ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share Hey everyone One technical Q here. I had big problems with my left knee. Sorted that out with dr. Swart and finally back on the bike. My ideal saddle height is 71.3 cm on my Road bike (ok ok I'm not that tall - 1.75m) During my recovery and startoff I had to lower my saddle quite a lot to keep the knee from overextending and doing to much too soon. It was lowered to about 68 odd cm. Obviously with this adjustment it puts way more work on the quads. I started to move my saddle back up. Currently its back to 70cm ,and I still get some stiffness on the left knee - but only minor - so I need to lower just a tad more to be 100%. My question - at what point are you actually optimal - so you dont work quads too much etc , meaning - how much can you lower saddle from optimum (71.3cm in this case) but still don't have too much quad work. I mean I can play around with it. It can be a matter of 2mm's that make the difference. Just give me some idea what yo guys to - move it in 2mm increments ... or what ? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bike Mob Posted January 28, 2010 Share Have you thought of putting it lower and further back at the same time? Lower to save your knees. Further back to recruit your glutes instead of only your quads? They are more efficient muscles too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikemonster Posted January 28, 2010 Share From personal experience, another variable may be your cadence. I find when I am rebuilding fitness after a break from the bike, if I end up getting tired and grinding rather than spinning, I get sore knees. As soon as I get back to spinning along everywhere, my knees get happier. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share From personal experience' date=' another variable may be your cadence. I find when I am rebuilding fitness after a break from the bike, if I end up getting tired and grinding rather than spinning, I get sore knees. As soon as I get back to spinning along everywhere, my knees get happier. James[/quote'] Thanx for the advise James. No cadence is very high and very knee friendly. THe problem I had is so complicated - 4 fisio's, 3 doctors, Xrays, MRI's and Neurologist could not figure it out. Dr. Swart finally got it and after numerous stretches and strengthening I'm back. The problem is actually the Bicep Femoris Tendon ( the anchor between one of the hamstring muscles and the fibula bone on the side of the knee. The Pain would be in the knee - but its coming from there) Anyhow like I said - cadence 100 - 110 ish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Brunsdon Posted January 28, 2010 Share Did a lot of research into it and your riding style is the biggest factor. Old Sheldon Brown has a beat of an article on this - he also knocks the KOPs (Knee ver Pedal) method of fitting. Read it. I did and then I fitted my saddle one morning, took me over an hour. It made a massive difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share Have you thought of putting it lower and further back at the same time? Lower to save your knees. Further back to recruit your glutes instead of only your quads? They are more efficient muscles too. mmmm..but then it screws with the rest of the setup again - reach etc ? Or is this what you do if you lower the saddle you have to move it back a bit as well ? Does not make sense to me. The angle of the seatpost one would think if going lower - move saddle forward a bit to stay over the crank... ? If you move it back your more behind the crank and then more pressure on quads .... ? or am I just not leka today ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share Did a lot of research into it and your riding style is the biggest factor. Old Sheldon Brown has a beat of an article on this - he also knocks the KOPs (Knee ver Pedal) method of fitting. Read it. I did and then I fitted my saddle one morning' date=' took me over an hour. It made a massive difference. [/quote'] Cool, should I just Google it or do you maby have a link ? What should I Google ... "Sheldon Brown bike setup?" Thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share With the road bike - crank arms are 172.5 on MTB its 175 - so should I lower the seat post with 2.5mm just to be on par with my Road bike ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 X 2 Posted January 28, 2010 Share With the road bike - crank arms are 172.5 on MTB its 175 - so should I lower the seat post with 2.5mm just to be on par with my Road bike ? Another thing that you can do to get the same seat heights on both bikes, is to turn the crank arm on the Mtb to the bottom. Measure from the pedal to the top of the seat. take this measurement and apply it to the roadbike in the same manner - put the roadbike's crank at the bottom and set the seat the same height as you measured on the Mtb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Brunsdon Posted January 28, 2010 Share Here is the Sheldon Brown link: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/kops.html Worth the read. It gives you new insight into fitting. Comes down to mathematics and theory only go so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share shot guys, will come back if there is any more questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreZA Posted January 28, 2010 Share With the road bike - crank arms are 172.5 on MTB its 175 - so should I lower the seat post with 2.5mm just to be on par with my Road bike ? ? Another thing that you can do to get the same seat heights on both bikes' date=' is to turn the crank arm on the Mtb to the bottom.? Measure from the pedal to the top of the seat.? take this measurement and apply it to the roadbike in the same manner - put the roadbike's crank at the bottom and set the seat the same height as you measured on the Mtb[/quote'] You can not just do that because the thickness of the soles of the different shoes and the stack height of the different pedals/cleats. And if the saddles are not the same then you have the sagging if the saddle to consider aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASTANA Posted January 28, 2010 Share With the road bike - crank arms are 172.5 on MTB its 175 - so should I lower the seat post with 2.5mm just to be on par with my Road bike ? Another thing that you can do to get the same seat heights on both bikes' date=' is to turn the crank arm on the Mtb to the bottom. Measure from the pedal to the top of the seat. take this measurement and apply it to the roadbike in the same manner - put the roadbike's crank at the bottom and set the seat the same height as you measured on the Mtb[/quote'] You can not just do that because the thickness of the soles of the different shoes and the stack height of the different pedals/cleats. And if the saddles are not the same then you have the sagging if the saddle to consider aswell. true. Now what ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spurzzz Posted January 28, 2010 Share Hey there I had an issue with my left knee too and played around without much success with saddle height. When I raised too high fixing the one knee, the other started paining Breakthrough was when I combined saddle height change with cleat adjustments ie. saddle up = cleats back, vice versa. Net effect is the same leg stretch with a nicer feeling saddle height Worked for me Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SURFER Posted January 28, 2010 Share Sheldon Brown bike setup - do you have a web adress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Potgieter Posted January 28, 2010 Share Geezlike. Didnt realise it was that complicated. maybe thats why im battling. I just have the seat so i can reach the pedals! is there somewhere i can go for bike setup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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