my new bike?

[Miranda]

Fwiw... Just at a glance, I personally think your saddle is a bit too high...

If your saddle is too high, you will have pelvis rocking back and forth while pedaling and likewise rocking pressure on your pubic bone soft tissue parts. Also, if you are rocking as you pedal, it makes it difficult to feel solid and keep your balance.

I'm long torso, short legs, just about like yours, and just did a stand over of my bikes. Bare foot, the top tube is just touching the soft tissue of the pubic bone. With shoes, I have a little clearance.

OK, here's what makes the difference in what I see in your saddle height, vs. mine...

If your pants are low cut and the waist band lays across your boney bump of your hip bone crest... that is where about the top of your saddle should be level for height. When I stand next to my bike, I can press the nose of the saddle right into my hip bone bump- about equal height.

Another check is as you are seated on the bike, and put your heel (with shoes you ride in) on the center of the pedal, your knee should be about locked out at the bottom of the stroke. When you move your foot forward, and put the ball of your foot on the pedal as you would to ride, you should have a slight bend, roughly 15-20degrees. OK, do not instinctively jam your heel down when the ball of your foot is on the pedal and think "I'm still knee locked out" because you do not actually pedal that way- usually your heel is slightly up (gives that bend) in motion.

Your knee position forward or backward (saddle fore or aft) should line up (with the saddle height set first) like a straight line from front of knee passing thru ball of foot, when pedals are at 9 & 3 o'clock.

Your top tube is naturally going to be shorter with a smaller frame, but you have alot options in terms of stem and bars to get comfy. If your old bike is comfy, take it in with the new bike and show the shop this is what makes my body happy. See what can be done with that.

Also, on balance, are the new bike tires skinnier width? Was the old bike smaller tires like a mtb? Or standard road bike 700c tires? You can switch tire width (up to a point) if this helps you get used to your new ride.

And yes, usually lighter, more performance oriented bikes, are more "twitchy" as they say. However, if the bike fits you, this should pass.

You and your machine should become one- the whole ride just disappearing underneath you. That is a piece of what cycling heaven is made of. Take that from someone who has had both cycling hell in a bike sold to me two frame sizes too big, to what I own now- heaven, fits like a glove.

Good Luck!

EDIT ADD: For the $ paid at the LBS, they should make it right. That is part of the point of what you pay for in the lbs price (that's a reputable shop, anyway).

[Antaresia]

okay, I'm home and tried getting on the bike again. There is no way this is right, I can hardly stay on standing still. My heel can't even reach the pedal when I'm sitting on the bike.

I think the guys at the LBS are assholes. Who would send me home on such a shitty fitting bike?! Part of me wants to refund the whole thing, because they're inattentive jerks who can't even spend 2 minutes to make sure a $2000 bikes fits properly. I almost fell, like, 4 times on the bike ride home but I thought it was just me, but no, I don't really think that anymore. SO MAD right now.


I wear the bandana under the helmet, I think the fuchsia/blue zebra print is pretty fabulous


close up of the above picture, cant get my heel on the pedal.



In this one you can see, I can get one foot on the ground with the tips of my toes, but not both. When I tried to stop on the road, I did the one-foot-lean-the-bike thing, but I almost dumped it out from under me a few times because the lean angle was too much.

[goldfinch]

Oh my that seat is high, your heel must be able to touch the pedal. I am no expert except in my own ride but that looks seriously wrong. What kind of fitting did they purport to do?

[Antaresia]

The kind of fitting where I can hear the manager(?) on his cell phone saying "I want to leave early today, traffic is going to be brutal" and they don't even bother to turn my bike right-side up again when I ask them to write the serial number on my receipt. I came to pick up half an hour before they closed.

The first time I went in I got put on one of the adjustable bike dummies and had my measurements taken and video of how I ride; when I went to pick up my bike they asked me if I wanted to see how it fit (uh, yes? Isn't that the point of getting a fitted bike built? Why are you even asking?) and seemed to set up my bike really quick, "is everything okay? Feel fine? Yep, you're good see ya"
: /

I accept that good bike mechanics aren't always good at customer service, but come on. Everything was obviously not okay and it was their job to know that; not for my noob self to get home and spend an hour with google trying to figure out what was wrong. Gah. I'm still mad and now I have a beer in me.

[laura*]

they don't even bother to turn my bike right-side up again when I ask them to write the serial number on my receipt.

They actually set a brand new bike on the floor upside down? (Bikes are not supposed to flipped upside down. These days there are too many delicate things on the handle bars. Plus, soft stuff like the saddle and bar tape may get torn.) They should have clamped the bike into a bike repair stand, and twirled it around to hold the bike upside down in mid air.

The first time I went in I got put on one of the adjustable bike dummies and had my measurements taken and video of how I ride; when I went to pick up my bike they asked me if I wanted to see how it fit (uh, yes? Isn't that the point of getting a fitted bike built? Why are you even asking?) and seemed to set up my bike really quick, "is everything okay? Feel fine? Yep, you're good see ya"
: /

I bet they never set the saddle height to match the measurements - the assembling mechanic probably just inserted the seatpost a minimum amount, assuming it would be fine tuned later.

Actually, I suspect they didn't keep any of the bike dummy measurements. They probably used the numbers only to order the "correct" parts.

[ridebikeme]

There certainly have been lots of great suggestions here, but I will also say that we(forum users) do NOT know the entire situation/conversation. That unfortunately is something that is lost through email/forum.

What I will say is this, this forum is great for giving suggestions for anyone, regardless of ability level. But in terms of fitting, it's pretty hard to do that by simply looking at a picture.Getting a fit is a great idea, but that knowledge has to be considered with each and every one of us. It is not as simple as looking at numbers and leaving it at that. There's also the converastion that happens between the person buying the bike, and the fitter... which is information we do not have.

My suggestion is to let Artaresia take these suggestions back to the shop with her, and let the two of them figure out what is comfortable. Whether that's another frame or more adjustments, is something that quite frankly is between the shop and Artaresia. Second guessing here on this forum without all of the information is simply making a decision without all of the facts.

[Kathi]

There certainly have been lots of great suggestions here, but I will also say that we(forum users) do NOT know the entire situation/conversation. That unfortunately is something that is lost through email/forum.

What I will say is this, this forum is great for giving suggestions for anyone, regardless of ability level. But in terms of fitting, it's pretty hard to do that by simply looking at a picture.Getting a fit is a great idea, but that knowledge has to be considered with each and every one of us. It is not as simple as looking at numbers and leaving it at that. There's also the converastion that happens between the person buying the bike, and the fitter... which is information we do not have.

My suggestion is to let Artaresia take these suggestions back to the shop with her, and let the two of them figure out what is comfortable. Whether that's another frame or more adjustments, is something that quite frankly is between the shop and Artaresia. Second guessing here on this forum without all of the information is simply making a decision without all of the facts.

That's why I posted the articles from the organization. To help her understand the goal of the services she received and what she needs to ask for. Only she can determine if the quality of service the shop provided was what she expected.

[ridebikeme]

Simply a reminder... a 'fit" is NOT something that generally happens in one visit. Sometimes, people can communicate enough to the fitter, and couple that with the fitters experience and they do hit it right the first time. Generally, however it's something that is a process, and that process involves alot of communication.

Regardless of whether the person is new to the bike/sport truly has nothing to do with it. An experienced/knowledgable fitter will know which questions to ask so that they can make the adjustments for that particular person.

Suggestions are wonderful, but the end all is the communication between the cyclist and the fitter. As they say" communication is what makes the world go round" and in this instance it's the most important part of the fit process.

[redrhodie]

What's going on with your bike? Any luck getting the lbs to help you?

[Antaresia]

update:

So, I went back to the LBS. Dude was really rude, I was really upset (I never did ask for a refund). He says "Well, I guess I should have gone over a few things with you, but I thought you could handle it" at which point I wanted to shake him, because I have a sneaking suspicion the reason he didn't "go over a few things" has everything to do with the fact I heard him say he wanted to leave work early that day and nothing to do with the fact he thought I could handle it, because I made it CLEAR that my total biking experience was limited to 5 months glued to a 30 year old mixte that was probably to small for me. But after that one dig (and some smaller ones that made it clear it was *my fault* I couldn't ride the frigging bike as it was); he honestly seemed to want to get the bike in a state where I could ride it. Anyway.

I spent some time there, no shims in the breaks, the seat was lowered, and switched. My bike feels a lot better, I can actually get on and off it without use of a sidewalk for a boost. I still need time to get used to it.

Part of me feels this should be love at first sight; and it's not. It still might be, I probably just need time. The bike just eats road miles, it has more "go" power than the beater. A lot more road buzz. My hands and elbows are sore. It's twitchy. It's hard to get on & off of it, or started if I'm not by a sidewalk. I think the drastic change from old bike to new is a lot; I will post more pictures when it's finished (fenders) and probably tell you all I'm liking it more than I do now.

Oh, and my co-workers didn't even notice I had new bike, but another regular on my commute did. Indecently, he's the only regular on my commute who also has a soma (the ES); so that did make me a feel good, haha.

[redrhodie]

That was a quick update! I guess we were posting at the same time.

Anyway, yes, give it some time to get to know it. I'd also check your tire pressure. It's sounds like you could back off a bit for comfort, and that might take care of the road buzz.

[redrhodie]

Oh, and I wanted to ask, are you starting with your butt already on the saddle?