Finding The V-Locus is something of an extension of the Goldilocks Principle; bars set somewhere between Sit Up and Beg and a face-plant, saddle height somewhere between speed skater and Baryshnikov, and reach somewhere between a unicycle and the Batpod. This is art more than it is science, a process of iteration and refinement. And everyone knows “iteration and refinement” is the formal way of saying “we’re making this up as we go along.”
We are in the midst of a Sit Up and Beg Epidemic, and with that comes an emphasis on the rare rider who looks completely natural on their machine. There is a sense of ease that belies the power the rider generates; the position must allow for balance between opposing forces experienced while riding on two wheels, not to mention the sophisticated coordination required to coax a system of muscles that can only push or pull into generating power through a perfectly circular pedal stroke.
Cyrille Guimard is known to be a kind of grand master of il posizione, having been responsible for developing all three of the dominant Grand Tour riders of the late seventies and eighties. These three riders – Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Greg LeMond – shared a common theme: their positions on the bike was so beautiful it has been scientifically proven to have cured infertility in women who watched them race, indirectly accounting for the baby boom in the 70’s and 80’s.
Of the three, LeMond stood out as being the most perfect, pioneering the use of the wind tunnel to refine his position to maximize the balance between physiology and aerodynamics in order to wring the most V from himself and his machine. He had the advantage of living in an era when frames were tailor-made like a suit on Savile Row but he used it to great effect, tweaking seat tube angles to maximize use of his long thighs and stretching his top tube to account for his long reach reach. In America at least, it’s easy to pick out riders who took a page out of his book on positioning, riding long and stretched out positions and mashing gears heels-down at 60rpm while gently rocking their shoulders. It brings a tear of joy to my eyes whenever I see it.
In our day of cookie-cutter carbon frames, we’re often left to refine our position through stem length and seatpost setback, but that’s no excuse for allowing us not to Look Fantastic and natural on the bike. Take heed of the Apostle LeMond and don’t stop tweaking until you have found your V-Locus.
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@tessar
It doesn't go to show women's saddles are bullshit; it goes to show that no one should tell anyone else what saddle to ride.
You might have noticed that your girlfriend has a different anatomy than you do. This is a delightful discovery, and one which will yield no end of entertainment.
In your explorations, you will find, however, that the sensitive bits on girls are in a different place than on men, and depending on how sensitive those bits are, the saddles will make an incredible bit of difference on how much fun riding a bike is.
@frank
Exactly - a woman can find comfort on what's nominally a "men's" saddle, depending on her specific anatomy, and vice-versa. However, whereas the men have anything from this to this to choose from, women-dedicated options are almost always heavier, more basic options. When my mother got her first SLR, she was simply looking for a sub-250g, Rule 61 compliant option for her climbing bike. The stock monster on my girlfriend's Specialized weighed nearly as much as a carbon frame and was as wide as a sofa. Women don't need wide, plush, cut-out saddles any more than men do: The basic concept of "you sit on the, uh, sit bones" is same for everyone, and the specifics of where these and the sensitive bits are located is different for everyone.
Some manufacturers haven't really embraced the fact that some women like to ride hard. You're complaining about the Sit Up And Beg epidemic, but try finding a frame with a head-tube short enough for a 155cm girl that likes a bit of drop! It proved to be quite difficult, and even then we resorted to a -35 degree stem to make it work on one of the bikes.
There's also the issue of pain thresholds and scales. I only realized the Arione wasn't ideal because I happened to try something that I liked better, but if I hadn't done that I'd never have known that I'm not perfectly comfortable. Others might find it unbearable to begin with, while others still might not even register the difference. I believe devoted cyclists, if only because they actively seek pain and suffering (of different body-parts), are probably less likely to complain about mild discomforts.
@marko
My mom doesn't quite give enough of a damn about the specifics of skewer-positioning and storage locations to be a Velominatus (though the rear bottle holder is gone because of the new carbon rails - win!) - she's more bothered with Rule 5 and 9, though more often in the desert than the rain:
Though her main riding is done on the triathlon bike, which already scarred Frank's retina once so I'll refrain from posting that one again.
And yep, cycling is quite a central theme to our life. My little brother is also part of it now - soon he'll get his own bike:
@tessar
Not that I want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything but if it's the one of her at the Abu Dhabi Triathlon then post it and let Frank go blind for all the rest of us would care - no reasonable man could object.
I sometimes feel like when all the bikes are cleaned, tuned, and set up well I'll play with positioning just because I haven't worked on the bikes in too long. Do others experience this Idle Hands position micromanaging?
Also, who can account for the builds of LeMan and Badger? LeMan's thighs and arms look as if he must have lifted weights and he was the type of rider who could win just about anything. Seems like most riders today have the muscle mass of a pre-teen female. That calendar photo of Phinney, he doesn't look like he could do a pushup. Aside from classics kings, and Sagan, most modern PROs look very different. Just the evolution of weight/watts thinking?
@Ron
I have always looked to the past pro riders due to this. I am a more muscular build. Almost identical to Mark Cavendish. And the endless ravings these days about loosing weight or reaching a "climbers weight" always left me thinking. How did the some of the most iconic racers do it? Merckx didn't look like he had the muscles of a pre-teen female. Neither did Leman, Badger, or Moser.
Just caught up with this thread. I grew up trying to look like LeMan on the bike, but then I ended up being 2 meters tall - so no matter what I want to look like, I end up looking like a bear on a circus bike. Regardless, in my head I look like The Man, and thats what counts.
My favorite LeMond picture (which hangs in my office):
@tessar
My VMH got a woman's Fizik with her Scott and was determined it would suit her. Much pain later and certain bits out of action for several weeks she is now a proud owner of a Selle Italia gel flow diva.
@tessar
@teleguy57
A riding buddy still uses them. Bought a bunch before they went out.
@frank
Looks like those guns could break those tubes.