Bicycle fitting nightmare

[TK421]

Just checked the seat post and it has a 25mm set-back. I've moved the seat back 10mm from where it was. I will check its effect in the morning.

saddle needs to be put back a lot only my view but looks about 4 inches out?

To get the seat 4"/100mm further back then I would have to change to a much larger frame. The general consensus above is that a medium frame would be too big although I can get the same Road Sport frame in a 53cm medium for £40 at the moment which would stretch the reach 10mm and raise the base level of the seat 15mm. Both areas where it has been noted that I need to go bigger.
I have been doing some homework and it would seem that I have been a victim of the urban myth that I should be able to be in the saddle and touch the floor with the balls of both my feet. It's unlearning false information like that as to why I joined this amazing team.

 

[cyberknight]

Just checked the seat post and it has a 25mm set-back. I've moved the seat back 10mm from where it was. I will check its effect in the morning.

To get the seat 4"/100mm further back then I would have to change to a much larger frame. The general consensus above is that a medium frame would be too big although I can get the same Road Sport frame in a 53cm medium for £40 at the moment which would stretch the reach 10mm and raise the base level of the seat 15mm. Both areas where it has been noted that I need to go bigger.
I have been doing some homework and it would seem that I have been a victim of the urban myth that I should be able to be in the saddle and touch the floor with the balls of both my feet. It's unlearning false information like that as to why I joined this amazing team.

i cant touch the floor unless i dismount , thats what kerbs are for when you stop .........

 

[youngoldbloke]

Before you buy another frame try raising the saddle using the heel-on-pedal straight leg method as a starting point. You'll soon get used to sliding forward off the saddle when you stop. You could also look at the LeMond method, and the109% method. Raising the saddle will also have the effect of increasing the saddle setback. To give you a starting point to calculate the setback try the KOPS method. Note that all these methods give you starting points, help put you in the right ballpark.

 

[davidphilips]

Any chance of a picture of the seat post. saddle and frame, Just wondering if the seat post is perhaps 180 degrees out or if another type of seat post perhaps with more setback might be in order.
Know some seat posts have zero setback and others quite a lot. only guessing the setback is out by about 4 inches, perhaps measure the length of your top tube from head tube, where the fork passes through it, back towards the middle of the seatpost? some thing just seems wrong, be interesting to find out what it is?
Remember a long time ago i seen an older bike with a sort of bracket clamp at the top of the seatpost and it was fitted the wrong way and put the saddle way to far forward?

 

[cyberknight]

Any chance of a picture of the seat post. saddle and frame, Just wondering if the seat post is perhaps 180 degrees out or if another type of seat post perhaps with more setback might be in order.
Know some seat posts have zero setback and others quite a lot. only guessing the setback is out by about 4 inches, perhaps measure the length of your top tube from head tube, where the fork passes through it, back towards the middle of the seatpost? some thing just seems wrong, be interesting to find out what it is?
Remember a long time ago i seen an older bike with a sort of bracket clamp at the top of the seatpost and it was fitted the wrong way and put the saddle way to far forward?

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/bicycle-sizing-nightmare.289113/page-3#post-6866144

 

[TK421]

Any chance of a picture of the seat post. saddle and frame, Just wondering if the seat post is perhaps 180 degrees out or if another type of seat post perhaps with more setback might be in order

For a look at the build you can see my cycle here
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/boardman-road-sport-specialized-build.287823/
Have a look at posts 3, 32 and 38.
HTH

 

[slowmotion]

I feel your pain. The first road bike I bought seemed far too big but the bike shop assured me it was right for me. After suffering for a few months, I swapped the 110mm stem to a 90mm one despite all the daft warnings on CC that it would make the steering twitchy. That was a real game-changer. A bit later, I swapped the bars for ones that were 2" narrower, great for riding in busy London traffic where you have to be a bit more nimble than in a time trial. A couple of years later, I bought another road bike with a 50mm smaller frame. Absolute joy!

You can make a small bike bigger by tweeking it but its harder to make a big bike smaller.

 

[TK421]

Just checked the seat post and it has a 25mm set-back. I've moved the seat back 10mm from where it was. I will check its effect in the morning

I have Osgood-Schlatters disease and I did notice that my knee caps didn't feel tight like they normally do on my morning ride, so that's a positive.
This afternoon I decided to try moving the seat post up. I used the LeMond method as a guide to raising the seat. Using the calculation of 74×0.883=65.342 (inseam x LMM = seat height) as my starting point I rounded down to 65cm and deducted 2cm for the BB and then set my tape measure to 63cm so that I could place the end of the tape against the BB and then raise the saddle until it touched the tape measure itself.

I marked the saddle height with a bit of masking tape before I moved it up and found that I moved the seat post 23mm to set the saddle somewhere near the recommended height. Now I can't touch the floor in the saddle at all, so I will have to make adjustments to my riding style now
2 small changes that were very noticeable in the handling of my cycle. Thanks again everyone for the help..

 

[ColinJ]

Now that your saddle height is a lot better, maybe you could try moving the stem/bars down a spacer at a time? That would stretch you out a little bit more.

I know some people like their handlebar high like yours, but I discovered that I feel a lot better with mine lowered. (I borrowed my cousin's bike when I was on holiday in Scotland. It was the same size, make, and model as mine but his handlebar was about 5 cm lower than my setup at the time.)

If you look at my current setup, you can see that I have the bar significantly lower than the saddle. Obviously, that might not suit you (and mine is a much bigger bike) but it shows that there is a wide range to play with.

 

[Jameshow]

Now that your saddle height is a lot better, maybe you could try moving the stem/bars down a spacer at a time? That would stretch you out a little bit more.

I know some people like their handlebar high like yours, but I discovered that I feel a lot better with mine lowered. (I borrowed my cousin's bike when I was on holiday in Scotland. It was the same size, make, and model as mine but his handlebar was about 5 cm lower than my setup at the time.)

If you look at my current setup, you can see that I have the bar significantly lower than the saddle. Obviously, that might not suit you (and mine is a much bigger bike) but it shows that there is a wide range to play with.

View attachment 670106

Colin what do you think of the caad4?

 

[ColinJ]

Colin what do you think of the caad4?

My bike is a CAAD5 - I am not familiar with the CAAD4. Even though it is about 20 years old, I still think it is a great bike. It is a little heavier than top bikes are these days (around 8.5 kg vs, say, 7.0 kg) but that extra weight is tiny compared to the extra weight on my body!

The CAAD5 uses old-fashioned square taper bottom brackets, which I am perfectly happy with.

I wasn't quite so happy carting my bulk over the local hills with a 53/39 chainset though! I converted it to a triple chainset from Spa Cycles, so I now use 48/36/28. I also fitted a 12-3630 cassette so my bottom gear is a hill-friendly 28/30. I lost out a bit at the top end but I can pedal 48/12 to 51 kph (32 mph) at 100 rpm and freewheel if I want to go faster, since that would only be downhill.

 

[cyberknight]

I have Osgood-Schlatters disease and I did notice that my knee caps didn't feel tight like they normally do on my morning ride, so that's a positive.
This afternoon I decided to try moving the seat post up. I used the LeMond method as a guide to raising the seat. Using the calculation of 74×0.883=65.342 (inseam x LMM = seat height) as my starting point I rounded down to 65cm and deducted 2cm for the BB and then set my tape measure to 63cm so that I could place the end of the tape against the BB and then raise the saddle until it touched the tape measure itself.
View attachment 670095
I marked the saddle height with a bit of masking tape before I moved it up and found that I moved the seat post 23mm to set the saddle somewhere near the recommended height. Now I can't touch the floor in the saddle at all, so I will have to make adjustments to my riding style now
2 small changes that were very noticeable in the handling of my cycle. Thanks again everyone for the help..

i measure from the centre of the BB to top of saddle along seatpost , lemond method comes out very close to heel on pedal for me at 68.43 which i round up to 68.5
another calculator is inseam x1.09 from saddle to crank which comes out 1 cm lower for me but the same ballpark
sounds like your getting there

 

[cyberknight]

My bike is a CAAD5 - I am not familiar with the CAAD4. Even though it is about 20 years old, I still think it is a great bike. It is a little heavier than top bikes are these days (around 8.5 kg vs, say, 7.0 kg) but that extra weight is tiny compared to the extra weight on my body!

The CAAD5 uses old-fashioned square taper bottom brackets, which I am perfectly happy with.

I wasn't quite so happy carting my bulk over the local hills with a 53/39 chainset though! I converted it to a triple chainset from Spa Cycles, so I now use 48/36/28. I also fitted a 12-36 cassette so my bottom gear is a hill-friendly 28/30. I lost out a bit at the top end but I can pedal 48/12 to 51 kph (32 mph) at 100 rpm and freewheel if I want to go faster, since that would only be downhill.

View attachment 670143

modern aero bikes are clocking 9 kg unless you have about £3k to spend , i think i prefer the look of older bikes now

 

[ColinJ]

Oops - I meant a 12-30 cassette.

modern aero bikes are clocking 9 kg unless you have about £3k to spend , i think i prefer the look of older bikes now

I like oversized aluminium!

I have a skinny-tubed steel-framed Basso but I find that a bit too flexy so that lives on my turbo trainer now.

 

[TK421]

modern aero bikes are clocking 9 kg unless you have about £3k to spend

Shouldn't that read "modern aero bikes are clocking 9kg unless you have about £9K to spend!" ??

Will spend this week adjusting to the changes so far and see about getting some more pics of me side on and check my KOPS in daylight next weekend. I still have some movement in the saddle bars to play with, so I will keep the handlebars where they are while I get my somewhere about right.