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Fit questions
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I just got a new KM-40, and I'm working on my fit. I have a Felt which was professionally fit and has been great and comfortable to ride, if I transfer all the measurements like Center of bottom bracket to top of saddle, amount of distance the nose of the saddle is off the center of the bottom bracket, verify the distance from the nose of the saddle to the center of the front stem, distance from the saddle to the arm rests and distance of the armrests to the floor.

Do you think this will get me into the ball park fit wise? There is not a decent shop locally to get fit the closest one for me would be a 6 hour drive.

Thanks
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Re: Fit questions [mikeran] [ In reply to ]
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you're on the right track. i find that measuring armrest drop is easier using a long carpenter's level and a ruler. lay the level on the saddle and angle it over one of the armrests. measure from the bottom of the level to the top of the armrest.

personally, i don't care where the stem is in relation to the saddle. i care where the armrests, and the ends of the clip ons, are in relation to the nose of the saddle. that's all.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Fit questions [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Thats what I did. After I finished I used your formula for saddle to armrest drop and was within .5cm I figure riding will bring out the final tweaks. Thanks.
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Re: Fit questions [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Dan, with cow horns and aerobars, what you say makes sense to me, especially if the stem begins to shorten due to a longer top tube. Even with a shorty stem, there's plenty of steering lever to prevent twitchy handling. How about with the one-piece aerobars? I think I have seen one company say that their bar places the brake lever in about the same fore/aft position as it would be on drop bars. If that's the case, the steering lever is shorter than with cow horns, and there would be limitations on the top tube/stem length relationship. Did you find anything like this when you tried out the one-piece bars?
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Re: Fit questions [flyebaby] [ In reply to ]
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1. i don't like 1pc bars that have the stem attached. if i was vision i'd get rid of that feature. it limits things.

2. for triathlon, i'd have my pursuit position mimic the hoods position. this is best for out of the saddle climbing, farting around riding (recovery rides, etc.) and so forth. also, you've got to brace yourself on a descent and while braking, and with one's center of mass so far over the BB with a steep seat angled bike, it would be good to keep the center of mass from moving any further forward than it already is (when you're forward you're less able to brace yourself on your pedals and to use the saddle's friction to impede your body's inertia). therefore, while one might normally assume that a drops position is a better descending position, that's not quite so with a steep bike. therefore, having a hoods position is better all the way around. hence, flat pursuit bars, by the way.

3. that said, don't necessarily think that this means that pursuit bars that angle down are bad. it depends on how high the armrests sit versus the center of the base bar. vision armrests are only 2cm or 3cm above the base bar's centerline. profile and syntace armrests sit 6cm or 7cm above the base bar. therefore, apples to apples, flat bars on syntace and slightly (5 or 10 degrees) angled base bars on visions yield the same pursuit position.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Fit questions [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Dan - Instead of using the carpenters level and the ruler why can't one just measure from the ground to the top of the saddle and also the ground to the armrest and then the difference would be the drop?
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Re: Fit questions [Bri] [ In reply to ]
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"ground to the top of the saddle and also the ground to the armrest and then the difference would be the drop?"

that's a perfectly acceptable method. it's just a little tougher to get the quantity you're looking for with precision.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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