Bike fit...hit me with your best shot.

its really hard to tell me of anything from this photo, cant comment on seat height, no idea of hip angle with the loose shirt (but it looks tight), hands are way out in front of your face so you are losing handling and likely not gaining any aero (and maybe making it worse).


...............?

forearms should be parallel to the floor.

You aren't as "Mantis" as I had pictured in my head I'll admit.

How does your upper body feel? Have you ridden long enough to get the elbow pads nice and soaked? Any problem with slipping?

Are you forcing your neck? For some reason that looks extreme... but sometimes what looks uncomfortable in a picture is fine in practice.

Whats the longest ride since you changed it? A couple of 2-4 hour rides will quickly clue you in on what needs changed.

All that said, it doesn't look all that bad, but better quality, closer pictures would help.... or a video.

Hard to tell from the single non-drive-side pic. I don't see any wrong with that limited view, except your socks are so old school and the hand-made card is a nice touch.

Edited by greyg8r 2010-02-17 1:00 AM

Now, Ill give my thoughts.

Looking at this pic, it appears that I am super-duper aero; Too much for my fitness level.

If I were to make an adjustment, I would bring the elbows and hands up & away, in a less aero position. 

By bringing my hands up, I can now stay in aero for about 3 minutes at a time, up from 2 minutes.

I don't know that bringing your elbows away is going to help... that's going to stretch you out farther, and (for most people) make staying in aero less skeletal and more muscular.

What is it exactly that's keeping you out of aero Mike? What pains you after 2-3 minutes?

can you take a video of you from the side, load it on youtube.com and post the link here?

Not much you can tell from that photo... you need to see full leg extension, side view, front view, and that's just so you can tell if the saddle is even close to where it should be and if you look cramped....

Also, a big bulky t-shirt doesn't make it easy either... wear a fitted bike shirt.

You have a nice bike there, so I hope that you left a couple of $ left for a bike fit... :-)

Really the only way to go.  Spend the extra $$ have a pro fit you up real nice.

That does not look comfortable at all. Your hip angle looks really tight, have opened up your knee to give you clearance?

I'm a bit confused here, this was your 4th(?) fit, with your fitter that you trust. you can only ride the bars for 3min? Sounds like your fitter is laughing his way to the bank.

As far looking way too aero, i was thinking the opposite, your arms/hands are now making a nice big parachute out in front of you, instead of tucking them up and inline with your body ( and very close to it. the further out you move them (and keep them up vs superman) the bigger pocket you are forming behind them, and instead of tucking them in to make your bode and arms one unit, they are a big scoop out in front, with a huge pocket behind which = bad news aero wise.

Mike,

I think at this point you need to work on comfort first, aero second.  I think I read in another post that you have had a lot of shoulder pain riding aero no matter what fit you have had done.   I assume that is why your aerobars are in that position.  I thought you were going with the elbows in cups ala TJ setup. 

Did your coach do any flexibility tests to determine limiters?

That was tough for me to deal with as I really wanted to ride ST approved steep but my body just won't let me, unless I stick with sprints around 12 miles or so.  Working on fixing my limiters but will take some time.

Do you have problems riding a road bike in the drops?  

Also I agree with the above poster, what's up with the candles?

Okay...I understand what you mean.  You do have a choice, but the flow is DEFINITELY different.  You're right, dynamics are changed regardless of the position, but straight arms are more aero.  It's the difference in separation of flow, both your forearms and your body or a little of your forarms and your body.  I will try to upload a simple flow diagram.  You could be right in terms of it being negligable compared to your comfort, but I'd still like to see another picture.  Maybe there's not another way to get you comfortable AND aero right now.

Nice fireplace!

Edited by jgerbodegrant 2010-02-17 11:32 AM

first off, looking at him from head on and saying his profile not changing means the wind is not seeing it diff is a huge mistake.


That said, if comfort is the issue, you did something wrong. 3 min is meaning there are some serious problems. What hurts, where, how, does it hurt before you even begin pedaling? dull ache, sharp pain, etc?

Mike I really like the stonework around your fireplace.

OK...carry on.......... 

As per hand height, according to this article on ST, with elbows both wide and narrow the high hands created less drag and more speed over a 40k than with bars flat, though not significantly so.  At least that's how I interpreted the data.  Each hand position was so close in drag and average speed over 40k that it seems to me to base this setup choice on comfort.

x whatever

Also, has your fitter ever suggested that you might be better off on a road bike with clipons?

Shane