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road and tri saddle heights
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Slowman, that is one TIMELY article. I was only on the phone this morning talking with a fitter about getting my road frame looked at in light of a nasty hamstring problem. 30 minutes later I saw the write-up and thought "Whoa..."

I had a FIST fit on a forward geometry frame I bought in June. The saddle height was set 1/2 centimeter higher than what I was used to. The first ride and following run were so comfortable and problem-free that I immediately jacked up the saddle on the road frame to match. That never really worked, and I eventually put it back in the lower position. In dealing with the recent hamstring strain I asked the doc if the different saddle settings between the two bikes might have played a part. He said it was doubtful, but he urged me to take the road frame to the same fitter for a matching fit, just to be sure.

In the discussion so far, saddle height is one component, but there is also a tendency for some of us on road frames to actually be more "bent" than on a tri frame. I think we're going to schedule a fitting for Monday, and I'll share the results here.
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Re: road and tri saddle heights [flyebaby] [ In reply to ]
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Good article but if you read Slowman's other tri bike fit articles he says he prefers his road bike with a 150 degree knee bend and 153-155 for his tri bike. This in itself would put his tri seat a little higher.

I used to use the inseam x .883 method to determine road bike seat height. Would then automatically elevate the seat height just a bit on a steep angle position. It felt good on the road bike but always not quite right on a steep angle.

I now run both my road and tri bikes at 147 degrees determining this with a digtal camera and protractor. This came about by experimentation to find where my hamstrings felt best going into the run. People with hamstring issues would likely be best to lower the seat by a bit to decrease the knee angle by a few degrees.
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Re: road and tri saddle heights [cerveloguy] [ In reply to ]
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"if you read Slowman's other tri bike fit articles he says he prefers his road bike with a 150 degree knee bend and 153-155 for his tri bike. This in itself would put his tri seat a little higher."

small point, but the article published yesterday speaks to my specific bike, whereas the article to which you refer is my primer for bike fit, in which i'm describing what i like to see in others.

that said, i'm in the middle of a rethink about all this. my tri bike's saddle now sits 5mm lower than it used to, and i don't know if this is a factor of age, or the higher cadence i now pedal, or that i just had it too high in the past (or maybe it's too low now, but i don't think so).

plus, every month or so from november to april i meet with all these coaches and bike shop people during FIST workshops, and i'm affected by their experiences and theories. i might just eventually change my mind altogether, and preach a common angle for both bikes (as is the case with your own bikes).

.883 doesn't come close to working for me. i don't know why, but for me even 145 degrees is unobtainably obtuse using .883. i have a very traditional road set up. 72.5 to 73 degrees of seat angle, and the handlebar height, the cockpit, all very 70s era. but i'd have to shove my saddle down 2cm to get to .883. maybe i just don't shove the book far enough up into my crotch :-)

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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