You might get a few tips, but the expert fitters on here will likely tell you to take a bit of time and get video on the trainer with reasonable lighting and level camera. Also race kit and helmet.

Maurice

+1

When you balance against an object (wall, car, etc.) your static position will be a bit different from when you are pedaling. It's ok for looking at back angle and pad positioning, but lousy for judging lower body.

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Gotcha, I will plan on doing that. Note that I don't have a race kit, and that jersey is my tightest fitting one. But I'll figure something out.

Alright, I've uploaded two videos (side and front) to the same album (https://onedrive.live.com/...&ithint=album%2c )

Experts, please take a look and help me out. I'm comfortable, I just want to get more aero (or confirmation that I'm already pretty well dialed in :) )

Thanks!

Uploaded to youtube for easier viewing in thread:

Step 1.) Lower front end
Step 2.) Shrug + turtle your head
Step 3.) Video/photo check if the top of your helmet is even with your back

Rinse and repeat

Thanks for the reply. So, rinse & repeat until I reach a point where helmet is even with back?

When doing 1), should I also be moving the seat up/fwd, or not necessarily?

Also, do I achieve 1) by using greater angle stems? I've removed all of the spacers so far (although maybe the one next to the headset could be shorter). And assuming I'm happy with the current length of stem at the current height, do I need to change the stem length as I goto greater angles?

Thanks

The "right' way to do it would of course be to get a real fit on an adjustable fit bike and then try to map those coordinates to your bike (or buy a bike that fits that). Assuming you aren't going to do that (or you wouldn't post a fit thread on ST), I'd suggest getting an adjustable stem and playing with the height. The whole helmet level with back is likely to be pretty good aerodynamically, but may not be comfortable or may hurt your power. Up to you to figure that out by experimenting.

As far as adjusting other things. I'd say for ballparking your positiion, no need. In order to have the same reach, you do need a slightly longer stem, but I wouldn't really sweat that at the moment. I also wouldn't necessarily adjust your seat, other than considering something split nosed if you aren't already there since that will allow easier rotation forward without crushing your sensitive bits.

So a few things have happened since the last update.

I got a bike fit (FIST certified) in general measurements, and applied them to the S1 with the fitter's help. Then I bought a new-to-me P3, size 58. I applied the measurements to it, but have tweaked a few things after riding a few times.

Here's where I'm at currently with the P3:



Any thoughts in general?

I noticed that there is a gap between the tail of the helmet and my back. I'm guessing that's not ideal, but I'm not sure if I need to be doing something different (I'm already trying to turtle) or if I just need a different helmet?

Here's another video where I was trying out some different head positions. I was ducking down intentionally low, which may not be sustainable, and obviously there would potentially be some vision issues as well.



I also this morning tilted the aerobars (as shown in the videos), and it felt pretty good support-wise. I'm not sure if I'm now into praying-mantis area though :), putting me out of UCI limits (haven't measured yet).

Thanks

One thing I'm going to try next is to tilt the helmet back a bit, exposing more forehead. From my quick test, that then allowed the tail to close the gap. Not sure if that's preferable vs getting a different helmet that has the tail angling down more (Lazer Wasp?)?

Any other comments/feedback on the fit in general?

Thanks

To help that gap issue with your back and the tail of the helmet you can try rotating the helmet on your head if you haven't already. Also something like the Selector with the tall tail might help further close down that gap.

Looking again at the video it looks like you aren't rotating the helmet. Try clocking it a little higher on your forehead which will drive the tail down onto your back.

---

My YouTubes

Stalkan, I think I saw a thread with your fit, and it looked awesome. I hope I can get close to that someday.

Here's where I am currently with the helmet tilted back a bit (sorry for video angle). Anyone spot any other issues?

Thank you. With my health on the rise I have a renewed sense of purpose on the bike. Hopefully I can turn that good looking position into some fast times, again.


In regards to your position: The gap is gone, but that looks very uncomfortable and maybe too much of a heads up position. I would try pushing your chin down and towards your wrists, as this will help keep you from arching your back. In other words, you are attempting to rotate your head in a counter clockwise direction, as you view it in the video, while also trying to get your chin as low as possible. A safety benefit is that this will require less of a clocking of the helmet, as it will drive the tail down; however, this will make it harder to see up the road. I look out the top of my eyes, but those are really just glances as my normal viewpoint is only a little ways ahead of the bike. Obviously, in suburbia this doesn't work well, nor is it safe. But, for most of the TTs I do it works very well. To be clear I don't move my head just my eyes.

---

My YouTubes

Stalkan - Thanks, that makes sense, and no it's def not comfortable. I received the same feedback on another forum. I'm going to try to fix this shrug/turtling and see how it's looking.

 
Lowered seat about 15mm, seat back just 5mm, bars widened maybe 20mm. Widening the bars seems to have made it way easier to turtle.

Side:


Front:

Your position generally looks good. The pads are too wide though. Your elbows should sit lined up with your mid-quad so that your upper arms are: 1. not increasing your overall frontal profile, and 2. shielding your upper legs as much as possible. Being too wide is at least as bad as being too high.

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

One thing I've seen is that it's not so much the width of the elbows causing the shoulder and upper back tension as it's the angle that the forearms take. Try bringing the extensions closer together to close up the gap between your hands, and bring the pads close by the same amount. Preserve the forearm angle, just bring everything closer together.

---

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

I had the bars closer together in the original videos (narrowest pad position, and bars almost flush with stem), but in the last two I moved them apart, which allowed me to turtle my head more easily. But I may have gone overboard, so I'll try moving them back a bit.

The optimal width is (obviously) best determined in the tunnel (you can be too narrow as well as too wide).

Here's a good illustration of using the arms to shield the quads:

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Cool pic, and that makes it pretty clear, thanks.