Bike fit question

[happyslug]

5. The single biggest issue is length of leg

And that is simple to adjust, make sure your leg stretches to it farthest extent on each downstroke. In most cases, people feels this put the seat up to high thus most people ride with a seat to low. You should NOT be able to stay on the seat of the bike and your feet touching the ground other than on your tip toes when you stop (Another way to look at it, your feet should be on the CURB when you are stopped, while the bike is on the road bed.

To many riders, ride with their seats to low, thus they legs do not go through their entire range of motion and tires out quicker then if the leg does a full function. The reason for the seat being to low, they want to stay on their seat AND have their foot on the ground when they are stopped. Such seating means when pedaling your leg does NOT extent to its full length and tires quicker then if the leg was permitted to extend to its full extent.

AS to handlebars, that depends on the bike. On a with downtown handlebars you want the handlebars level with the seat, on more "Conventional" bikes, you want it six inches higher. The reason for this is simple, with down turn handlebars you want to curve your body to give maximum power to your legs. With Conventional handlebars, you want to be able to withstand hitting pot holes (Thus more upright provides greater control of the steering AND where the grip are spreads out any effect of any impact).

Racer type bikes (Bikes with down turn handlebars) tend to be longer then mountain bikes for in racers you have to spread out the effect of bumps on the road by lengthening the frame. On Mountain bikes, the shorter frame makes hitting potholes harder, but that affect is reduced by the spread out of the grips. Notice the two different ways to handle potholes.

Just a comment I see no advantages to using a $300 machine. Adjust your seat first, finds what is comfortable as far as the front grip in concern, and that will solve 99% of all biking problems. The $300 machines are aimed at those people who need help on those 1% problems and in most cases the 1% problems are offset with other problem biking (Such as the road bed itself) thus unless you are a competitive racer, the use of such machines are not worth the money. Save your money and adjust your seat.