Just can't get comfy.. Considering giving up drop bars

[Seajay]

If I raise the seat up high enough to get full leg extension and no knee pain, the saddle (ANY saddle!) is doing one of these 3 things depending on how it's adjusted:

A)chafing away at the front of me
B)jammed up into the tops of my thighs
C) nose down in front, but pushing into sit-bones causing my piriformis muscle to cramp and sciatic pain.

If I lower the saddle enough so it doesn't offend anything "up there", my right knee hurts - and I ride flat pedals, so it can't be foot position related.


The paragraph above raises a number of concerns. I think a good bike fitter would save you a lot of time and pain.

Full leg ext....likely too high.
You need to know EXACTLY your foot position as it comes thru the point of max extension (parallel with seat tube) then adjust saddle height to get 150 deg knee bend. Which is lower than most think. Consider that any fore-aft adjustment of the saddle from here will affect this measurement.

I ride flat pedals, so it can't be foot position related Yes it can. depending on the set up and the shoes you use....there are a myriad of foot control/saddle height/knee stability issues that can come into play.

[Catrin]

I ride flat pedals, so it can't be foot position related Yes it can. depending on the set up and the shoes you use....there are a myriad of foot control/saddle height/knee stability issues that can come into play.

I concur - I had no choice but to return to clipping in because my knees didn't like my flat pedals. As long as my feet/legs were in the right spot they were fine, but of course it is challenging to keep it that way.

Converting to flat bars is expensive, is there a good fitter in your area that you can visit to discuss all of this with? A good fitting is also expensive, but you don't want to make that change to your bike unless you are pretty confident that it will solve your problem. For me it was the perfect choice, but it may well be that some other solution will work better for you.

[Scrappy]

*Thank you**Thank you**Thank you**Thank you* For your responses. Catrin, I'm with you as far as my riding goals. I'd like to be able to ride all day without pain - at modest speeds. I don't care about going more than 15mph.

The pain and discomfort is when I'm on the hoods, almost more than on the drops.

I'm about to go plop down a $100 for a fit kit to get a good starting point, until I can track down a real pro-fitter - hopefully one with experience in women's issues.

A good friend is seeing a physical therapist who specializes in bike related issues. He is going to get me her info. Hopefully I can get this sorted out this summer - for good! It is very disheartening being in pain every single time I ride more than 10 miles.

Yesterday my son and I did a mere 22 miles (I was on a Specialized Toupe saddle) and my right glute medius+minimus+piriformis has been cramped up all day. The last 4 miles of the ride were miserable. At this point I am not looking forward to 2 day 140 mile group ride coming up in a couple of weeks.

[Scrappy]

Oh Veronica - I'm sorry I didn't respond directly earlier... I still get uncomfortable with the bars up high, but I've not spent much time with them that way because with my narrow drop bars it feels so strange, and not in a good way. The LBS that I bought the bike from sets up all the new LHT builds with the bars way above the saddle, but the stock bars are much wider than the model I have.

[Roadtrip]

You say the stock bars are wider them the ones you ave now... If you havnt seen a fitter, are you surebthe bars are wide enough? Sounds like with all the $$$ you've spent on parts, you could have paid for the fitting.

Good luck in your search for comfort!!

Shannon

[Cataboo]

Didn't you say the other day that you really enjoyed the ruby?

How did you come to decide on the LHT?

Maybe post a picture of yourself - but really, you probably need a fitting. It's expensive to figure out all this stuff on your own & its frustrating.

My knees are happiest when I've got my seat all the way back, on a setback seatpost with a 73 degree seat angle. i can't get that on a surly - most of their seat angles are 75 degrees and I don't find that good on my knees at all. You said you were comfortable on a ruby in a post recently - and they do have slacker seat angles than LHTs have and they tend to be a relaxed geometry - so maybe your problems getting your knees happy have more to do with the LHT? And if you solve that you might be happier with other saddles.

Also - what size cranks are you using? I switch my cranks to 165s because that's easier on my knees.

I use the fsa k-wing carbon handlebars:
http://www.amazon.com/FSA-K-Wing-Car.../dp/B00020VTFI

If you look at those, they're raised at the flat portion, which gives a little bit more height and I mostly ride with my hands on that flat portion... I also get them in 42 cms taking in account that my hands are going to be on the flat most of the time & using that measurement for what size handlebars I want (I know, noone else does that)... So I'm fairly upright when I ride... I don't really use my drops, the sides of those fsa kwing handlebars drop down where the hoods are and it kinda cradles my forearm and I use that as my more aggressive position.

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