An in-depth look: Mountain Bike Fit (Video)

I got really good feedback from the last time I went through some of the video from an actual bike fit so I thought I'd do that again. This mountain bike fit is a great example two things: of how the balance of the rider can be off and not doing well and then a very small change on the front end of the bike leads to perfect balance and (2) we couldn't get there without first settling the hips to feet positioning properly since balance rests on this area.https://youtu.be/XBLMidr4dpsThis isn't a complete start to finish because I wanted to keep this stream-lined. So I can fill you in about the client a little and what they were experiencing and then we'll pick up with some videos to show what it looked like.

• he was struggling with handling of the bike -  felt front heavy especially on hands
  • went over the handlebars
• He did look like he was supporting himself a bit much with UE
• first round of infrared data shows a difference in knee extension by 5 degrees (right knee straightening more than the left); right hip was a little further back on the saddle these were creating some imbalances in power right to left as well as some further differences in ankle and hip mechanics
  • saddle pressure is clear that he's bearing a lot more weight on the right side of his pelvis and he did confirm that historically if he were to get saddle sores they'd be on the right
• right hip being further back does follow with greater knee extension and right leg imbalance is in agreement with bearing more weight on the right side of the pelvis
• this is how his bike and specifically his saddle was set up
  • notice the saddle is nosed down slightly
• so as usual I wanted to work from the ground up and I began by checking his cleat position to make sure he could bear good weight there. This needed very little moving so then I looked to the saddle

• leveled the seat and then I lowered it just about 4-5 mm
  • this was done to first give a flat stable surface for the pelvis to rest, but because it would cause the pelvis to tilt back (posteriorly) just slightly, the reach  to the pedals would be challenged a small amount so lowering the saddle helped to relieve this
• here's where that got us
  • he looks a little better pedaling and he noted that he felt better - he felt like he was sitting a little further back on the saddle -- but we don't want to strictly rely on his subjective sensations
  • his saddle pressure started to improve in that we started to see his left side of the pelvis engage with the saddle and this was the source of most of his "feeling more connected" to the bike
    • he notes that he has more point pressure on the right side of his pelvis, also noted in the pressure scans. His pelvic movement is a bit more even as some of the oblique motion has started to dissipate
    • the big win here is that we got the left side of the pelvis involved which can then help serve as a platform which will help the left sideo fthe body, incluudig the leg to get in the game and minimize the pedaling difference
  • I still felt like he looked cantilevered over the front of the bike, like he was still a bit front heavy, and this would still inhibit normal pelvic movement until we balanced his upper body on the bike better; he also noted that he felt like the pressure was still on his hands
• raised bar with one spacer
  • we got basically everything we asked for
    • had less pressure onhis hands, more weight back on the seat, more equal weight thru both sides of the pelvis and even though the right side pressure went up, because we were bearing a healthier amount of weight through the left, it didn't have any point pressure sensations
• interesting because we fixed the feet to seat and that was good, but his balance still looked off. I kept saying he looked cantilevered over the bars -- more pressure on hands and not quite stable and balanced on the saddle; then a 1 cm change on bar height caused him to be perfectly balanced