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Stationary Bike Fit Help

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Stationary Bike Fit Help

Old 03-09-21, 04:18 AM
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Stationary Bike Fit Help

Hi, I am not sure whether to post this in the Indoor & Stationary Cycling forum or here but as it's mostly a question about fitting the bike, I thought here would be best.

I have a York Fitness Active 110 stationary bike and have been using it a lot recently in combination with an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and the VZFit Explorer app which allows you to ride custom bike routes in Google Earth Street View. I have been struggling with pain and discomfort though (particularly in my bottom) which causes numbness which spreads to my genital area (I am a 40 year-old male btw). I also get some needles and pins sensation in my hands so I think overall my bike fit could be better but I don't know if this is a limitation of the bike as a whole or just due to me not adjusting it correctly or having the right saddle.

As I said, I am a 40 year-old man and weigh approximately 160 pounds or 73kg and am around 5ft 7 inches tall. I haven't ridden a bike for some 25 years or so since I was a kid but until around a year ago, I was an avid walker and regularly did 20 miles or so walks. Anyway, I do have lower back pain in general (the cause of which has never been established or treated successfully) but I would say I am reasonably flexible (I can reach my toes when bending forward with my legs straight and can do some basic exercises), I just wanted to establish my fitness.

My exercise bike is a basic, budget model which has limited adjustment, I can only adjust the seat height and fore and aft position, the handlebars height and fore/aft can't be adjusted. I can only adjust the angle of the side arms that point up from the sides of the main handlebar so if I want the handlebars to be higher, I would have to adjust the angle so the top of the sidebars is positioned higher up for me to hold on to (if that makes sense).

I have adjusted the seat height to roughly where my hip is and the fore/aft position is roughly the length of my clenched fist to my elbow in terms of distance from the saddle's nose tip to the handlebar's central post. The pedals are flat and aren't clip-in's so I don't wear bike shoes with cleats. They do have an adjustable strap which I have adjusted to allow my foot to fit in and be roughly in a similar position to if I were wearing cleats (so the ball of my foot is on the pedal) but it's not perfect and does allow for some movement. I also don't wear bike shorts and prefer to just wear my regular thin, walking trousers.

I am not trying to do any intense indoor training or work up a sweat, just more like a casual bike ride out in the country than anything else. I generally ride between 30-60 minutes depending on how I feel, sometimes after around 15-20 minutes I start feeling a little pain and then some numbness so I get off the bike for a minute or two and allow the blood to flow again and then get back on the bike. The saddle I am using is a Brooks Cambium c19 Carved but I have also got the original saddle that came with the bike (which is a big, wide, cushioned affair) but I found it a little too wide and the sides were very hard and would cut into my thighs. Plus I have a Bikeroo Comfortable Bike Saddle which is softer but I am not sure if that's better and I have a Karcore Bike Seat which is kind of in-between the original saddle and the Bikeroo saddle as it is cushioned but is a little smaller.

I have been through a few saddles to try and get rid of the pain and discomfort but I have never been sure if I have got the fit down right in the first place. I am unable to go and get a bike fit at a bike shop or elsewhere for various reasons, least of which is because of the current pandemic situation and everything is closed. Plus as I am not actually using a road bike or any other real-world bike, I am not sure if I could apply the findings from a bike fit to my stationary bike back home (especially seeing as my York Fitness bike is not as adjustable). I would be willing to get a new bike but want to avoid having to spend a lot of money if I can as I don't think I am using it enough or for a bike's intended use to warrant the extra cost.

I do have a video of me on the bike showing how I sit and pedal etc but I can't post a link to it until I have made 10 posts. My hips don't appear to be rocking too much but the handlebars do feel a little low perhaps, I am not sure. When using the side bars to put me in a more upright position (my preferred position) then it feels ok but I do start to get pins and needles in my hands after a while (this is also true from using the lower main handle bar).

Sorry for this long post but I am hoping someone can perhaps offer me some pointers or suggestions about either getting a better fit, a different saddle or perhaps a different bike that might help me feel more comfortable. Thanks for any help people can give.
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Old 03-09-21, 10:21 AM
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How long you been riding it and how often? Sometimes comfort on a saddle just depends on your pelvic bones and joints getting used to it. Takes me several weeks if I lay off cycling for a while. So if saddle comfort is your main issue, then maybe give it more time unless you are getting sores and blisters.

My wife actually has a similar looking stationary bike. She's 5'-2" , I'm 5'-11". I'll get on it sometimes and can stay on it for about an hour at low resistance without having to adjust it for me. The saddle isn't an easy change as it's not a standard mount system for a real bike. Other than that, just change stuff up till you find what works. You can rotate the bars to any position you care. Horizontal towards you or vertical and away from you.
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Old 03-09-21, 11:40 AM
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Hi, thanks for the reply. I have had the bike for about 3 months now and have been riding it nearly every day, or at least every other day. I sometimes ride it twice a day if I have time and each session is around 30-60 minutes on a low resistance (it goes from 1 to 8 and I use 4). I haven't gotten any sores or blisters, the pain and numbness seems to be more internal than anything else and seems to originate more from my sit bones. I have recently started getting a shooting pain that starts in my lower back and moves down my right leg. It happens very randomly but I don't think this is because of the bike per se, more to do with my pre-existing back issues and my supposedly firm mattress which just doesn't give me enough support really when I am in bed.

I am going to ease off the bike riding and see if my shooting pain subsides as perhaps the cycling may be exacerbating it a little.

As for the seat, on my bike it is fairly easy to change as it has a clamp with two nuts either side to attach it to the post so I can just undo those with a spanner and swap seats in and out and adjust them as necessary.

I think one of the biggest issues is that riding a stationary bike is not really like riding an actual bike outdoors. You spend nearly all of your time sat in one static position on a flat surface, whereas outside you would have the different road surfaces and gradients and are able to move around a lot more and even stand up riding (I have tried this on my bike but it just doesn't feel comfortable or stable). I do get off the bike every so often when I start to feel some discomfort and have a break for a minute which does help but I think overall I probably just need to find a seat that suits me more.
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Old 03-09-21, 12:15 PM
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Yes, with shooting pains and stuff you need to ease off to nothing or almost no riding for a time.

What is your saddle height from the top of the saddle where you think you sit to the pedal when the pedal is furthest away from you? What is your leg inseam from snug in the crotch to the floor. Shoes or no shoes unless you wear stilettos or platforms. In that case be shoeless <grin>

As much as I don't like formulas and other things to say what your position should be, I do have to admit that 109% of my inseam works pretty well for me on a road bike. (saddle top to pedal furthest away).

Might not be the same on another type bike or stationary bike. For certain on any bike you should probably not be more than that. Less is okay depending on how hard you ride. As I mentioned earlier with resistance set low, I can ride my wife's stationary bike set for her short size for a fair amount of time. When I want to go hard on it, that is when I move the saddle up more to my height.
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Old 03-10-21, 11:18 AM
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I am giving cycling a break for a week or so while my back recovers and the pain I have been experiencing disappears. It is starting to feel better and I think it was because I hadn't rotated/flipped my mattress in a few weeks and this was causing it to sag more and create problems when I sleep. It is a firm mattress (or supposed to be) but it's never really felt very firm to me, more like a medium than anything. I am hoping to get a new one some time in the future.

Anyway, I measured the distance between my bike seat and the pedals when furthest away and it's currently about 86cm (34 inches) and I think my inside leg is roughly 74cm (29 inches) so perhaps it's a little too high. Using the 109% method then I should be looking at a pedal-to-seat height of roughly 80cm, when I lower the seat to the next notch down then it is still over this amount and the next notch after that and it is slightly below at 79cm.

As I said, I will wait a week or so and then have a test with some lower seat heights and see how I get on.
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Old 03-10-21, 11:28 AM
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Better your saddle slightly low than slightly high.... IMO.
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Old 03-10-21, 09:20 PM
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OK, so it's not a normal bike. Still, normal bike fitting rules will apply. When I did spin classes, I set my bike up as close as I could to my real bike, following this procedure: How can I fitting my bike

You'll have to ignore most of what doesn't deal with the saddle position. On your bike, I'd move the bars until that U-shape points away from you, tilted up just a little and just grab them near the center or along the bars so you can rest your forearms on them. See if that works. If they go up and down, try putting them a few inches above the saddle. You said you can change the saddle. Numbness and pain in the butt is usually the result of a saddle which is too soft! You want a saddle which is so firm, you can just barely push your thumb into the padding. It needs to be wide enough to support your sit bones, yet not so wide that it rubs your inner thighs when pedaling.
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Old 03-11-21, 05:09 AM
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Thanks for the reply. I am using a Brooks Cambium c19 Carved which is pretty firm, it doesn't have any cushioning but does flex somewhat. It's not cutting into my thighs but I do feel the firmness of it pressing into my bottom which after a while may be causing the numbness. I try to sit towards the back but I think the saddle naturally flexes in the middle but I never feel like it is pushing on my anatomy in any way, as I said, most of the pressure seems to be centered around my sit bones.

When you suggest I try adjust the handlebars so that the U-shape points away from me and then rest my forearms on them, I can't really do this as I have to bend significantly forward to achieve this position, even with the seat as far forward as it will go and then my knee is much further forward than my pedals. Plus my forearms are nearly at right-angles when bended at the elbow. I think this causes me to adopt a racing position rather than be upright which I prefer. Unfortunately I can't adjust the height of the bars up and down, just rotate them toward or away from me as they are at a fixed height (roughly 92cm or 36 inches from the floor). I have measured my forearm and it is roughly 45cm from my elbow to my index finger and my total arm reach is approximately 74cm from shoulder to index finger.

My only methods of adjustment are seat height and moving the seat closer or further away from the handlebars. The seat height goes up in increments of around 3cm (there are holes in the post every 3cm where the pin screws in to lock it in place) so I thought by lowering the height it might take pressure off my hands but then too low and it doesn't feel right on the pedals. Again moving the saddle closer or further away didn't seems to make to much of a difference and without being able to adjust the handlebar height, may be causing me to get the seat position right but the handlebars can't compensate for that. The hand problems aren't as bad as the discomfort and numbness I get in my bottom so I would really like to solve that issue mainly.
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Old 03-11-21, 11:22 AM
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It might be that you need to sit on it more like a cruiser style bike in a more upright position. That's how my wife's stationary bike is set up.

It has a much wider saddle similar to a cruiser style bike and the saddle is moved back so the pedals are further forward than they are on a road bike. The handle bars are toward the saddle and horizontal, but they aren't really used much as neither of us uses it for resistance training. So we can just sit upright and pedal fast enough to get our HR up.

Without the ability to tilt the saddle, you loose one thing that can make an otherwise uncomfortable saddle comfortable. Her stationary bike doesn't even allow saddles to be swapped easily. The mount is nothing like a bicycle saddle mount.
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