more aggressive position on road bike

Everything I've ever been told is you can drop spacers without any other issues. I suppose if it was an enormous drop you may be stretching out your reach a tiny bit but probably not enough to be concerned with.

Slam that stem :P

Welcome back dude.

okey dokey....that sob is getting slammed tonight.

would i bring the seat forward a little or no?

You may also move your seat a tiny bit forward depending on how much you take out. My advise - do it progressively. Just take a spacer or 2 out and ride it for a few hundred miles, then remove another one.

For me, my fitting was almost a year-long process. I did a Retul fit and worked with my fitter for probably a year. I came back after about 300-400 miles and checked with him again, giving feedback on whether there was something that needed to be looked into. I like my fit now and don't have issues but I still try and see him about once a year. He only charged me for the first Retul fit so the adjustments/maintenance didn't cost me anything.

Also, any reason you didn't just move over your S2 fit to the R5?



Edited by m2tx 2013-06-17 1:11 PM

thanks.....

If you're *just* taking out spacers, then just thinking geometrically, yes of course something changes. You'd be dropping your torso, rotating your upper body forward, but not rotating the rest of you with it. The seat would have to move forward and the seat height would go up to keep the same angles. As an illustration, let's say your seat and bars were exactly level with one another. Draw two points on on a piece of paper and draw lines going straight *up* from each, in parallel. Take another piece of paper and put two marks on one edge of the same distance as the two lines on your other piece, then lay it on top so everything aligns. Now rotate the top piece from the middle - you'll see one mark move down and back, and the other mark move forward and up. The one that moves down and back would represent your spacers coming off - but of course it doesn't move back, which means the seat actually moves more forward than the distance of the spacer.
Of course at some point you're going to hit a wall - might be flexibility\comfort, might be seat height range, saddle fore\aft range, you get the idea. All that being said, if a professional fitter put you on a bike with 6 spacers, I'd be pretty suspect. Sounds like you got sold the wrong bike by a quack.

I don't know much about geometry, but when you bend at the waist-your butt sticks out.  The further you bend forward-the MORE your butt goes BACKWARD.  I'm not a 'fitter' (but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express), but when I drop my stack height, I shorten the reach and slide my seat BACK on the rails.  just my .02

i just think its funny when it comes to these so called "fitter" experts.

they seem to hide behind the comfort and flexibility cloak. i am not saying that you want to take a non racing cycling enthusiast riding 2-3 hrs per week into a pro low level position.

but considering i tell these fitters, i ride 15 hours per week, have 4 bikes, and race. wouldn't they deduct, oh i get it so you want to be more aggressive and aero and fast. i think most don't even have a clue of what aero means. the fitter actually told me well in this position you will produce extra 30 watts. yeah that is great, except i will need 50 watts to ride the same speed in this position to get the same speed as my other bike.

sorry i guess its frustrating to pay 250 for a fitting and be setup like a tourist. yes please set up a top of the line 14 lb bike like my grand mothers beach cruiser.

You need a new fitter! A good bike fitter understands your goals, but that doesn't mean that you will be fitted in the lowest possible position. Yes, aerodynamics is important, but there's a balance between... wait for it... wait for it... comfort and efficiency. The goal for any bike fit is to make you faster of the given distances you race.

.. oh, and don't move that seat... That's the first parameter you fix in a bike fit, the riders position in relationship to the bottom bracket, then you move everything from that central point. The handle bars should fit you, not trying to fit you to the handle bars... Keep the seat where it is and adjust the additional reach by shorter stem.

I got a Retul fit about 4 months ago and one of the first questions asked was "what distance?" Had I told him sprint/OLY distance the fit would have been more aggressive. I told him fit me for HIM distances so the fit will take comfort into consideration. I'm quite happy with my fit and haven't adjusted a thing yet. Hopefully he asked you that very question from the start.