What decides the setting of the bars and saddle for
a road race bike? Why is there such a difference
from the setting used during the fifties and sixties.
Saddle height is determined from the length of your legs which bars are determined from torso, arm length and flexibility.
I don’t know about the fifties and sixties but I sure could use a fortie right about now.
There are two predominant attributes that determine the optimal orientation of saddle and handlebar position:
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Rider dimensions.
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Rider preference.
Bike positions go through an on-going evolution brought about by increased athlete perfromances and changes in technology.
In the past decade the emphasis on bike fit and the development of advanced technology to measure power output, heart rate, muscle accuation (such as the guys at Wobble-Naught are doing) and other performance paramiters have enable a more detailed analysis of the cycling posture and fit. This has resulted in enormous advances in a short period of time.
As a partial result of positional changes, along with many, many other factors the level of performance of the current era cyclist compared to the cyclist of even a decade ago is dramatically different.
The documents here provide some good information:
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO
Keep in mind that these guys are concerned with road bike fit, not tri bike fit, although I can see parallels between their competitive fit and good tt position.
Andrew
Here’s a good read for the basics.
Saddle height is determined from the length of your legs which bars are determined from torso, arm length and flexibility.
I don’t know about the fifties and sixties but I sure could use a fortie right about now.
here is good book to understand how fit works, what it is and what it is not.
http://www.amazon.com/Bike-Fit-Optimise-performance-avoidance/dp/1408190303
In this age people still belive there is perfect one number for all applications… Something like universal bike or universal car or universal glue.
I owe you a beer. You have brought back the most dormant post I’ve ever seen. Almost 11.5 years.
yeah, there is something about the new forum architecture, and the way posts are sorted in search, that unearths old threads.
but it does bring me back to how this has changed in the 12 years since this thread was posted to.
but it does bring me back to how this has changed in the 12 years since this thread was posted to.
Thems fancy fit bikes are a fad that’s gonna go away. All I need is my plumb bob.