Originally Posted by europa

Is thou pithed young sir?
'Tis a subject of much debate and even more bull****.

For starters, most of what you read on the internet is rubbish. Knee over the pedal spindle was discredited last century for starters yet so-called 'professional' fitters still loudly proclaim it as gospel (yes, some idiot will link to a video extolling this practice).

Steve Hogg and quite a few other fitters aim for a 'balanced' position on the bike. Basically, once you have the saddle at the right height, you should be able to remove your hands from the bars (while pedaling) without undue strain. It's the 'without undue strain' bit that causes the discussion.

Essentially though, you don't want too much weight on your hands and too much stress in your core. Why? Because such strain on muscles is both tiring and directs muscular effort away from what it should be doing, producing power.

Saddle height. It's more or less accepted that you want a small bend in your knee when pedaling, particularly when pedaling up a hill (the best place to check it). That should be easy but if you're like me and have a asymmetric pedaling action, one knee will have more of a bend than the other so you make sure BOTH have a bend. Mind you, look at the professionals racers and they all have a lot more bend in the knee now than they did ten years ago. I asked an ex-pro I know about this and his comment was "fashions vary".

There's been a lot of talk over the years about how you should pedal - just let your feet do what they do, once you get the saddle height right, your feet and ankles will be fine. Nearly everyone is asymmetric anyway, some of us more so than others.

Saddle set back will vary depending on bar height, reach and your own core strength, fitness and flexibility. There's a reason us old pharts like bars higher than younguns. Essentially, decide on where you want the bars as far as height goes, set the saddle fore and aft for a position that doesn't put too much weight on your hands but keeps enough weight on the bars to control the steering. Yes, this is a personal setting. This is, of course, affected by how far you have to reach for the bars but basically, if you feel you're reaching too far for the bars, get a shorter neck (and vice versa).

Make a good guess at where you want your bike set up, arm yourself with all the spanners and allen keys needed, then go for a ride. Don't touch anything for the first half hour because you need your body properly warmed up and if you imagine it will be in less than that, bike fit doesn't matter for you. Then just start fiddling. One thing at a time. What feels wrong? Make a change to suit, one change at a time followed by a some time riding to check the result. Reach can only be adjusted by changing the neck, not by saddle position but just about everything else is fair game. Don't ignore the tilt of the saddle (particularly if it's a Brooks or similar) because if you're sliding forwards, you'll feel as though you've got too much weight on your hands.

Once you've spent a few rides dialing in your fit, it'll change as you get fitter, stronger and as you get used to the bike. It also works the other way as you eat and drink too well, get older and do less riding.

If you've measured anything, used any tool such as a plumb bob and/or used any formula to get your fit, it's wrong. It might be horribly wrong or it might be very close, that depends on your body. Good bike fit can only be achieved by you, on the bike, on the road, with experimentation. The trick is to learn to read your body and what it's telling you. If it's uncomfortable, you need to make a change (a bit like tight undies). But isn't that part of the charm of cycling? And, unless you're a long way out and trying to do something extreme, it's not that critical.

For what it's worth, both my son and I were professionally fitted by the top bike fitter and racing coach here in Adelaide some years ago. The result was pretty good for my hyper fit, super strong, teenage son. It was an appalling disaster for me (the bastard even sold me the wrong sized bike) and it took me two years to sort it out. Not a single thing from that set up, including the bike, survived. Why? Because the idiot assumed I was fit, flexible and strong and wanted to ride in a full on racing position. Bike fit is personal and can not come from a formula and it's not surprising that some of the best bike fits come from people who haven't bothered to over think it, just fiddling with things as they see fit. There's nothing wrong with getting a professional bike fit, provided you regard it as no more than a starting point for your own personal journey.

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