear you won't necessarily be buying the parts from them, in order to reduce potential conflict of interest...

i've been experimenting with position recently and i suspect there isn't all that much magic to it. Try a few things and if it feels comfortable for a long ride then it's probably right. Seat height, front/back position and tilt is trivial to adjust. Stem almost as easy by and dirt cheap if you look around. But steerer length isn't which is why my mountain bikes have excess, and I've obtained a new fork and set of spacers for my road bike.

[Andrew G]

I guess the amount of layback, or not, on it. I suppose in an ideal World you match it perfectly to the seat tube angle to BB for "perfect" line to give optimal pedaling action. Realistically it's more likely a combo with the length of the stem which could mean over-reaching and the saddle right forward on the rails. Using a shorter stem would negate some of that though. Sounds like this might be the case for Snoop.

[Snoop Doug]

OK - I will attempt to clarify

Currently my seatpost (which is a carbon stem with an alu top) meets my saddle right at the front. So all the pressure that my butt applies to the saddle is behind the post, significantly. We were just looking at ways to fiddle with that to bring some of the weight to bear more over the load bearing parts of the bike (does that make sense) and also considering a monococque post as being better able to cope with the stress I'm putting on it.

Remember this was just one of a number of suggestions. Dauphins were at pains not to be judgmental in their approach (euphemism for slagging folk off)

I hope to be @ CSS on Sat so come and have a laugh at my saddle position then.

Hope this helps - knowing me tho I've porbablay only served to confuse further

[Andrew G]

Hmmmm, can't see how a mono-cock post will be any different as far as load bearing is concerned to a carbon/alu mix. It's not the composite, but the amount of layback on the post.

From what you say about your saddle being at the front of the seatpost clamp then perhaps you need to move to more of a layback post, which may be what they are suggesting in conjunction with a shorter stem. Otherwise your saddle will effectively move back so you need to move the bars back (via a shorter stem) to keep the reach the same (or shorten it as seemed to be suggested earlier). What length is your current stem? As a short-arse I use a 100mm stem, once you go below 100mm stem length then you effect the handling as the front end becomes more twitchy.