Do you need to change the settings of your bike when swtiching between different thickness chamois ? I race in both a skinsuit for TT’s and obviously tri shorts for tri but there is a pad thickness difference. Do bike setters account for this ?
We are talking here of what… 0,10 cm?
No need to chance set up.
Sometimes I feel like my seat is to high when in regular cycling shorts but I still don’t dare touch the height of my seatpost.
Dave in VA
Muncher,
I think that is a very good question. I keep it the same but add a DeSoto pad - that seems to take care of the difference.
I read an article once (I think Peter Reid, but not sure) that said one of the common mistakes is racing on thinning shorts with out compensating for the difference - I think you are on eto something.
Good Luck,
Bump.
C’mon people is this a logical question or am I making a problem out of nothing here ?
Actually Peter Reid wrote a piece somewhere about this very thing… I think it was in a hard copy article of Inside Tri or Triathlete mag. Basically, he feels it IS important. In fact, that was the reason he used to use a seat cover in Ironmans. I believe now he just adjusts his saddle height with the development in recent years of tri-specific saddles.
I think it’s worth noting that he’s likely “Lance-like” in his fussiness for saddle height.
You are kidding, right ?
-/ Should I change set up, when I’m wearing bike gloves ?
-/ Should I change set up, after I peed ?
-/ Should I change set up of my aluminum bike when the sun shines ? Will it expand ?
So what do the bike fitters think ? Thats what i’d like to know…
I read this statement by PR awhile back, and w/ no dis-respect to him, i think it’s crazy to be changing saddle heights because you are going from a bike short to tri short … don’t forget that most of the time we are rotated forward on the saddle and the thick part of a bike short does not even come into play … not to mention the fact that the pad in the bike short compresses when you sit on it. At most … tri-shorts and add seat cover (remember it compresses too 
I don’t thinks it’s worth waisting energy or time lowering/raising the seat!
Best …
ps - this is form a bike fitters standpoint
Actually, I agree with you… I don’t wear a seat cover and I don’t change my seat height. However, I get the impression (and have read) that Peter is ultra picky much like Lance. So he probably adjusts his saddle like one millimeter. All in his head? Probably.
Yes, you need to account for the thinner pad because it will make your seat effectively lower. But if you normally wear socks (I pray) and race without them, that will effectively raise your saddle, so it evens out somewhat. If you don’t want to totally blow your race, the best thing to do is get out a pair of calipers and determine the difference in thickness between your socks and your different chamois pads, and then adjust the seat. Be sure to adjust the handlebars to compensate for no cycling gloves as well. A last thing, I also usually take the difference between my total rider + bike weight setup for training vs racing and adjust the tire air pressure to compensate, you probably need to go 1/4 psi lower or so for your race setup, but scale it so you are using a .333/.667 factor front to back. Unless you are putting powerbar pieces on the top tube, in which case you need to determine the balance point of you bike + rider combination and use the proper factor as the balance point moves forward due to the nutrition.
If you swim with a silicon cap (or no cap), make sure to adjust your goggle strap for the thinner latex caps that they ususally give you.
Good luck! You might laugh but the effect of these tweaks can be easily measured with a 10GHz oscilloscope.
Very good post. 10/10