High cadence trouble

shakey88

Hi there,i recently purchased a singlespeed bike and i absolutley love it but the problem is when i'm going flat out(probably 100-120 cadence at 25 mph) i feel very unstable in the saddle and i start bouncing around!
I'm sure the saddle position is correct so is this reaction normal at a high cadence?

dennisn

shakey88 wrote:

Hi there,i recently purchased a singlespeed bike and i absolutley love it but the problem is when i'm going flat out(probably 100-120 cadence at 25 mph) i feel very unstable in the saddle and i start bouncing around!
I'm sure the saddle position is correct so is this reaction normal at a high cadence?

Once had a track racer tell me that the current thinking(this was maybe 5 years ago)
was that you should concentrate on pushing your toes forward in the pedals. Not down, not pulling up, not in circles. Just push your toes forward and you will stop bouncing at
high RPM's. Strangely enough this works. Who knows if it's still "current thinking" but give it a try.

Dennis Noward

BUICK

I think you just need time to adjust. After a while you'll be able to spin significantly faster without any bounce. However, it may be worth lowering your saddle just a touch as this can alleviate bounce. Personally, when I'm really spinning fast there comes a point at which I stop doing any pushing on the pedals and start 'snatching' them back upwards instead. It doesn't take much effort and you can continue to accelerate - that's fixed though, I haven't tried it singlespeed

Steve Kish

With that revving, perhaps shorter cranks may help, say 165mm.

GarethPJ

Bounce is something that happens to even the best and if you want to go really fast it's something you'll have to get used to. Yes it will improve with practice, but it will never go away.

After Chris Boardman set the British 25 mile TT record riding fixed he said the long downhill at the start had him bouncing so badly he thought he would never father any more kids!

ride_whenever

I'm with the snatching up action, stops me bouncing when the revs get high.

shakey88

Once had a track racer tell me that the current thinking(this was maybe 5 years ago)
was that you should concentrate on pushing your toes forward in the pedals. Not down, not pulling up, not in circles. Just push your toes forward and you will stop bouncing at
high RPM's. Strangely enough this works. Who knows if it's still "current thinking" but give it a try.

Dennis Noward[/quote]
Thanks for the advice,chaps.I've found pushing my toes forward at the top of the pedal stroke helps a lot.
ps anyone got any advice on treating saddle sores!
The savlon ain't doing the trick so far