Originally Posted by
ThermionicScott
And I thought I had trouble getting my Brookses back far enough!
Just shooting from the hip before the experts get here... your feet look like they're well back on the pedals. Are the balls of your feet over the pedal spindles?
Yes, balls of feet are over the spindles, but my feet tend to point outward so it might look like the outside of my shoe is further back. Also worth reiterating that I usually ride 5mm longer cranks.
What is your standover clearance? If you have room to move up to the 55cm frame, the seat tube angle would go to 73° and that would certainly help a little.
I tried to measure my PBH yesterday, and I'm not sure I did it correctly, because it varied depending on what i used to mark the height on the wall. The thinnest object used (a metal yardstick) gave me about 32", and something about an inch and a half thick gave me closer to 31"....so it's somewhere in that range. I'm fine with standing over a taller frame, but my usual concern is the top tube being longer and STA not decreasing by enough to accommodate it for me.
The whole KOPS thing is a decent starting point, but I wouldn't be afraid to let the knee end up ahead of the pedal spindle if it doesn't cause pain or get in the way of your riding otherwise.
I mean, I've ridden thousands of miles with less setback - I wouldn't say it causes "pain", per se, but my neck and shoulders are often killing me after a 50+ mile ride, and lately I've been finding myself needing to spend a bit more time in a more upright position. That may have more to do with putting on some weight over the last year or so, though. I was looking for KOPS as a reference point because I've always been curious how close I am to it normally, since I often feel like I'm not as planted on the saddle as I could be - or, more accurately, I don't feel like I'm balanced as well as I could be.
I tried to find pictures of myself on one of my more typically-set-up bikes, but there's nothing recent from the right kind of angle.