With all this talk of bike fit lately I thought it might be a good time to ask a few questions of my own.
I just picked up a funny bike and took it out for a first spin last night. I'd never ridden such a bike before and being thrust so far forward made for a pretty unusual riding experience.
On my road bikes, I keep my saddle at the same level as my bars or just slightly above. The seat height is based on no quite fully extending my legs on the downstroke. I position my saddle so that my knees are centered over the crank axis. On the funny bike, my knees were well ahead of the cranks no matter what I did. At times I thought I needed to move the seat forward and at other times it felt like I should be moving it back.
Moving the seat back, would get my knees closer to the axis allowing me to get closer to my normal up and down pedal stroke. Moving the seat forward and slightly raising the seat introduced a horizontal element to my stroke. I was pushing down but also pushing backwards. It felt a more comfortable on my legs but the position brought me closer to my bars making me feel more crowded.
The frame looks to be the right size for me meaning that I can straddle it at the "tall end" with the bar right at my crotch level. I'm not showing a lot of saddle stem at the saddle height I'm using which might mean that the bike is too large for me. On the other hand, my most comfortable riding position made me feel crowded at the top so maybe it's too small for me?
I've come to the realization that I have no idea what position I'm supposed to be in to correctly ride this bike or to determine what size it is and translate it to a number I'm used to.
I would greatly appreciate any pointers on how to measure the frame and tips on riding position. Thanks in advance.
Steve Valladolid
San Diego, CA