uRabbit

Pick it apart! I need all the tips I can get.

Edit: For clarification, I am experiencing shoulder pains, pain above my left (non-dominant) elbow, and worse-than-perceivably-normal pain in both ischial tuberosity (sit bones) and perineum.

lucille

Might be uncomfortable to ride without shoes... Just sayin'

DataJunkie

You aren't wearing shoes. Your bike is pooping water bottles. Your legs are not in the correct position. Bend your elbows. The frame may be a bit large and would look better being ridden by a 6 foot tall blonde Dutch supermodel.

kardar2

Raise your seat just a hair and ride it.

uRabbit

I honestly could not have asked for better replies!

lucille

Well, you did say to pick it apart...

I-Like-To-Bike

The word "fitment" is wrong.

uRabbit

I meant it. My wife asked me what I was chuckling over so much. Ha!



Roger!

Ferrous Bueller

(moving up from feet to hands)
1. Left foot too far back on pedal.
2. Hard to tell if saddle is right height.
3. You're sitting back on your tuberosities like one would on a cruiser. Your pelvis needs to tilt forward. Navel moving toward the top tube. If you can't do this, look at better shorts, saddle, hamstring flexibility.
4. Now your back is deeply flexed as it needs to reach for the bars. Back should be flatter (see above).
5. Upper back craned forward means neck cranes up to see ahead.
6. Arms fully extended because so much of your body is so far back. Arms need to be bent to avoid strain.
7. Hands look fine.

If you can fix #3, all your other issues may resolve themselves.

agent pombero

And if nothing else works it is worth it to just get a professional fit somewhere.

buffalowings

I think it would be more helpful to have multiple pics (perhaps one where the crank is at the lowest point and your leg is fully extended). Also, I can't tell if the frame is too small or too large.

hamster

Based on my inexperienced point of view and comparing with a shot of myself on my own bike:

* The saddle is _way_ too low. It would be clearer in a shot with the crank straight down, but it's clear even now. By "way too low" I mean 3-4" too low.
* You are sitting a little too far back, the saddle could use moving forward 1/2" or so.
* Either you have extremely long arms, or I have unusually short arms, or your arms are overextended in shoulder sockets. I'm leaning towards the last option. Since the saddle is too low, you are trying to push yourself away from the bars to maintain tolerable hip-abdomen angles at the top of the stroke.
* The frame is on the small side for you. I'll guess that you're 5'7" and the frame is a [strike]48[/strike] 50. Am I close?
* Once you raise the saddle, you'll need to raise the stem by the same amount or a bit more.
* As Ferrous says, the foot is too far forward. He says "back" but he means that the pedal is too far back: the pedal is under the arch when it should be closer to the ball. With modern road shoes/cleats, it is simply impossible to mount cleats in such a spot as to get this positioning.

hamster

Here's an old picture of myself on my old bike, scaled to match size. This was the result of a fit at the bike store. Not saying that it's a perfect posture, but it worked OK for me. (Eventually I found it a little too upright and dropped the bars a couple of inches.)

Notice how much higher my hands are. You can see a bit of my saddle, it's also quite a bit higher. Compare thigh angles.



My bike is a 52, your seat tube is shorter, probably a 50. But it's curious that your top tube is substantially longer than mine. Another reason your arms are overextended. You'd need a shorter stem to compensate for that.

uRabbit

Thanks so much, all! If anyone feels like something has been missed, or want to iterate some things, by all means, go ahead. I will make those adjustments and take some more pictures.

Ferrous Bueller

In addition to my #3, I'd concur with the others saying your saddle looks too low. If your heel can touch the pedal at its lowest point, you need to extend the seatpost. That's all I'll iterate

imi

Your shirt is not aerodynamically snug, and your shorts will catch bugs!

edit: oh sorry, you meant "bike" fitment...

jdon

[h=2]What's wrong with this picture? [Fitment][/h]
Facial hair?.... No.... Furniture choices, that is it!

uRabbit

Not the shirt I wear, and under those shorts are compression shorts.

Don't be envious of my beardoir.

Under that blanket is a 70's floral-print sofa with a pull-out mattress.

Oh, and yes, I am 5'7". The frame is 52cm iirc.

spectastic

I guess it's because it's a vintage, but the seat tube should not be angled like that. If you raise the seat, and it looks like you really should raise it, you'll pretty much be kissing your knees. I don't know if moving the saddle forward on the stem would help, but you can sure try it.


also that bike is a little small for you. granted, craigslist doesn't let you choose the size of your bike. But next time, I would pay a little more attention to the frame.

imi

Always love to see a vinyl record player tho!

ratdog

Pretty much what everyone else has said. Raise seat and bring the seat forward, but also look at rotating the handle bar to shorten the reach a bit or if possible raise the stem.

uRabbit

Oh, and the saddle is almost as far forward as it goes. But I will definitely give it a shot.

Here is an image:

hamster

The thing is, your seat tube is angled further back than what's typical for a 50 or 52 cm frame today. Modern 52 cm frames have seat tube angles around 74 to 74.5 degrees. Yours looks like it's at most 71. Which means that, compared to a modern frame, your seat tube ends 1.5" further back. I'm not sure what the fit theory was back when the bike was made, it must have been different. I don't think it's a big deal though.

Bikeforumuser0017

It's hard to tell if your legs would be fully extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke because well... They're not. Seatpost height is IMO the most important aspect of a bike fit and is one of the few bike fitting components that requires no dough . I would also wear shoes not because it's more comfortable, but because all shoes add a little bit of stack height.

uRabbit

I wear shoes.

I'll try to get this done this evening, and get pictures up.