sreten

Hi,

A subject I'll lay my cards on the table and say other
than proper seat height IMO involve mostly a lot of BS.

I compared my folder and my road bike today and simply
compared to the pedals I'm essentially rotated somewhat
more forward on the road bike for the same basic reach.

(Road bike has bullbars, converted from the drops.)

i.e. my road bike saddle is a lot further forward compared
to my folder but so are the handlelbars, in a relative arc.

The folders saddle is as far back as it will go and the
road bike as far forward as it will go, go figure bike fit.

Knee over pedal fit is obviously different, but so what ...
There is no point ever trying to make it the same.

rgds, sreten.

bruce19

My bike fit at age 67 is pretty much what it was at 37 with one notable exception...thanks to loss of 1 1/2" in height (upper body) my stem is shorter. I originally set it up according to what I read in a Greg LeMond book back in the 80's and it seems to work for me.

stapfam

I can jump on any bike and ride it. As to whether it is set up for me is a different matter. I have several bikes and saddle to pedal position is the same on each and it only has to be slightly wrong and it is going to cause a problem. In fact when buying bikes the only criteria is "Can I get the saddle to the right position"? Then comes the other point of bar reach and ease of reaching the controls. They can be adapted by changing parts or adjustment but if the saddle position is wrong then it is not the bike for me. This goes across the range of bikes I have of Road-MTB-Hybrid and Tandem.

Zinger

I've always made sure my nose (with head up) is even with the front of my road bars while both hands are on the drops. I've even taped a string with a washer on the end to my nose just to see how even. For older generation steel road bikes with a level top tube it's best to have about four fingers between you and the top tube while standing straddling the bike.....That's old steel road bikes with level top tube only. I know nothing of the rest. You can make up the difference with a mountain bike seat post and extra long "Nitto" stem but if the frame isn't pretty close in the 1st place I wouldn't bother myself.

A well fitting bike is going to be a LOT more comfortable over distance I can tell you that much.

And Lemond's old book is probably where I got this info as well if memory serves (It might not)

jyl

I'm fairly sensitive to saddle height. I measure from top of pedal (crank down in line with seat tube) to top of the saddle (the center of the saddle's upper surface). That distance is within about 1/2" on all my bikes. If it is 1" low, my knees ache quickly.

Next, I care about saddle to bar distance. It has to be long enough that I'm not cramped or folded up. For some reason, when I look down at the front axle, I like to see the handlebar (the tops, if a drop bar) subjectively in line with, or a little bit forward, of the axle. Then the different positions on the bar (grips or bar ends on a mountain, bends or hoods or drops on a roadie) are in a comfortable range.

Knee over pedal spindle, or not, doesn't seem important for me. In general, I shift my butt forward to hammer at higher cadence, shift it back to push a bigger gear.

I don't have a bike with a lot of saddle to bar drop, the most is about 3". At that point, if I get low enough to have a roughly flat back, my knees come inconveniently close to my midsection while pedaling. I don't even have much "gut pouch". I think I might have to have a more forward saddle position to be that aero. But I don't have a suitable bike to experiment with.

I have short legs and a long torso, so traditional road bikes tend to give me very little crotch over top tube clearance, when they are large enough to give me enough bar to saddle distance. My daily commuter has only about 1" clearance.

Reynolds 

A lot of knowledge about fitting, and cycling in general, by a 50+ guy here:


https://davesbikeblog.squarespace.com...egory/bike-fit

Reynolds 

Dave Moulton's Frame Sizing Chart:

Rowan

A LOT depends on how far someone is going to ride a bike as to how sensitive they may or may not be to fit changes.