Fixed riders, please weigh in

[hansolo758]

Do you find your saddle position on your fixed and geared steeds to be exactly the same? As I've mentioned elsewhere (http://serotta.com/forum/showpost.php?p=562912&postcount=3) , all the tweaking I find myself doing may be merely a symptom of a personality disorder but I find the sweet spot for my saddle on my fixed rig is ever so slightly behind and below where it is on my geared one. Because I spin more on the fixed bike, I assume I feel I need to recruit my hamstrings more? Whereas on my geared bike, I mash on the pedals more? Perhaps I should move the saddle back and lower on the geared bike as well?

What works for you? Thanks.

[paczki]

My fixed gear and my road frames have identical geometry, and I have Swifts on both. I find myself moving further back on the fixed more often because moving your weight around is so important.

[goonster]

Exactly the same for me.

Mind you, this is for bikes designed by the same guy. Saddle position could be affected by other differences in overall geometry.

[Fixed]

bro

mine is a little lower your legs and arse do a lot more on a fix than make it go forward subtle changes in weight and leverage to the pedals make the legs work more ... moving on the saddle is something you do on a bike geared or fixed ...but on a fix you position your weight to stop by pushing and pulling... on the pedals when you brake.. you push and pull at the same time something you never do on a geared bike imho
cheers

more... cats talk about how a fix hurts their knees well bro they are resisting with one leg always think of both legs one pulling and one pushing for speed changes and stopping ..2 legs are stronger than one imho

[Ti Designs]

Not only is my position different between the two bikes, but there's also this 2 weeks of feeling like I've got nothing for power when I switch to the geared bike. Here's the thing, on my fixed gear I run a 42x18 and my average cadence is somewhere in the 110 - 120 range, topping out a bit over 200 (and this is why I wear out 4 pairs of tights each winter). The geared bike is running a 44/55 up front with an 11-21 in back, so even without the heavy wheels or tractor tires, there's some resistance there. Putting together the strength gained at the gym over the winter and the leg speed from the fixed gear takes some time, and there's a position change to go along with the greater emphasis on the bigger muscle groups. My track position has been all over the map, this year I plan on working on working out both my training and position on that bike - well, two positions really. It's hard for me to go from road sprinting to track sprinting with a more forward position. If you take the saddle out of the equation, it comes down to gear and saddle to bar relationship - that's next month's project. The TT thing is new to me. I've learned how to generate power in that position over the winter on the trainer, but what the numbers say and what the watch says are often two different things.

For now the answer it yes. What was the question again???

[jsfoster]

But one of them is crank length, and the saddle needs to be correlated with that as well. I have 172.5 on road and 165 on fixed, so saddle is a little lower and aft. a little.
-Jon

[paczki]

I run a 42x18 and my average cadence is somewhere in the 110 - 120 range, topping out a bit over 200 (and this is why I wear out 4 pairs of tights each winter). The geared bike is running a 44/55 up front with an 11-21 in back, so even without the heavy wheels or tractor tires, there's some resistance there.

You are a hard man.

[Lincoln]

For me different bikes + different crank lengths mean different saddle heights. Also, I'm not nearly as sensitive to small changes in saddle height as a lot of others appear to be.

[Oirad]

I'm not sure, but my road (free wheel bike) is approximately a centimeter shorter (nose of saddle to stem axis) than my fixed gear bike, so what you're saying might be empirically true for me, too. As for lower, I don't think so. I know that as I have more miles in my legs on the fixed I tend to raise the saddle ever so slightly (once).

But then again, I've not ridden my road freewheel in years ...

Oirad

[Dekonick]

Not only is my position different between the two bikes, but there's also this 2 weeks of feeling like I've got nothing for power when I switch to the geared bike. Here's the thing, on my fixed gear I run a 42x18 and my average cadence is somewhere in the 110 - 120 range, topping out a bit over 200 (and this is why I wear out 4 pairs of tights each winter). The geared bike is running a 44/55 up front with an 11-21 in back, so even without the heavy wheels or tractor tires, there's some resistance there. Putting together the strength gained at the gym over the winter and the leg speed from the fixed gear takes some time, and there's a position change to go along with the greater emphasis on the bigger muscle groups. My track position has been all over the map, this year I plan on working on working out both my training and position on that bike - well, two positions really. It's hard for me to go from road sprinting to track sprinting with a more forward position. If you take the saddle out of the equation, it comes down to gear and saddle to bar relationship - that's next month's project. The TT thing is new to me. I've learned how to generate power in that position over the winter on the trainer, but what the numbers say and what the watch says are often two different things.

For now the answer it yes. What was the question again???

Damn - 44/55 11/21?
:beer:

[Lincoln]

Damn - 44/55 11/21?
:beer:

He only rides downhill loops :D

[paczki]

I know where he rides. There's one or two hills that would hurt in 44/21!

[Ti Designs]

I know where he rides. There's one or two hills that would hurt in 44/21!

For long and steep I'll change my gearing, but everything seems to be one or the other around here. I rode out to Mt Wachusette on Saturday with a few riders I'm coaching and we did a few laps of the road race loop and then up to the top. There's an advantage to being the coach. I need to show good form, so even on the steep section of 31 before the turn to the feed zone I was explaining how to get the body weight over the pedal and drop the hip into it - it honestly didn't seem that bad.

The 55/11 makes any suffering on the way up so worth it.