Saddle and cleat posision. Noob pedaling video

Hey guys,

Saw a thread about mtb bike fit. Got me thinking if i need to do that too. Started with mtb one year ago so i don’t now alot of anything when it comes to how set up a bike position. For saddle height i used the straight leg and heel on the pedal method. Saddle front and back i just winged it, same with cleats.

I did a short movie of me when i pedal. Looks strange to me with my heals so high when pedal is at the lowest. Any inputs what i can do to get a better pedal stroke? Video is in link below.

Lower your saddle 20mm or so and try again. It’ll feel odd at first, but it’s very apparent that you’re having to finish your downstroke with an extension of your ankle, in an already toe-down stroke. This comes across as almost scraping your toes backwards rather than putting a forceful push/pull type stroke. Your ankle is the weakest lever in the whole system of your leg, and ideally should remain pretty locked into one angle.

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Agree with dropping height but it’s so hard based on the video , I have to say a bike fit is definitely a must do then at least you know moving forward everything is correct and your training will be spot on. I’m a fitter in the UK and the difference it makes to most is massive.

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Thx alot for the suggestion. I will lower my saddle and see how it feels. I bet it gonna feel strange because i have trained like this for 1 year now… :joy:

Yea, did not think much about it before. I just rode my bike in the trails. But i should look out for someone to do a proper bikefit for me. Thx for help!

Just a small followup. Turns out that my cleats was all the way forward. I did some reading and some suggest that the cleats should be all the way back. So i moved them all the way back and lowered my saddle 1.5cm.

It feels abit strange when i have had my cleats all the way forward for a year now. But anyway i did a ramptest and got the same numbers as a few days ago. But my heartrate was around 8 bpm lower.

Today i did Taylor -2 and my heartbeate was around 10 bpm lower than the last time i did it. But my quads got abit more tired i think. I guess i have to train for a while so my body can get used to this new position. But so far it is promising form a noob perspective.

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A change in position will usually lead to different sensations as you start to use different or more of a certain muscle so allow a week to two to let your body adjust and whilst on the trainer it’s s great way to where your body is on the bike , do you feel planted on the saddle , us the pedal stroke smooth are your arms/shoulders tense etc have you got good posture lengthening the spine , see what feedback your body gives you after making changes and trust it.

You are spot on. I have some knee pain in both knees with my new position. I had no problems with knees before. After locking at some youtube i suspect that i have my saddle to low now. At 12 a clock my bend in the legs is to much, more than before from what i can see when recording myself.

This is the video i looked at, he seems to know what he´s talking about. Bike Fit | Causes of Knee Pain and Solutions - YouTube

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As an aside, I had a Retul bike fit done last week, and the guy used this to adjust my cleats. I thought it was the most brilliant design ever. My cleats were waaaay off. Pretty affordable investment, they have Look and SPD models:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UAM6TW/?coliid=I19XNNGL07Y9GY&colid=COQO9MATTVEP&psc=0

Way off how?

Where did they set the cleats in comparison to your first met head?

Hump