Offset or non-offset seatposts

[devlin]

Dazza, that's almost as bad as a New South Welshman (me) admiting that the Maroons are a pretty good footy team. All the Ausrtralian boys need is some self belief and to bowl as few bad balls as possible............ maybe take catches....................hmmm...... score a few more runs would help too!!

You have mentioned in the past about proper weight distribution of the rider of the wheels. Do you take a CofG and use a rule of thumb of where that sits ie. CofG 100mm behind BB? On a normally proportioned person is that CofG around the belly button area?

[jerk]

dazza-
that's your opinion that saddles should be mid rail. but suggesting that the vast majority of italian pros and the framebuilders and mechanics who set up their bikes don't know what they are doing is a bit suspect. of course these bikes are designed or chosen around the saddle that is to be used. with few exceptions, these guys don't change saddles, they stick with what they know and like.

saying a bike with the saddle pushed rearward on the rails was stuffed up during the design or improperly set up or dicked with by the rider for no good reason is just no the case italian race bikes are set up like this and have been for a long time. they also generally have more drop and longer stems- its the way they do it and it seems to work. discounting this because it doesn't give "flexibility" to change position is akin to being pissed off that the bikes have stems slammed on top of the headtubes and don't have a 2cm spacer stack above the stem...

these aren't bikes for some casual rider who might "change his position". they're bikes for pros who if they need their position changed for some strange reason- equipment, be it seatpost, stem, fork or frameset canl be changed to accomodate.

you don't like seats slammed back on the rails. i get it. but you can't argue that bartoli and tafi looked right on their bikes- and their bikes looked right...seats slammed all the way back and all.

[Archibald]

Time to loosen up the girl pants, ladies.

[jerk]

Time to loosen up the girl pants, ladies.

girl pants on men! another thing italians can pull off and be cool as fuck that no other race in the world can attempt with any degree of style , heterosexualty or success! sorta like a seat pushed all the way back on the rails!

man, this is the stupidest argument ever.

[Archibald]

man, this is the stupidest argument ever.

No way, I think it's awesome!

[e-RICHIE]

“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.”
Coco Chanel

"the score only matters when the game is over atmo."
e-RICHIE

[54ny77]

.....

[sacha white]

dazza-
that's your opinion that saddles should be mid rail. but suggesting that the vast majority of italian pros and the framebuilders and mechanics who set up their bikes don't know what they are doing is a bit suspect. of course these bikes are designed or chosen around the saddle that is to be used. with few exceptions, these guys don't change saddles, they stick with what they know and like.

saying a bike with the saddle pushed rearward on the rails was stuffed up during the design or improperly set up or dicked with by the rider for no good reason is just no the case italian race bikes are set up like this and have been for a long time. they also generally have more drop and longer stems- its the way they do it and it seems to work. discounting this because it doesn't give "flexibility" to change position is akin to being pissed off that the bikes have stems slammed on top of the headtubes and don't have a 2cm spacer stack above the stem...

these aren't bikes for some casual rider who might "change his position". they're bikes for pros who if they need their position changed for some strange reason- equipment, be it seatpost, stem, fork or frameset canl be changed to accomodate.

you don't like seats slammed back on the rails. i get it. but you can't argue that bartoli and tafi looked right on their bikes- and their bikes looked right...seats slammed all the way back and all.

I can't argue with purpose built and for a pro (Italian, or otherwise) who lives on the bike and has their position dialed, having no ability to tweak the fit (or having a new frame built if they do want to) makes sense. If this is the case, and if I were them, I'd just build the saddle right onto the post and build the post right into the bike...

Anyway, I wasn't talking about professional bike racers. I was talking about everyone else and among the "civilians" that I know who buy bikes, there aren't many who are past the point of refining their fit. Not even Douglas mother fucking Brooks for christ sake!

Signed,

Capt. Scarlet

[Jonathan]

Slamming the saddle back looks best on max bikes.

Ducking.....

[lavi]

At least this thread has a max bike pic and max comment.

[giordana93]

it all makes sense to me now

[suhacycles]

... but you can't argue that bartoli and tafi looked right on their bikes- and their bikes looked right...seats slammed all the way back and all.

Wait... not trying to be a smart ass... ok maybe I am, but would you say that their bikes would have looked 'wrong' had they positioned they're saddles mid rail with a setback post but had they're seat angles a degree less, assuming that they were truly custom bikes? If it's because of chainstay length I don't buy it... going from say 405 to 415 mm chainstays loses no performance but gives a little more comfort IMHO...

[Chad]

that my chooks will go off the lay

This is why my post is straight. If I don't use the straight one... you guessed it. My chooks go right off the lay.

[54ny77]

all dis talk of bike fit, it bores me. i sink it's time to dance.

[Chris]

There are plenty of anecdotes around about pro riders being "fit" and then soon having their position changed to some position that they had come to on their own. That may be the position that works for them, I can buy that, but it doesn't mean that their bikes were designed with the position that they arrived at in mind. I remember specifically David Millar saying that he didn't know any reason for his bars being slammed other than he thought that was the way a bike should look and so he slammed them on any bike he got.

[e-RICHIE]

.....

[jerk]

I can't argue with purpose built and for a pro (Italian, or otherwise) who lives on the bike and has their position dialed, having no ability to tweak the fit (or having a new frame built if they do want to) makes sense. If this is the case, and if I were them, I'd just build the saddle right onto the post and build the post right into the bike...

Anyway, I wasn't talking about professional bike racers. I was talking about everyone else and among the "civilians" that I know who buy bikes, there aren't many who are past the point of refining their fit. Not even Douglas mother fucking Brooks for christ sake!

Signed,

Capt. Scarlet

don't tell anyone you fucking motherfucker- but my client's bikes are all designed to have the seat in the middle of the rails too....i "refined" my fit a few weeks back by having a pal do a specialized bg two hour cluster fuck fit on me. she shoved some shit in my shoes, raised my saddle three cms and told me i should ride a 61cm roubaix with a 110mm stem.

take my life- please. i still want to look like tafi on a bike....but failing that i at least want to look like douglas mother fucking brooks.

[boots2000]

Funny you say that about bg fit- I recently got one because I was trying to make a particular saddle work. They raised 1.2cm, moved back 1cm, told me to go from 130mm stem to upturned 110mm stem.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and rode it, I was falling off the saddle into the bars. Had to put everything back the way it was.

don't tell anyone you fucking motherfucker- but my client's bikes are all designed to have the seat in the middle of the rails too....i "refined" my fit a few weeks back by having a pal do a specialized bg two hour cluster fuck fit on me. she shoved some shit in my shoes, raised my saddle three cms and told me i should ride a 61cm roubaix with a 110mm stem.

take my life- please. i still want to look like tafi on a bike....but failing that i at least want to look like douglas mother fucking brooks.

[jerk]

Wait... not trying to be a smart ass... ok maybe I am, but would you say that their bikes would have looked 'wrong' had they positioned they're saddles mid rail with a setback post but had they're seat angles a degree less, assuming that they were truly custom bikes? If it's because of chainstay length I don't buy it... going from say 405 to 415 mm chainstays loses no performance but gives a little more comfort IMHO...

yes. they would. part of the balance of an italian race bike is the really long stem, the stupid low front end and the seat pushed back on the rails. were the seat in the middle of the rails with the same saddle setback and saddle height, the frame would need to be bigger- slacker, with higher handlebars, and deeper drops. like a belgian race bike setup.

not to fuck with you guys even more- but a lot of this stems from the road and climatic conditions and the morphology this selects for successful bike racers. kids who end up doing well in belgium are generally going to be bigger in the upper body, more power riders and need to be able to handle more wind and worse road conditons than their italian counterparts. so the handlebars need to be a little higher. the bike a little bigger and the stays a little longer. so the the saddle in the middle of the rails works. the proto-typical italian racer of the same height- is gonna be alot smaller in the shoulders and chest- will be riding on better roads and his handlebars will be lower- the bike will have shorter stays and a shorter wheelbase to account for his build and the road conditons and AND THE BIKE WILL HAVE THE SEAT PUSHED BACK IN THE RAILS!!!

[lavi]

yes. they would. part of the balance of an italian race bike is the really long stem, the stupid low front end and the seat pushed back on the rails. were the seat in the middle of the rails with the same saddle setback and saddle height, the frame would need to be bigger- slacker, with higher handlebars, and deeper drops. like a belgian race bike setup.

not to fuck with you guys even more- but a lot of this stems from the road and climatic conditions and the morphology this selects for successful bike racers. kids who end up doing well in belgium are generally going to be bigger in the upper body, more power riders and need to be able to handle more wind and worse road conditons than their italian counterparts. so the handlebars need to be a little higher. the bike a little bigger and the stays a little longer. so the the saddle in the middle of the rails works. the proto-typical italian racer of the same height- is gonna be alot smaller in the shoulders and chest- will be riding on better roads and his handlebars will be lower- the bike will have shorter stays and a shorter wheelbase to account for his build and the road conditons and AND THE BIKE WILL HAVE THE SEAT PUSHED BACK IN THE RAILS!!!

My dimmer switch is getting closer to full on with this explanation.