Hey, I can do that! :D

I guess all that gymnsatics with my wife pays off. I think that my drop is somewhere between 2-3 inches, but never bothered to measure it exactly. I have my stem flipped to -16, its lowest postion, and half the spacers moved above. I'll probably take more of the spacers out when I get around to cutting the steerer down.

Hanging out in the US?

Even at 43 I'm still able to do what that rider is doing cold. With a bit of a warm up I'm able to go flat palmed with my cycling shoes on. FWIW my drop is 3.75 inches.

I'm sorry? How is this thread different from any others on the front page? It's a poll/discussion topic. Everyone but pedex seems to be able to take part like an adult, why can't you?

well Id love to post the other image, but alas the thread got removed, just happened to remember where the other one was hosted

I never thought that I would post this in a EURO thread but....This is a good thread with useful and interesting discussion let's keep it that way.

BTW my drop was calculated by doing a power fit so I know it's the right amount.

Its different because once again you feel the need to justify or explain yourself to a bunch of strangers... your ego overshines any kind of interesting or engaging topic.

come on boys :rolleyes: , play nice


I reach the tip of my toes. After a warm-up - beyond my foot

Sorry, aren't others in this thread also 'justifying and explaining' themselves?

I think you've over-reacted a little.

I have to shout out here too - this is a very good thread.

EURO is absolutely right when it comes to range of flexibility vs. saddle to bar height ratio. And who here is in a position to second guess what is right for him?

Personally, I took the opposite route. I purposely lowered my bars in order to help with my flexibility - mainly because at the time, I didn't know better. And for me, it worked very well for 2 reasons that aren't right for many people.

First, I'm lucky in that I'm not injury prone - I can push myself down beyond my comfort range and stay there fairly long without hurting my back and shoulders. Second, I made the conscious effort to work to get there and stay there, even when the body didn't really want to.

How stupid is that? Hey, that's why I hang out here - to learn and experiment.

The goal of a great fit is not to maximize comfort OR power. It's to maximize both. Compromise one and everything goes out of whack. What I eventually found by lowering my bars was that, while I could get down there and stay there pain free, I was compromising my power.

So now my smaller frames (55 & 56) are going to new homes, and the bars on my larger frames (57 & 58) are coming back up.

55/Rad

Enough already. Look to your own ego or whatever it is that's compelling you to troll this thread.

This subject is exploring the valid point that many riders are riding lower than might be dictated by efficiency. Your participation here thus far is distracting and borders on rules violation.

you obviously don't need to get into that position while riding, but doing this stretch will give a pretty good indication of the range in your hip flexors. having flexibility there is what allows you to sit comfortably with your bars well below your seat, with your hips rotated forward and your legs still able to generate good power.

I can do the stretch to where my wrist is past my foot and I can even double over like the pro in Euro's pic, but I still have bars only about 2" below the seat.

[edit] btw, even though I can double over like Rujano, "good power" for me while riding is probably equivalent to what he generates while stretching!

Yeah comfort, or lack of discomfort is only one factor. There's a gray area where as the hip angle becomes more acute, there begins a loss of power generation without any noticable discomfort. The body has the resiliency to ride in that position, but the muscles are not yet adjusted to function optimally.

I'm 6' 4" with really long legs. Getting into that position would require a hacksaw to the back of my hammies.

Chris Carmichael's book "The Perfect Ride" talks about the importance of flexibility. For injury prevention if nothing else. I've been working on mine. Lot of improvement to be had.

Good topic, Euro.

I'm afraid I'm just not that flexible and I do suffer from the discomforts you mentioned. I keep on putting off working on improving my flexibility. I need to be patient though as it has always backfired on me when I tried to improve too quickly in the past. At least, the thread inspired me to get off my a** and get down to business.

This has always been my biggest fitness related flaw.

I'll be checking my flexibility tonight when I get home. I get enough strange looks laughing at my computer at work as it is...

Were you visiting the States Euro? Just noticed the American electrical plug behind you.

Thanks for the info on flexibility. I've always had trouble with tightness in my legs.

Flexibility is important but this poll is pretty much useless. Morphology is different from person to person. Some of us have long legs, some short.

Kind of hard to get objective data with a measuring stick that changes from person to person.

Beyond foot. Without warmup. Even after a herniated disk. Am I missing something here?

Yes, some people can't stretch as far...

Ok. That's why I asked. I was reading this thread and honestly asking myself "what's the big deal?". I mean, I understand the need for flexibility, but I just assumed that most everyone reading this (barring injury) could touch their toes :)

Steve

Very true ... and that's one of my biggest difficulties with the long distance cycling I do.

You didn't have the options of: "upper shin" or "knee" .... so I went with "middle of the shin" as the closest estimate . . . . . . . and look at that . . . . . . . I'm the only one there!!

Yep!! I've got all the flexibility of a 2x4. 200 year old oak trees can bend and flex easier than my hamstrings!! My yoga instructor told me she had never seen anyone with such tight hamstrings! I did a flexibility test for my Kinesiology class, and had the lowest rating in the entire class ... anything over a "41" rating was considered excellent, and most of the class rated somewhere between 30 and 40 ... I rated 16!!

When I took yoga classes, my flexibility did gradually improve (after 2 years of yoga) and I got to the point where I could reach my lower shin ... but I haven't done yoga in getting on for 2 years now, and I'm right back to where I started.


One of my classmates in the yoga class told me that she used to be as inflexible as me, but now can reach way beyond her toes. I asked her how she did it ... was it many years of yoga? A regular stretching plan? And here's what she told me ...

She went waterskiing one day, and everything was going great. Then all of a sudden something happened and one ski shot off one direction, and the other ski shot off the other direction ... and she ended up doing the splits (for the first time in her life). She had torn both hamstrings very badly, was in extreme pain, and was hospitalized a while. But when she healed ... she had flexibility in her hamstrings!
She recommended I avoid that method.

That's why I asked about it.

Wrong outlets on the wall. Unless you're really in the states.

Machka - have you investigated acupunture for tight hamstrings? I had it for ITB problems this summer and it worked really well.

:eek: Ouch! :eek: Yeah, I would avoid that method, too.

You people that say 'beyond the foot' are you talking about the tips of your fingers, or some other part of the hand?

Hand or wrist, as described in the poll.