We’re looking forward to spring here in Central Texas. For this morning’s club ride, temperatures were in the upper 40s, the bright sun warmed our backs, and a brisk wind played havoc with our riding — especially on fast downhill stretches.
Most everybody at the end of the ride seemed to be in good shape, with no complaints about sore lower backs, or numb hands, or etc.
But during the ride, I noticed that I was often scootching back on the saddle, to the point that my butt hung off the back. Not the most comfortable of positions, but it offered some relief from the discomfort I was feeling.
Whenever we stopped for a breather (not often today) and I unclipped from the pedals for a few minutes, I was able to get back on in a normal position on the saddle — perhaps a tidge forward of center. This is a comfortable position, but as I said, in a while I’m scootching back again.
I think I need to make an adjustment to my saddle position.
But I don’t intend to get an expensive bike fitting. Seems to me this is an adjustment I can make myself. I’ve been poking around online, looking at sites about bike fitting. Most say the same thing. For fore and aft positioning, they recommend the “knee over pedal spindle” (KOPS) method. To do this, you need a plumb bob (which can be fashioned out of a piece of string with a weight at the end — a washer or two will work well.
Wearing bike clothes and biking shoes, get on the bike and grab onto something. If you have a trainer, so much the better. Put your crank arms at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock. Have a helper hold the unweighted end of the string against the bony protrusion under the kneecap. The weighted end should be directly over the pedal spindle. If it isn’t you’ll have to adjust saddle forward or back. That is, if the plumb bob hits behind the pedal spindle, you need to move the saddle forward, and vice-versa. A cautionary note: Plenty of bike fitters think KOPS is bunk, because it considers only the relationship of one body part to the bike rather than the whole body to the bike.
I have putzed around with positioning without much luck. On my mountain bike, I found that the saddle height was too high, and that’s now a more comfortable ride. But I’m only on that thing for neighborhood errands, so it’s not a big deal.
For the road bike, I’ll have to get more precise, and actually recruit a friend to help with the measurements. Once, I attempted to do the KOPS measurement myself, and the results were very inaccurate.
I’m interested in learning what your experiences are with do-it-yourself bike fitting. Have you tried it? Are you happy with the results? Did you screw it up so bad that you had to swallow your pride and pay a visit to the local bike fitter? Or do you not trust yourself with these important measurements and only do the pro bike fitting routine?