Originally Posted by
willhub
I definitely favour my right side it gets the most power out.
I'm worried about lowering the saddle because any lower and I get horrible knee pain and my knees feel like they're crumbling when it comes to hills.
Could pedal axle extenders help in anyway by changing my stance ? I often wonder if my stance is too narrow given my heels bash the frame and chainset
No, your saddle is too high for you. Guaranteed. A person can adapt more easily to a lower saddle, with no issues, than a too high saddle, which can, and will cause issues with your back. knees, and hips. After any change in bike fit, you need to take it easy for a while for your body to get used to it. Your legs will adjust. Your knees won't have issues, unless you push a too high of a gear. On the other hand, if you are dropping to one side, you WILL damage your hips, and you WILL end up with back pain, or worse. Read this one carefully, as it documents the damage done to a woman's back, requiring spinal surgery to correct, as a result of a professions fitter putting her seat too high based on angles, numbers, and formulae, instead of setting the seat height based on paying attention to how her body actually interfaces with the bike while in motion.
https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com...d-can-it-be-2/
If you look closely at your pictures, your heels are raised slightly, you are reaching slightly at the bottom of the stroke. So to me, between that, and the other signs, the seat is too high. You are pedaling toes down.
If and when your flexibility improves, you could raise your seat, but at he moment, if you are sliding off to one side, the saddle is too high. I would make that change first, and go from there. Use the method for setting seat height as detailed on Steve Hogg's site. See if it works for you. It will give you a seat height that gives you maximum power for your body's ability, and at the same time, it will give you a fit that prevents injury. See if the method puts your seat lower, or higher. My bet, is it will put your saddle lower.
People get hung up on the old mantra. "Your seat is too low," to the point that so many now run their seat too high. I see it all the time around here, then I watch the pros, and look at the bend of their leg, and see it is bent more at he bottom of the stroke than in the majority of the images I see here on the bike fit section.
I personally had this issue, I noticed the dimples on my B17 were biased to the right side. I was dropping to the right side. I also experienced perineum discomfort. I began dropping my saddle, which helped the dropping to the right, but I still had discomfort, but not as bad. I held out dropping the saddle that last little bit, until I was on tour and having issues. I ended up dropping it just 5mm more, and surprise, the pain went away. I am now more efficient pedaling, and can ride all day, with zero pain, and get up and do it again. After 70 miles on the saddle, I feel fine. I just wish I hadn't waited so long to take the advice of Hogg, and others, like BikefitJames. Look him up on Instagram. Before I lowered the saddle, I experienced issues with my hip, and lower back, but according to the fit "experts," my saddle was set at the perfect height. By the way, it took years, and steroids for the hip pain to go away. I never want to make that mistake ever again.
In the end, none of us are symmetrical. I would definitely start with lowering your seat, but definitely work on flexibility if you think you could potentially set your seat higher. Just pay attention to how your body interfaces with the bike in motion. Hogg has another article regarding this that shows sometimes there is not fix for this, but generally speaking, of you drop to one side, your set is too high. Do you get saddle sores?