Hip angles and max thrust

[Triskeliongirl]

I was never actually fitted on that bike. Will try to find a place that will do that for me. Didn't even know the seat was adjustable back and forth.

I have a long, very curved femur. If I'm standing up straight, my thighs bow out front further than any other body part (even breasts). In addition, I have the shortest torso and flattest spine possible.

Hmmm. Some things don't add up. If you have a long femur, you usually prefer to have the saddle further back, and have a bike with a shallow not steep seat tube angle..... Yet, you feel too far back, or is it that you are sliding forward to reach the bars, indicative of too long a top tube? Who sold you this bike? When did you buy it? I don't know how a LBS can sell a bike and not perform a fitting. Is it too late to exchange it if the frame size is wrong? I thought that is why treks are only sold in bike shops, so they can be fitted. Perhaps if the LBS won't help you trek will if you call them. There is a lot of adjustments that can be made, *if* the frame is in the right ball park size wise.

[run it, ride it]

Hmmm. Some things don't add up. If you have a long femur, you usually prefer to have the saddle further back, and have a bike with a shallow not steep seat tube angle..... Yet, you feel too far back, or is it that you are sliding forward to reach the bars, indicative of too long a top tube? Who sold you this bike? When did you buy it? I don't know how a LBS can sell a bike and not perform a fitting. Is it too late to exchange it if the frame size is wrong? I thought that is why treks are only sold in bike shops, so they can be fitted. Perhaps if the LBS won't help you trek will if you call them. There is a lot of adjustments that can be made, *if* the frame is in the right ball park size wise.

I was fitted pretty well last year for the same bike. Don't remember what frame size it was. When I finally actually got the bike in a different location, I asked if they'd fit me to make sure... which apparently consisted of me standing over the bike and them checking crotch space. They also sent me on a test drive, but honestly, all I knew was that it pedalled easier than my steel-framed 70s clunker so I was happy. When I took it in for a tune-up they mentioned that my handle-bars were angled 'aggressively' but didn't say if that was a bad thing--won't it keep wind resistance down?

What is an LBS? It's a 1-2 hour drive to any kind of bike store from where I live, so I may wait till I go back to the place I was originally fitted next month. They seemed to know what they were doing.

And about the femurs: because they curve way out in front of me I need to be far forward to get myself over my legs. Make sense? As far as top tube goes, I can easily reach the handlebars from wherever I sit--it's just that thrust I'm not getting when I sit back!