This is a great question, I'm not sure why no one has responded.

I have also lowered my handlebars to achieve the drop prescribed by Dan. I read somewhere that the seat does have to be moved to maintain the hip angle, but I don't know by how much. I did notice that I had to tip my seat down more in order to ride comfortably.

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

So begins your trial and error. Pay attention first to your seat angle. I keep that constant and play with the handlebar height over time. When I get a little more flexible and get a little smaller stomach, I get lower. When I race short distances, I go lower. When I do an IM, I go higher.

The whole idea of a steep seat angle is get lower in the front. Some people can get lower even with a shallow seat angle. I am not so blessed.

AS far as I understand it is you are dropping the front of your bike you have to pivot the resto of your body foward... this is where I get caught up on though... is the pivot point supposed to be your hip joint, or is it supposed to be your foot/pedal spindle (not exactly but something to that effect) as far as I can figure out, this would bring your seat angle foward and the handle bars back a bit... hope this helps... having said that dropping your handlebars by several centimeters sounds like a lot and sounds like it would be complicated to compensate for... I would reccomend asking the guy who fit you... hopefully he will help you out with this one.

could you direct me to the formula for fitting that you are referring to? thanks if so.

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mikem

i wouldn't change my armest height by several centimeters. if i wrote that i probably overstated it.

but my own experience from this season, as an example, is this: my saddle started out about even with the BB, and my armrests were 13cm below the top of the saddle. now my saddle is 2cm in front of the BB and my armrests are about 14.5cm below the top of the saddle. so that's the difference over 2 months or so.

i started out the season with a comfortable aero position on my tri bike. but as i progressed i felt the need for a more optimized position. i didn't change the position until my existing position started to bug me. that is, my position changed as a function of my increased fitness and adaptation to riding in the aero position.

my position didn't change on a schedule. i changed it as i felt it needed changing. i expected to feel the need to change it--make it more aggressive--but i didn't establish a timetable for it.

keep in mind that my armrest drop is a function of my seat height, which is about 80cm.

so the short answer is yes, i'll start the season a slight bit back and up, and migrate forward and down. but the differences in both saddle position and armest drop only alter by about 20mm or 25mm from the beginning if the process to the end of it

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

taku, the pivot point is the center of the bottom bracket spindle...dead center of the bolt that holds on the crankarm.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...techctr/bikefit.html



There is a formula near the bottom which is a suggested range for handlebar drop.

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

Dan - Based on your measurements (80cm), the formula would indicate the 14.5 drop would be the most aggressive. Do you ever go more aggressive than the formula?

actually, i'm changing my formula back to what it was. after further review i was hasty. instead of (.22D) i'm going back to (.2D), which ought to yield a range of 13cm to 16cm, in which case i'd be right in the middle.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

When you move your saddle forward, do you also add a longer stem? I guess this gets back to stack and reach, but aren't you telling us that seat angle isn't irrelevant after all? I mean, when one end moves the other has to follow.

Thank you all for the great feedback. Dan, your example was very helpful.

I guess in the end, I'm not satisfied that I'm in the best position to start with. This is enforced by Dan's example because I need to drop my arm pads several cm to even get to the less agressive end of Dan's formula range.