Saddle position

crescent

What are the benefits in sitting at the very front of the saddle? I see pros doing this on TV all the time so I presume there must be a good reason for it. However, having tried it myself, I find it very uncomfortable and cannot ride for any length of time like that. I don't have a particularly wide a**e but my 'sit bones' would much rather be located at the wider section of the saddle. Is there a particular performance improvement to be had by sitting at the narrower section? Improved pedal stroke perhaps?

Cheers

ineedalager

When you see the pros sitting at the front of the saddle they are normally going for it big time, which tends to make some people move forward on the saddle. It used to be called being on the rivet because old style leather saddles had a rivet on the front. Its is not as the best postion and most riders will move back when they can. I find myself doing it when I'm putting in major effort but I try to move back as soon as I can for comfort reasons. I do it on climbs as pulling on the bars when seated and getting near the limit tends to make me move to the front of the saddle.

If you watch the pros doing TTs you will here David Harmon commet that he is moving up to the front of the saddle it's not good postioning and the ones who sit at the back and stay there are in the correct postion. Andy Schleck does it and you will see him constantly moving back on the saddle to try and get in the correct position. Andy Schleck TTs are not his strong point but boy can the guy climb though!

I'll probably get shot down in flames but that's the way I see it!

izza

I'll start the shooting down:

Its rivet and not rivit

That is the end of my shooting for today.

izza

Content wise I thought you did OK.

ineedalager

I had a felling I had that wrong but hey what the heck spelling has never been my strong point!

izza

You have to trust your gut fellings.

Monty Dog

Agree, 'on the rivet' for when you're really putting the power-down but not really comfortable or sustainable for longer-efforts. The downside is that sitting on the nose can put excessive pressure on the perineal area, leading to chronic inflammation and worse - if you find yourself on the nose all the time, then it may be worth getting your position re-evaluated. The TT / tri fraternity asl like the position because it opens the hip-angle and allows the quads and glutes to be deployed for power - but the saddle on these bikes typically have big, fat, squishy saddles.

ShutUpLegs

izza wrote:

You have to trust your gut fellings.

More people are killed while felling trees than during any other logging activity

MichaelW

UCI regulation stipulate a 5cm horizontal offset between the bottom bracket and the saddle nose. The judges can overlook this for small riders.
The only way to get further forward under UCI conditions is to ride on the rivet.
Triathlon racers are not under the UCI so they can rotate the whole riding position up and forward about the BB to give a flat back and aero position without excessive flex in the hip joint.
If you have legs with funny proportions (short femur) you can benefit from a forward saddle position and maybe an inline seatpost.

ineedalager

Monty Dog wrote:

if you find yourself on the nose all the time, then it may be worth getting your position re-evaluated.

In the last month I made some changes to my saddle hieght and moved it down and forward after putting my measurements into a bit fit web site. I found my saddle was back to far and slightly to high. They said one measurement that is most important for comfort and important to get right is tip of the saddle to back of the handlebars. I put that right and tried to get the tip of the saddle right to the BB as much as I could. This has made a huge difference to my comfort on the bike and I don't get saddle sore like I used to. I only push froward on the saddle occaionally so as I don't race or do TTs it's not a problem for me. I am sat back more on my sit bones and it's much more comfortable I've done a couple of 70 mile rides and loads of 50 milers with no saddle soreness at all. I also got rid of my hybrid which had a saddle that was causing me discomfort and have got another Spesh Riva BG saddle for my new carbon build which I find comfortable.

crescent

Thanks for the info - every day's a school day.

Cheers