I place my saddle on the rails according to knee position over pedal spindle. Don’t know why anyone would recommend that someone place based on anything else (i.e. internet fit advice)
KOPS is more of a starting point. It might be where dudes of average proportions end up on average but there are no guarantees for any particular body. Have you done the Dave Kirk test? – http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f7/riding-tip-1-a-550.html#post7428
Trying this today. Need to make some serious (small) changes to my fit, I can never get my cleats right (prolly slammed too far back), and my IT bands are killing me. Other than that I love my fit and get all of the power.
I don’t want internet fit advice on where to put my saddle. I’m just wondering if anyone has any ideas on why riding my bike and especially going uphill kills my lower back so badly.
I know KOPS isn’t the golden rule. My saddle is exactly where it needs to be for weight distribution on my bike.
lower back is usually muscle imbalance with the hamstring
you fuck with anything recently that could tighten those up?
[quote=catdrew f]lower back is usually muscle imbalance with the hamstring
you fuck with anything recently that could tighten those up?[/quote]
nothing recently
this is an ongoing problem, on and off for ~3 years.
could be a whole host of things
even something as simple as tight Achilles can manifest itself in the back
you tense anything up when on the rivet?
ok internob fit bros
Here’s the back story: left knee tracks funny. left leg could be a tiny bit shorter/foot is def 1 size smaller.
on long rides (see:longer than whatever i’ve worked up to - currently about 200k) the outside of my left knee hurts and the inside/upper right side hurts. the pain on the right side hurts when pushing from 1 o’clock. the left side is intermittent and usually doesnt hurt so bad if i get off the bike for a minute. regardless, i’d like to go longer and i have to figure this out. i have access to everything i would need for insoles and whatnot. is this a matter of strength, stretching or is my bike fit off?
I was joking.
Are you rotating your pelvis forward?
im gonna go out on a limb and say amy understands pelvic tilt with regards to power transfer
How does pelvic tilt relate to power transfer?
Amy got a trainer? Post a side view video?
[quote=aerobear]I don’t want internet fit advice on where to put my saddle. I’m just wondering if anyone has any ideas on why riding my bike and especially going uphill kills my lower back so badly.
I know KOPS isn’t the golden rule. My saddle is exactly where it needs to be for weight distribution on my bike.[/quote]
My guess is that you’re supporting more of your weight with your core when going up hills and it has something to do with that, but also something that I’ve noticed is that saddles with a really flat rear section like an arione will make my lower back hurt whereas something lipped like a toupe seems more supportive when your hips are rotated and you’re pedaling hard. Could be a saddle shape/angle issue. Maybe more reach and less drop would help so you can straighten your back out more if you’re hunched at all, but that’s a generalization and blind guess obviously.
once again, I’m sure amys fit is fine
its a muscle imbalance
you are using something more than others
do you still squat often?
[quote=halbritt]How does pelvic tilt relate to power transfer?
Amy got a trainer? Post a side view video?[/quote]
gonna be honest here: Side view with trainer is actually REALLY REALLY fracking useful. Especially if you have a camera that has a high FPS setting (like my 7d)
alternatively two views one from front and one from sides. It’s not quite retul level of quant, but you can get a general idea.
also, amy: with regards to back pain, where EXACTLY do you get the back pain?
I will make an inquiry into our functional anatomy textbooks here later this week for ya.
first get those videos though. Webcam on mac is fine, just make sure your kit is highly contrasting from the background. Ugly kits with patterns are better because you can see the little motion of the small groups a bit better.
[quote=Flamandrio Schwaschwa][quote=aerobear]I don’t want internet fit advice on where to put my saddle. I’m just wondering if anyone has any ideas on why riding my bike and especially going uphill kills my lower back so badly.
I know KOPS isn’t the golden rule. My saddle is exactly where it needs to be for weight distribution on my bike.[/quote]
My guess is that you’re supporting more of your weight with your core when going up hills and it has something to do with that, but also something that I’ve noticed is that saddles with a really flat rear section like an arione will make my lower back hurt whereas something lipped like a toupe seems more supportive when your hips are rotated and you’re pedaling hard. Could be a saddle shape/angle issue. Maybe more reach and less drop would help so you can straighten your back out more if you’re hunched at all, but that’s a generalization and blind guess obviously.[/quote]
hip rotation: Women DO (as amy pointed out) experience a lot of labial friction when rotating forward on a LOT of different saddles.
This is a deal breaker for a competitive fit for a lot of cyclists just above recreational level or those who want to start competing.
My suggestion is that you talk to people in the triathlon/TT community about their fits. This is a segment of the sport that has a lot more female representation. A lot of them like the selle SMP saddles.
The saddle I like to ride in a “touring” position is completely different from my ideal saddle for an aggressive race position, too. Once I worked on lifting and flexibility/plyo, I could rotate my pelvis forward. My coach described it as “tea bagging the seatpost”
Working on deadlifts with him helped too. I am much more conscious of my pelvic tilt even when walking or carrying lab samples up the stairs in my lab. If you have any vids of you deadlifting from the side we might see a little instability in the pelvis when trying to get a flat back. Deadlift position and “pulling myself” into it actually related right back to the bike instantly, hence my newfound ability to slam the seat back and throw on a 120mm stem. It was literally impossible before.
out of the last 100 women i’ve fit on tri bikes I’d wager 98 of them are on smp/adamo/modified adamo to help alleviate pressure on the labia
i’m having some left knee pain, right in between the knee cap and the lumpy bone at the top of my tibia… feels like there’s someone poking it with their finger. it’s dull, but it’s been there for about a week, and is exacerbated by cycling and driving a manual car in traffic. i was getting it on and off for awhile for about a month, and then after i pushed myself pretty hard last week and this weekend it hasn’t gone away.
i tried to ride yesterday and made it about a quarter of a mile before i got paranoid about my knee exploding and turned around. i put 2k miles on the same bike setup last summer and had no issues, but i more or less took the entire fall semester away from cycling, did a couple months of 40 miles/week in jan/feb and then ramped up to 100-150 miles/week in march.
any ideas as to where this might be coming from? any easy fit adjustments to try? i’m hoping it’s just overuse and not something more serious. should i just go see the doctor?
i think i might just small ring it for some miles today and see how i feel.
check setback and saddle height, cleat position.
If everything was working fine and now it isn’t, I’d wonder if it’s something in yer body and not in yer bike.
How’s the knee tracking on the bike? Straight up and down or is it wobbly?
dats yer meniscus bro
you need that
foam roller on the IT yo