What to take part in a little bike fit exercise?

there’s a thread asking about “will my LBS help me find a size without paying for a bike fit?” yes, of course they will. however, how good is that recommendation? who knows?

so i’ve been pondering a project with a bike company, which is IN NO WAY EQUAL TO A QUALITY BIKE FIT SESSION! but it could still be an interesting exercise.

basically, i’ve been playing with, you give me your overall height and your saddle height, here is your pad x/y. now, this is about analogous to me asking you for your overall height and your ear size and i’ll tell you what size shoe to buy online. the precision is not going to be there. however, who knows? maybe ears and feet are closely correlated?

so, if you’re interested in participating, what you need to do is this:

  1. give me your overall height, and the height of your tri bike saddle, bottom bracket to the top of the saddle, 4cm back from the nose.
  2. you need to ACCURATELY measure the pad x and y (pad x to pad-center).

if you do those 2 things, then i’ll generate a pad x/y for you and we’ll see how closely we correlate. then perhaps i tweak my formula based on what we find.

if you’re game, then give me height and saddle height below. but ONLY if you feel you have a pretty good position on your bike, and only if you can and are willing to accurately measure pad x/y to pad center.

  1. give me your overall height, and the height of your tri bike saddle, bottom bracket to the top of the saddle, 4cm back from the nose.

I apologize if I’m already derailing the thread, but why 4cm back from the nose?

Height: 6’2" (187cm)
Saddle height: 830mm

Show me whatcha got, Dan.

Do me, do me!

Height - 172 cm

Saddle height - 68 cm to 4 cm behind BB

(these are the types of distractions I have to put up with when I decide to work from home on a Friday)

height 5’7" (170cm)
saddle height 674mm
.

I would consider adding in-seam measure as an important way to convert height to an X/Y measurement.
This is a relatively easy thing for people to measure.

Offset the inseam measurement a few cm’s and you’ll know the point that they rotate and how much height ought to contribute to X vs. Y coordinates.

Height: 5’9"
Saddle height: 717mm (to 4cm from nose of saddle)
.

Height: 5’ - 9.5"
Saddle: 750mm
.

Height 185cm
Saddle height 76cm
.

Shouldn’t you also want to know crank length to put the saddle height into context?

Edit: I apologize if I’m misunderstanding what you’re doing.

5’10
735mm saddle height
.

Did everyone not read his directions?

You need to provide pad x/y coordinates of your current fit.

Height: 5’8"
Saddle height: 730mm
.

Me height= 174.5cm
Saddle height (40mm from tip) = 710mm
Pad stack (centre BB to pads) = 580mm
Pad reach = 480mm

Hope those make sense (and what you were after)…
Edited cos I can’t use a calculator.

5’ 9.5"
saddle H 725
pad stack 580
pad reach (center) 450
.

My height 156.8cm
Saddle height from BB along seat tube, 76.2cm
Pad X 41cm sits at elbow, not at forearm.
Pad Y 65cm

Torso is a little short and position not very aggressive.

5’8"
Saddle height = 715mm
x = 565 mm
y = 505 mm
.

Did everyone not read his directions? You need to provide pad x/y coordinates of your current fit.

you’re right. but i don’t need for you to provide them now. i just need for you to be:

  1. fairly confident that you have a good position, at least for you; and,
  2. i want you to be able to measure pad x/y, so that when i give you the solution we can compare it to what you’re riding, to see how close we are.

Should the thread title say “Want” rather than “What”? If so, will you please edit it? If not, then I don’t understand it.

For the challenged , how do we take these measurements?