I am on a never ending quest to get comfortable on my bikes. The tri bike is pretty darn good right now and I can't complain all that much, but I'm mostly done riding it this year. It's time to focus on the road bike as I've ridden that probably twice as much this year. I've had a fit on my tri bike but getting one for the road bike is out of the question for the time being.
I've bounced around different saddles this year; a Fizik Antares, Fizik Ares, ISM PR 2.0 and now on the ISM Road. I think I've finally settled on the ISM saddles and the Road seems to be working right now.
I've always had my ISMs leveled so the 'two noses' are level with the ground. I was reading around and heard other people leveling the saddle front to back. I played around with the angle last night and this morning and have ended up with somewhere in between the whole saddle level and just the noses level and I think I like this. It seemed to take some pressure off my sit bones from having it titled further down previously and after adjusting saddle height, I'm liking it.
But I noticed something else. I could feel myself sitting higher up on the left nose than the right. I've always sat a little unevenly on my bike but I never noticed it like today. I've also wondered the last few years, if I needed to be shimming my right cleat a bit to even myself out. That belief was only furthered when I got P1 pedals this year and now see a L/R difference of about 4% in favor of my left leg.
Combining all of these; sitting unevenly and feeling the left side higher, the L/R imbalance and also some calf issues I've had over the years makes me think shimming the cleats might solve these issues. I'm looking at the cleat shim kit from BikeFit which goes in 1mm increments and also BikeFit's Leg Length Difference Shim which comes in 3mm or 5mm increments.
I know this is a lot of info and it would make sense to get a fit, but as I mentioned it's not possible right now. So I'm just looking for peoples insights and suggestions. Have you used cleat shims before? How have worked out being uneven on the saddle, specifically an ISM? How have you improved power imbalances?
Thanks!
I've bounced around different saddles this year; a Fizik Antares, Fizik Ares, ISM PR 2.0 and now on the ISM Road. I think I've finally settled on the ISM saddles and the Road seems to be working right now.
I've always had my ISMs leveled so the 'two noses' are level with the ground. I was reading around and heard other people leveling the saddle front to back. I played around with the angle last night and this morning and have ended up with somewhere in between the whole saddle level and just the noses level and I think I like this. It seemed to take some pressure off my sit bones from having it titled further down previously and after adjusting saddle height, I'm liking it.
But I noticed something else. I could feel myself sitting higher up on the left nose than the right. I've always sat a little unevenly on my bike but I never noticed it like today. I've also wondered the last few years, if I needed to be shimming my right cleat a bit to even myself out. That belief was only furthered when I got P1 pedals this year and now see a L/R difference of about 4% in favor of my left leg.
Combining all of these; sitting unevenly and feeling the left side higher, the L/R imbalance and also some calf issues I've had over the years makes me think shimming the cleats might solve these issues. I'm looking at the cleat shim kit from BikeFit which goes in 1mm increments and also BikeFit's Leg Length Difference Shim which comes in 3mm or 5mm increments.
I know this is a lot of info and it would make sense to get a fit, but as I mentioned it's not possible right now. So I'm just looking for peoples insights and suggestions. Have you used cleat shims before? How have worked out being uneven on the saddle, specifically an ISM? How have you improved power imbalances?
Thanks!