Danielle Lewis’ rise in triathlon has been as raw and unpolished as the bike she once cobbled together from eBay deals and Craigslist finds. Without a bike sponsorship to her name, she raced atop a built-from-scraps Felt IA—mixing parts donated or discounted by local shops, often with visible wear and mismatched styling. It’s been a long journey for her since we shot her championship bike last year at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice.
A year later, as she comes to Hawaii backed not only by a bike sponsor, but also component sponsors that have helped her get what she needs for success.
What’s up with the saddle positioning and front end reach? Does she need a larger frame? That amount of leverage on the base bar would worry my dentist.
Look at how low her seat post is… If she went smaller she would able to raise that up and rotate her entire body forward. It would open up her hips, and she would probably be able to come back a little on the front end without giving up what she thinks is “free speed”. Anytime you see a seat post that short it’s a dead giveaway that you are probably on a larger frame than you should be.
The seatpost saddle combo is the most adjustable thing on a bike. With my 75cm saddle height I’m quite sure I would fit on most bike frames from a saddle position perspective by raising or lowering the seatpost and shifting the saddle forwards/backwards. Her saddle and saddle clamp are both shifter rearwards (I don’t know the seatpost angle of the Ventum), apparently that works for her. The most limiting factor is the reach on the frame, for which she clearly needs a Large, given the reach extenders on the front end.
Not really. Any time you go up.. You can can down. That’s how fit works. It’s a rotation of the whole.
Currently she is to low on the frame on the seat. And too fair forward and up. She “Thinks” she has fast as she can be. I bet if she went up in the back and down in the front it would pull her in a bit and she would be faster. Let alone be able to handle her bike better.
She is 176cm tall. I wonder if @E_DUB has ‘longer seat post is better’ bias. Suggests Matthews should have a smaller frame with more seat post exposed too. Maybe Mat Steinmetz can weigh in.
Honestly it just looks like a bad bike design. Ventum went aggressive with the seat tube angle and didn’t provide the reach to make it work. Every athlete seems to have their saddles pushed back and using similar reach extenders. Jason West’s in Nice has the same issues.
Depending on the size its much a shorter bike for sure when compared to a Canyon or a QR and TREK for that matter that really have done a great job with reach. But I dont know if it’s too short or if some of these ( most ) pro’s are just over reaching. I know @MatSteinmetz and I have a feeling that some of this is going to start coming back a little. He takes about is in these latest article.
It’s in relation with her bikes in the past. If you read the first paragraph and maybe the Article that was included she has been know for her garage sell bikes in the past. This is the first time I have seen here on a NEW bike where everything is new and everything is clean. Usually it’s a bunch of used parts that are put together to make up some frankenstein bike. ( which I have always praise her for cause she was just doing what she could)
I’m not quite following you here. How would getting more of an exposed seatpost (and smaller frame) allow her to rotate her hips more? What’s preventing her from rotating them now.
And if she went smaller isn’t pad x going to be huge concern considering how far out she already is?
