To go from 110 to 90 would have involved changing stem regardless. More likely that was what the fitter had in stock. That position couldn’t have been achieved by using the riders original stem and just removing a couple of spacers
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You look too low and your knees are coming up past your elbows…to me you look too squashed as well. It looks like you’d be suffering back pain on long rides, and I doubt you’re getting appropriate power down.
I would raise the handlebars significantly.
Just my two cents of course!
Looks like a good starting point 
How do your shoulder/arms feel after time in that position?
I would suggest you try lowering your saddle a cm or two.
Also, try shifting the saddle back a couple of cm, I think you’re on your soft tissue and the flat of the saddle rather than sit bones on the nose.
Hey @mcneese.chad would love your thoughts on my fit.
This is a picture from last year’s run up to Long Course a Du Worlds but I don’t think anything has changed since then. I had an Olympic tri yesterday and started feeling really tight in the lower back and glutes around mile 20. I’ve also noticed in training some more pulling in the hamstrings, specifically my right one (towards the camera) after longer or more intense intervals.
I’m thinking either a slightly lower saddle? Or maybe more forward? But I’ve also heard podcasts with some fitters who say that sometime saddle fire/aft ends up being counter intuitive so that just has me second guessing myself lol
(I’ve also got a video if I can figure out how to post it. Do I need to get it on YouTube and embed it?)
You can post the video on YT and just share a link here.
Based on your issues and the 2 pics, I think a saddle move forward could help.
- It seems you are reaching a bit based on your upper arm to angle.
- You may be a bit high on saddle, but that’s hard to say for sure.
- With the back and hamstring issues, and what I see for the front end, a saddle move forward might be a solution.
You could try 1cm forward and recheck fit and feel. That will effectively shorten saddle height about 5-7mm, and cut reach by the same saddle shift of 10mm.
Hi Chad et al,
I set up my road bike fit mostly as per instructions, but at the time I set it up I had no plumb line so eyeballed the saddle fore/aft position. Recently I decided to revisit after some minor outside knee pain and found that my saddle position was a bit forward from KOPS, maybe 3 cm. Everything else was fine.
I set it back to just behind KOPS with a plumb line as per the greg lemond bike fit, but I feel I have lost a lot of my ‘snap’ and my cadence has dropped by quite a bit, though I’m maintaining the same average speed for rides.
Does this sound like something to train through with cadence drills, or have I put my seat back too far if my cadence is now low 80s average instead of 90? Don’t want to waste time training in the wrong position!
First question. When you slid the saddle back, did you lower your saddle?
This must be done to correct for the effective lengthening of the leg extension via the seat tube angle.
Ballpark would be to drop saddle 1/3 to 1/2 the saddle F/A change. I’d say 1cm drop for a guess and reevaluate on the bike. Then readjust as needed.
The reason I want to confirm it is that an incorrect saddle length can also affect cadence.
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I didn’t actually, I’ll try that tomorrow and reply! Thanks
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Can you rotate the pics slightly so that the wheels are level? It would make it easier to eyeball the angles.
I’d agree with @mcneese.chad that you look to be reaching, so one aim would be to move those pads back and get more support from your arms. I’ve found that moving the seat to compensate for other problems has limited success on a road frame. Start with a good seat/leg angle, compromise elsewhere.
I’d be aiming for a comfortable position you can hold for the bike leg over aerodynamics.
In my opinion, no.
Your bike should be set up to fit you, you shouldn’t need to train in order to fit your bike.
If that means making only gradual changes in order to say, become more aerodynamic, so be it.
True, but in this case my saddle was quite a bit ahead of the ‘typical’ location so I may have been training to fit my bike all along. Still setting PR’s with the new setup so it’s definitely worth exploring!
Moving the seat down slightly did increase my average cadence by about 5 rpm and gave me a bit more snap, but I found myself still sitting forward on the saddle so I think I’ll raise and move forward slightly.
Looks like the position I started from was too far forward, as it’s suprising how much less shoulder and hand tension I have now! Thanks for the advice!
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Good deal. Thanks for sharing your results.
Yes, that forward position is not super common for a road setup, but some people do prefer that general approach.
Glad we have you moved to a happy medium from the sounds of things.
Happy training. 
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If anyone is in the Midwest I’d highly recommend Mitch at BioWheels in Cincinnati. I had the full fit last weekend and he uses a combination of Retul motion capture with the Guru fitbike. I really liked the fit bike, it made saddle testing super fast and adjustments on the fly similar to an optometry check where they flip lenses and ask which is better. At the end you can bump instantly back and forth between new/old positions, I think it ends up much more thorough than fiddling with bolts and things to test out small adjustments.
Also had the molded footbeds made, which feels GREAT after riding on the flat soles of some shoes for the last year because I lost the arch inserts somehow - I have flat arches anyway so that was never a great situation.
He spent over 3 hours with me and addressed every issue I had, the fit feels great and shouldn’t be causing any more saddle sores… fingers crossed.
Just FYI for the folks within comfortable driving distance of Cinci.
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Sorry if this has been posted, but is there a video or series that explains what is trying to be accomplished with bike fits. I run across IG ones (bikejamesfit) and they simply show the fitter making an adjustment but never explain the before and after and why the after is better.
I think it depends on the fitter and the fit system (if any).
For Retul, because they have the little dots that they put on you, they can get a live motion picture stick-man of you pedalling. The aim is to get the various angles to within a set of bounds specified according to the type of riding you will be doing. If your fitter is experienced, then they may adjust their expected values according to your feedback or what you intend to do.
Other fitters have things like pressure sensor pads on the saddle - the aim there is to ensure your pressure is evenly distributed right-left and that you don’t have any areas of high pressure - depending on the saddle the aim would be to sit on the “wings”.
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Are you looking for something in particular, or just about fitting in general?
I can give a summary for the general, and possibly a particular case, if I know the item of interest.
Hmm, a bit of both I guess. What I mean is I see say a Retul fit and the fitter lowers the seat a bit and moves the handlebars without ever explaining why. Obviously there is a range of measurements they are trying to get to. There’s a perceptible change but it small.
General:
-
Fitting is about adjusting the bike to fit the rider and their specific needs.
- “Make the bike fit the rider”, is a simple motto that sums this up well.
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That short statement means making changes to the bike components (positions and/or parts) with an aim to place the contact points (saddle, pedals, and handlebars) in the “best” place for the rider to match their body (with it’s unique abilities and limitations).
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What we don’t want is the rider making unnecessary accommodations in their body position and/or placement that leads to discomfort, injury or unsafe positions (ex: hands frequently away from brakes).
Specific:
- A saddle height adjustment is typically aimed at reaching an appropriate amount of leg extension at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
- Lowering the saddle (per your example) may be done because the upper and lower leg angle is more open than desired. Or there could be an unwanted motion from the rider that is compensating for a saddle that is too high. Two common examples are an overly extended ankle movement at the bottom (some toe point is often good and acceptable, but excessive or jerky movement is not), or rocking hips (we typically want hips stable and level through the entire pedal stroke).
- Handlebar placement is a mix of rider ability (from flexibility), as well as their desired position (for aerodynamic and/or handling needs).
- This gets a bit more touchy/feely, but you want appropriate weight distribution on the tires for good performance. Aero gets even tougher as there aren’t easy ways to validate position outside of eye balling along the lines of known good practices. But that is subjective for sure, and one thing I work on with clearly stated qualifiers that it is all a guess in a typical fit.
How’s that for a start?
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Thanks. Thinking about it a bit more I guess what I am looking for is difficult to explain in a general sense since it is so individual.
My revised question are there videos that go through details of bikes of user fits not just the hows but also the whys in certain cases.
Cheers.