I've recently posted that I'm installing a surly 1x1 fork on my Giant Revel2. I'm on a low budget, but feel that by getting rid of the shocks, I'll be able to convert energy more efficiently as I mainly ride on paved roads anyway. The closest I come to trails is covering less than a quarter of mile of gravel every once in a while.

I've also got a set of trekking bars and have had to mess with stem length, as well as bar position in addition to trying to find a good seat position.

I had my seat in a nose down position and failed to realize how much it would create hand tingling. I recently changed this and immediately noticed a difference.

I hope to tour at some point, or do more distance oriented riding, and in addition to the planned tweaks and I realized with my seat flat, and my bars flat....the bars are about 1-2" below the seat.

Basically, I'm trying to find an optimal position to ride 250+ miles per week with the hopes of riding 1000 mile months. My most recent weeks have been 200+.

I'm posting here for tips or advice on positioning for distance riding. My current concern is bar to seat height, but, quite frankly, my left knee is prosthetic and I've had one surgery on the right...generally, this is of little concern, but, I'm also considering changing crank length if it would help my knees over distance.

Of course of even less concern, but I'm giving it a thought, is changing from my factory issue Giant saddle, to something a bit better. I doubt I can afford a Brooks, but I'm seriously considering a "cut out."

Again, just looking for tips or advice over the distance, particularly from folks of roughly my age. Mainly, regarding position, good equipment tweaks..etc.

I don't know about tips or advice but I'm loaded with opinions.

If you surf the posts enough you will find references to lots of scientific research about bicycle rider positioning. Most of those are based on Olympic or pro level athletes. If you think that's you, I'd try to mimic their conclusions. I consider myself to be an experiment of one. I don't claim that anything I say will apply to anybody else and I might change my own bike by the time you read this.

1. Handlebars 1" lower than the saddle is the absolute lowest that I will consider. Actually, my beater bike has handlebars a little above saddle height and it's the only diamond frame bike that I've ridden in almost 4 years.

2. After my broken hip healed I had a lot of issues with range-of-motion. I switched my recumbents to 148mm and 152mm cranks and immediately felt much more comfortable. I'm thinking that such short cranks will reduce the range of motion at your knee joint too. Not a cheap experiment, however.

3. Years ago I got a below-the-radar job at a local bike shop wrenching for bike parts. I earned more credits than I really needed so I ordered myself a Brooks saddle just so I could see what the big deal was. In short order I got 3 more. I had tried saddles with cut outs and grooves down the center but Brooks turned out to be the cure for "numb manhood" in my case.

4. In my case, the ultimate solution for hand numbness, neck and shoulder aches and the aforesaid numb manhood has been the "R" word. If you think there might be a recumbent in your future, you might think about saving yourself the cost of continuing to tweak your Revel 2 starting now. In the interest of full disclosure the things that I don't like about recumbents are that starts and stops are harder to do and it's harder to see cross traffic at intersections because I can't rotate my shoulders as easily. I much prefer a recumbent in open areas, not so much in town.

I truly appreciate your reply. The hand numbness seems to be going away or at least taking longer to present itself since I leveled the seat. To be frank, any knee issues also seem to be pretty much gone...that could be due to the seat being leveled or because I also moved it slightly ahead.

Of course the side effect of those two things is I do feel it more in the saddle.


As to the R word...I'd like to continue on a traditional bike and build it up. However, I will very, very, very quickly admit I think 'bent trikes are some of the coolest things I've seen in a long time.

I greatly appreciate your response. I was beginning to feel very along out here.

Not all of us "over 50" folk know this, but "tweaking" is what methamphetamine users call using that drug. Sad that our society has become so decadent.

Just goes to show how addictive fooling with bikes can become.

When I was working it meant to some people injecting illicits just under the skin in order to prolong the effects.

I readily admit I sometimes use double entendres in the hopes of increasing the chances a post will be read. However, in this instance: 1) I've always heard and called, minor adjustments to equipment, vehicle performance or athletic performance by a subtle or slight change that can have a big impact, "tweaking." 2) I've heard the phrase as a drug related behavior before, however, I've had very limited experience around "hard drug" users. If it is about beer, I'll get it...hard liquor probably, dope most likely...past that...my vocab and usage is unintentional.