Mastering Saddle Setback (Fore Aft): The Ultimate Guide!

Comments · 256

• XA

  @xander1756 · 1 year ago · pinned

  Forget all the other channels with their saddle setback guides...this one is the ULTIMATE.

  45

• LT

  @ltu42 · 1 year ago

  Excellent video combining all that confusing and often contradictory information together! You've got a new subscriber!

  18

• WP

  @wpelaez97 · 1 year ago (edited)

  This was a great summary of all current resources of the topic currently on internet, I went down the rabbit hole a couple of years ago trying to find the optimal position, I think setback is the most underrated Bike fit element of all the system, people focus too much on saddle height however I found it has the biggest window of range, u can be 1 cm off your position but still be fine, but setback, not so much, I have long legs compared to my torso and long femurs, something that is not considered that often is the relation between the femur and tibia, if your legs have longer femurs in proportion to your tibia, u would need a lot of setback, not moving forward and increasing saddle height as I mistakenly did. <br> <br>The balance test for me didn&apos;t work, I’m 62 kg and 178 cm tall, I’m very light in the upper part of my body, I found I could pass the test everywhere on the rail, also paying too much attention to the knee pain for dictating your setback position is not very accurate, I rode for 6 years with a 3 cm setback seat post, and the saddle all the way back, any minimal mm movement to the front would cause my knee to hurt however during all that time I still was really far back of my optimal position, it was just my body wasn&apos;t used at all of putting any pressure when the saddle setback was in a more forward position. <br> <br>I found thought trial and error that, riding at zone 2 with an experimental position will maybe give you short term overview of the success of your position, but your body will adapt to it, so you need to test it at a threshold intensity pace and a minimum of 14 mins of it, not short 3 minutes test, because if u do only Z2 u can be 2 cm too far forward but suddenly your knee pain would disappear, you may also no longer feel pain in the shoulders and all of that, so u might think well now I have my optimal position. <br> <br>In my case I could ride for Z2 5 hours no issue, but 7+ hours rides would give me effects of the wrong position, but who would ride that much to find it right?, you can be too far forward and not feeling a super engaged quads because they are simply too weak in that position, I found I was really too far forward, when I finally decided to do high intensity work, I just rode Z2 for 2 years expecting my body to adapt to a more forward position, but when I finally did a FTP test, the 20 minute test, with the position all wrong I pushed really good numbers for the first 4 minutes then slowly I died :), even having 2 years of this position with no pain at all, &nbsp;I even bought a longer stem to accommodate the more forward position, I drooped about 40 watts from start to end of the test and it wasn&apos;t because I couldn’t pace it, I even aimed for 30 watts less than my all time PB, it was because at the last part it just feels like I couldn’t push down at all, I could only spin, but the HR was through the roof, I moved the saddle 1.5 cm back and the problem is now solved. so even in my case the online sources suggest I would need a really frontal position because my long legs, reality is that everybody is simply too different.

  29

• TJ

  @tjb8841 · 1 year ago

  Very well said that there is no single best option, but that we need to choose which compromise works best for us.

  3

• VI

  @viktorask · 3 days ago

  Legend. ❤

• ER

  @ErrybodyGetTypsy · 1 year ago

  Anytime I see labels like &quot;ULTIMATE&quot;, I expect shameless hyperbole, but this video absolutely earns that description! Thank you for compiling all this info and sifting through all the data and seemingly contradicting schools of thought.

  10

• TH

  @TheMoodyedge · 1 year ago

  Thanks, If I have trouble sleeping tonight, I know where to come.

  2

• RV

  @rvavelasco · 1 year ago

  Finally! The video that makes most sense! Greatest understanding of body mechanics on the bike!

  2

• MA

  @Mazelcom · 1 year ago

  Wow incredibly informative video. Putting all the ‘opinions’ in one video , is priceless. Honestly I probably didn’t understand more than 50% and yet I’m smart enough to save/bookmark this video. Perfect timing just got a new bike and I’m struggling with saddle adjustments . Thanks

  2

• JO

  @joecalandra3169 · 4 months ago (edited)

  Wow!! You did a lot of research for this video, thank you. At the end when you were asked how you set the saddle, you used one word over and over. &quot;Comfortable&quot;, that is the key fo 99% of riders. If one&apos;s position is not comfortable, no matter how efficient it may theoretically be, it will not be fun riding and hense the cyclist will ride less. Less riding equals less physiologically fit and that will defeat the entire purpose. Thanks for a great video.

  1

• HA

  @hansihintersoos7581 · 1 year ago

  Your channel is so underrated! I love the very thorough approach to every bikefit topic

• MA

  @markgenest6206 · 10 months ago

  Wow thanks for all the time invested in the research and for both sharing it and summarizing the results to get actionable results. Very important work for us who train on cycles!