Originally Posted by
GaryPitts
May be. I'm 6'2" and bought the 61cm bike. It's the largest one they make. My Mendota is a 22.5, also the largest.
I set the seat height to lowest pedal distance to be the same between the two bikes. It was originally higher and it feels better in its current position. The fore/aft of the saddle is set so the plumb line from below my kneecap goes through the pedal spindle. All of the spacers are underneath the steering stem which is the way it came from the factory. On the Mendota, i had to get a stem riser to give me another inch and a half of rise there to get it really comfortable for me. Now it's golden. Any pointers on what else I might look at to adjust would be appreciated.
A couple of points:
A. The whole KOPS thing is bunk. When you look at riders relationship to the spindle on bikes ranging from TT bikes to recumbents, you realize that it just doesn't matter. What your fore-aft saddle position does do is control the rotation of your body. Move it forward (like a TT bike) and you get huge aero benefits, at the possible expense of pressure on your hands. Eliminating that just requires some training, and of course the harder you pedal, the less weight there is on your hands.
B. If you want to improve your speed, you might want to consider more saddle-to-bar drop. You just might be surprised at how it feels for you. I ride with much greater drop than I used to, and my butt and back have never felt better.
Most professional fitters have the goal of their client saying "Gee, that feels great." But "Gee, that feels great" isn't always what you need if you want to improve fitness and performance. Sometimes you need to experience discomfort awhile to train up a muscle group, at which point the discomfort goes away. The fitter you become, the more your fit becomes based on performance factors rather than comfort. If you are fit, a wide range of fittings are comfortable.