I have a friend who is borderline OCD. He’ll sometimes wash his hands dozens of times a day, doesn’t like sticky stuff, cats drive him to antihistamine hell and there is a place for everything, with everything in its place. This can be annoying, not only for those around him, but especially for himself. It’s not a great place to be.
The upside is his bikes are always meticulously maintained, fully Rule compliant, or they are in a state of tear-down having last week’s grease freshened up and each ball bearing individually polished. He’s gotten it under control quite admirably these days, and while a chip in the duco of his beautiful steel frame will still understandably piss him off, there’s not the slightest hint of sending it back to Italy to be re-sprayed by the 78 year old artisan who originally painted it, who inconveniently happened to retire in 1984. But you can rest assured the touch-up job he’ll do himself is of paintshop standard.
But I’ve never seen him muck around with his seatpost height. Not once it’s set, anyway.
This poses the question: did The Prophet have OCD? To this observer it seems so, if numerous viewings of Le Course En Tete and A Sunday in Hell are any reliable indicator. The guy was constantly fiddling with his seatpost height. His mechanic must’ve been ready to throw his hands in the air proclaiming “Merde, Eddy! I’ve measured it three times already! Why do you not trust me?”
It seemed to matter little to Eddy that poor Charly had adhered to the numbers scribbled on the lid of his toolbox, taken the slide rule and spirit level to every possible surface and angle, and used his impeccable line of sight to position the saddle just right, exactly where it was requested to be. “How’s that Eddy?” “Is perfect.” “Then why are you borrowing a spanner from RDV’s team car? Hmmm?”
If he wasn’t adjusting his saddle, he was adjusting his stem. If he wasn’t adjusting his stem, he was squirting water from his bidon onto his brakes. If he wasn’t doing that, he was simply laying down the law. The law of The Prophet.
Obsessive? Yes. Compulsive? For sure. Did it affect his ability to waste all comers? Not likely.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/merckx terryn/”/]
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View Comments
@teleguy57
Do you frequent telemarktips?
@minion
99.5 for me.
@Marko
Wow! That's 6cm longer than my entire inseam! My seat height by that measurement is 825mm, and I've got very long legs...
@Oli
Oops, I should have read minion's post more carefully, mine's 99.5 to the pedal spindle (which is where I measure to) which makes it 81.5 to crank center. I'm not as tall as I make myself out to be on the internet. Go figure.
@Marko
Fuck me, am I the shortest here? Mine's 71cm. That's obvious if you check my #1, 2 & 3 photos in "The Bikes".
Wow. You guys are all pretty tall. Using that measurement, mine is 75.0 cm. That's kind of a silly way to compare, though, since it doesn't take into account crank length, pedal stack height, or shoe sole thickness.
@Marko
Marko, I used to hang out there more. Haven't even been on the teles this season; while there's skiable snow 150 miles north, brown grass and ice here has left me less than motivated -- even if my body wanted to cooperate.
Are you over at ttips?
@teleguy57
That's cool. I don't tele nearly as much as I used to since I moved back to the midwest (nordic xc and skate is where it's at - tele for occasional fun but not like it used to be). Once upon I time, years ago, I was over at ttips a lot. I went by Plasticfantastic over there. Mitch and Big Tim have set up a great community.
Great one Brett
buddy and I were talking bout this tonight, incidently. We were just chewing the fat, talking all things cycling, Boonens condition and all.
We soon plummeted into the ethereal matters of bike fit, mainly the saddle position and all you are talking about
Here is a question I asked him, and with us both having weathered years in the saddle, and pages of notes on past bike positions, we are stumped a bit on this.
Why do we measure from the BB to the saddle rails/center-top, why isn't it to the bottom of the crank with the pedal in the 6 o'clock position or in the position that is parallel to the seat tube for a total distance.
Because as I see it, measureing like everyone does, to the center of BB is variable, it doesn't take into account leg length...completely as it would be 'mid shin', would not account for femur length/tibia length/saddle position
Having the Damocles coming, I am measuring like the OCD Brett mentioned, measuring, remeasuring, measuring, remeasuring
Calculating, pursing the Holy Grail in positioning
Then I have another buddy son of a bitch that 'goes by feel', and nails it and smokes everyone in the group rides and races does very well.
so, what am I missing on that point with saddle/BB measurements? Or do you master cyclists have hints that may help?
@Souleur
You know why there are so many competing formulas for saddle height? Because there is no absolute right one. Most methods, especially the ones where you calculate saddle height based on inseam x magical constant, don't take into account all kinds of things. Look at the LeMond/Guimard method, for example, where they have a constant to three decimal points (!), but then ignore crank length, pedal system, etc. It's absurd!
This is one of my favorite topics, especially the history of how all of these methods came to be. Ultimately, no formula can tell you exactly how high to set your saddle (ask The Prophet). At best, they can get you kind of close. I have my own method, as does everyone else here. I wouldnt dare say it's better than theirs, but it works for me. Once you have it, though, you should definitely measure it in order to duplicate it...
@Calmante is (mostly) right again. I use the LeMond formula as a baseline because it happens to work for me, rather than adapting myself to his formula. I then add or subtract for different pedals and/or cranks (as LeMond/Guimard clearly advise, using 170mm cranks as their baseline). This number is an easy reference point for me that is indelibly etched into my mind - this means if I'm travelling I don't need anything written down, which has proven handy.
You'd be surprised both at how often the LeMond Formula works perfectly, but also you'd be surprised to see how wrong it can be for some folk!