bike set up

ianogborn

Morning all,

just a quickie,

can u tell me how (idiots guide) what level my seat should be at so that I can rest on my tri bars comfortably and not feel like I am falling forward on them; and also should my saddle be flat or slightly tilted forward??



Any help or advice would be great as I have only 2 weeks to go before the big one.

Ian

swarren

Hi Ian,



I am new to all this myself, but on the London Triathon training day, the coach advised us the following.



When the pedal is down, point your heel down and your leg should be straight. When the pedal is up with your bent leg, you should be able to draw a straight line down your calf to the pedal to the floor.

When you reach for your handel bars, your elbows should be slightly bent, this way you can absorb the bumps better than if your arms are locked.



Hopefully a more experienced Tri athlete and confirm this. Good luck and enjoy the ride.



Stuart

BonusB

Saddle wise I have mine so it points upwards (minutely) as it moves me towards the back of the saddle and I feel more powerful, I need to read this months 220 and find out just how wrong that is likely to be.



Seat height and handle bars isn't how it is typically done, again 220 are running a whole article on it this month, but your looking to set the saddle height so that you have between a 25 - 35 degree bend in your leg when fully extended (a good starting point is to stand next to yor bike and raise the saddle so it is level with your hip then make adjustments from there). If you find the handle bars are too low then you need to look at adjusting them seperately from your saddle rather than using the saddle height to compensate.



It may be worth you while getting your bike professionally set up so you can see how it is done properly at least once.