credit: Cyclingnews
This was going to be an article about Rule #45.
It is amazing how much time is wasted and matches burned when professionals stop for that second bike change to get back on their #1. With all the jigs available to team mechanics it would seem they could set up five bikes exactly the same. And yet, when the whole body gets used to a position, if something is off, everything is off. It’s not as easy as it should be, even when dealing with the same frame model and size.
The Velominati never have two of the same frames so it really complicates duplicating position. I’ve been using L. Zinn’s approach on this problem. By using the bottom bracket as the point of reference, this stack and reach method is pretty nice. I use a “story pole” as the carpenters call them, a blank wooden stick where each dimension is marked and labeled. It removes the math mistakes, mostly, and is a permanent graphic record of each bike all on one piece of wood.
I never ride my #2 bike anymore. It was going to be my rain bike but I ride #1 all the time, rain or shine. It’s lighter, the 11 speed gruppo is so much newer and nicer that the worn 10 speed of #2. But I just rode #2 and finished the ride thinking that stem is too low, too bad I cut the steerer so low, damn you Rule #45. So I mess around with bathroom scales weighing how much more weight ends up on the front end of a bike if your bars are too low. Then dig out my stack and reach stick and discover the bars are exactly the same height almost to the millimeter. Oh, FFS, another story out the window. The difference was the saddle angle. My weird SMP saddles are very hard to eyeball without a level. The #2 was tipped forward a little thus more weight on the bars, different handling, same problem, different cause. How much is too much weight on the front end? That is a complicated question, too much for this post
Contador’s saddle is tipped forward, Qunitana’s level as could be. Mass confusion! We will leave that for another day but if you want to eliminate some error in duplicating your bike set up, you could do worse than the stack and reach and a story pole.
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@Fred
I hear that. The same with my #1 and #2 and the difference in cornering is amazing and a little disconcerting in the first sharp corner when on the other, twitchier, bike. I would always err on the side of lower BB now. I'm not racing criteriums FFS.
I set up my '86 Trek 770 via LeMan's written instructions with plumb bobs and all sorts of measurements way back when but adopted the approximate then ride/fiddle, ride/fiddle approach with my '06 Soloist and S5 here in the new millennium. It is astounding how close/exact the position is between them (outside of the super deep drops on my Trek). My cross bike and mountain bike positions feel odd, but I've gotten over the feeling knowing the requirements of riding are different for both. Some of us are our own jigs. Any other analogies from the article (the one in quotes), run the risk of leaving PG territory.
Greg LeMan once said (so I've heard) "Fit is everything". Ya gotta git it right. Then ride it right. I agree that the BB is key to it all because your pelvis has to be set from that fixed point. Where's the center of the BB? Not hard to get the diameter of the BB shell (you do have a good caliper, don't you?), and calculate from there. A yardstick can measure from the top of the shell to wherever, add the radius, and you've got it.
@TBONE
Yes of course! Rallying for it any moment. Any moment...starting...NOW! Rallying.
The right tool for the right job. Bernard Hinault's mechanic Alain Descroix gets it right in the mid-80s...
Back then I used to angst about all this carry-on, until I realised that I was probably making seat height adjustments smaller than the difference between different brands of bib shorts. Or that I should incrementally raise seat height to offset for compression of the saddle over its life cycle. Beyond that, I've read more than once that humans lose up to a cm of height between waking up and the end of the day. Adjust position between an early morning road race and twilight criterium perhaps...?
I have just two road bikes. My now 25+ year old custom Hollands 653 Reynolds steel is real race bike and my more recent (now 2 years old) carbon Felt FC. The geometry on the Felt is, surprisingly, nearly identical to my Hollands (one of the reasons I got the Felt). Most important, stack and reach are within a few mm's of each other. I don't have the benefit of a fancy measurement rig, but have done my best to set the bikes up identically. Saddle height and tilt were pretty easy as both have the same saddle (Fizik Aliante and Fizik Kurve Bull which is the same shape as the Aliante). I've got different stem/bars on the bikes but the brake hoods are pretty much in the same position in terms of drop and reach. Butt in the saddle and hands on the hoods, the bikes feel/fit the same. No issues riding one or the other (although I admit I haven't ridden my steelie in a while).
@osbk67
Rare outbreak of common sense and perspective on here...
@Teocalli
Yup, I have a number of road bikes and I know they're all close, but I don't mind, and even sometimes like, the minor differences in them. Variety is okay with me.
@frank
@frank
OK, suite, I've been looking for an excuse to show off my matching bar tape and bottle cages south of the border. Speaking of the border, I can make a run for the border on VVhidbey, as there's a Taco Bell there.
@osbk67
Awesome.