Originally Posted by
nameless_5r
so i straightened the bars like you said but i think something is wrong with them because they started to loosen this morning when i went for my second ride. I will research how to adjust the seat properly, maybe it will help to maintain a consistent pace. right now i've used army cadences to maintain pace.
Either you didn't tighten the stem enough, or something is broken. Another possibility is that someone packed way too much grease in there which doesn't allow everything to be tightened securely.
Raise your saddle up to the minimum insertion point and see if you can reach the pedals. If not, lower it until you can. Your leg should be almost fully extended at the bottom of your pedal stroke. Reading this will help a lot:
http://sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html#adjustment Heck, read the whole website if you have time.