5 Signs Your Bike Position Is Wrong

Always getting saddle sores? Tingly hands on the bike? Knee pain while pedalling? Road cycling can be tough at times, but not quite this uncomfortable! Conor runs through some key warning signs that could mean your bike position needs adjusting along with top tips on how to do this!
00:00 Intro
00:27 Saddle sores
01:45 Numb hands
02:45 Tight neck and shoulders
04:26 Knee pain
07:06 Lack of power uphill
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[@tgfewz8840]

As a maths teacher I’m very concerned about GCN's 25 to 30 degree angle at 6:26

[@OlleSundblad]

Yes it should show 180 - 25/30° really weird that the person who did the computer graphics miss such obvious errors.

[@chrisbell105]

I suffered bad inside knee pain on new gravel bike until I realised that pedal to pedal width was wider than my old road bike. Moved cleats out on shoe - problem solved 👍

[@robertnobles8189]

@6:20 The degrees on the knee is off. 25 to 30 degrees is acute, but the angle graphic shows an obtuse angle( more than 90). Do you mean -25 to -30: i.e. 150 to 155 degrees?

[@kokonanana1]

EXACTLY!!!

[@Turbotomate97]

There is defineteley a mistake when you're showing the correct knee angle at 6:20. The angle of the graphical overlay is not even close to 25 or 30°. Can you please clarify/correct that?

[@Hardi26]

Changing cranks to shorter (correct)length, has to be the best change I have ever did on my bike. After that, the saddle, that is on same height as before is finally on correct height. Yes, I didn't need to change saddle height at all. Only moved it to aft a bit after I had installed shorter cranks.

[@LOGICAL-JAY]

So true...Im 6 foot 2 and use to ride a 175mm crank arm length..after going down to a 170mm crank arm I feel no pain in my hip and got faster due to better cadence..

[@kisilvan]

Thanks Conor. As someone as tall as you and having long legs and shorter torso I have always found it difficult getting position right so good to have someone like you on GCN doing a vid like this.

[@thepandaman]

I recently went for a proper bike fit (Garry Kirk) after many years of riding, to deal with some lower back pain. The main outcomes were to swap saddles from my faithful Brooks professional with an SMP, along with counter-intuitively a slight increase in reach, rise in saddle height and drop in bar height. I'm still getting used to it, but the back pain has certainly been sorted. In short I was sitting on the saddle too much like a seat, curving the spine instead of the hips which had the effect of shortening my ability to reach. I now feel rolled forward on my sit bones much more, with a neutral spine and feel much more comfortable swapping between hoods and drops. Fit took 4 hours, and we weren't hanging about.

[@emilvaradi9393]

This was a good one, thank you.

[@prestachuck2867]

Great video Conor! You have really done your research on this one!

[@nicdoye]

Using KOPS (knee over pedal spindle) or just behind stops me getting knee pain. I broke my tibial tubercle during a 10 mile TT before I’d worked that out. Getting Speedplays with two shims under my shorter leg was a godsend after 20+ years of lower back pain. Getting the right width saddle with a cut out also helped and stopped “numbness” 😮. (Specialized Concept Store Newbury measured me - I’m a small guy, but my sit bones are slightly wider than I thought). Reducing my reach with a shorter stem did help my neck problems for a couple of years, but it appears to have come back. I’m 53 so perhaps it’s an age thing. Oh - and always remember to stretch/use a foam roller/peanut/ball to stay flexible enough to maintain position.

[@jaydibernardo4320]

Interesting timing for this video. I just went for a short ride today (new bike) and first thought the seat is too high & the seat tilted down too much as well. I thought I'll just adjust it later. On my way back home I experienced left knee pain along with numb hands. Needless to say I shall be making some minor adjustments before my next longer ride. Thanks for the advice, it's spot on.😊

[@donwinston]

You didn't talk much about sit bone pressure discomfort. This can be unbearable for rides longer than an hour or so, especially for people just starting out. The only way to fix it is to just suffer through it until you get used to it. But getting out of the saddle periodically for five to ten seconds at a time can be a great help. Also riding less upright in the drops or rolling forward a little can relieve the pressure.

[@charlesmiv3842]

For weeks I had pain and aches on the bottoms of my feet, right about where the cleats connected to the pedals. Turns out all I needed to do was loosen up the Velcro straps on my shoes.

[@SrFederico]

I don’t tighten my shoes too much either, because when they are only a bit squished they will react with all sorts of complaints.

[@charlesmiv3842]

@@SrFederico Yeah, I mean admittedly my heels do lift up to a large degree when climbing, but at least my feet are painless now.

[@SrFederico]

@@charlesmiv3842 I live in a pan-flat place, so it only matters when sprinting. If neccessary, the Boa dials could be adjusted on the fly. But I never felt the need, no Tour stage to win here ;-)

[@molucas3797]

bar width reasons chop & change more so than the weather, for me i try to get a set of bars that measure as wide as my shoulders, the reason for this is so there is no restriction when breathing, bars should be so you can fully expand your chest, allowing the rider to breath easier without the side of your chest being restricted by your inner arm, you would be suprised how much narrow bars stop your chest exspansion & limit your oxygen intake, wider the better (within reason), saddle height & stem set up are super important to, you may not notice on a 30-50 mile ride but when you start hitting 100+mile mark this is when even the slightest adjustment can either cripple you or help you glide through the ride.

[@Mickwhyer]

I recently had a professional bike fitting. I was having tightness in the neck and shoulders. What worked for me in the end was sliding the saddle forwards and going up slightly with saddle height. That change and a proper cleat adjustment changed my life. The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours in my case with measurements and analysis.

[@Katcycle]

Yes, I had a similar issue and similar solution by bike fitter. Didn't need to raise saddle height, but bringing it forwards was the key.

[@johnmarike2911]

I’m still learning lots about getting into cycling (just learned how to engage my glutes yesterday and that changed my whole world lol). I never even considered the types of knee pain are hints to lowering and raising my saddle height as it’s been hard pinpointing the right height for me. Many thanks for the valuable info!!

[@SrFederico]

So, how do you engage your glutes? I am pretty unsure which of my muscles actually do the work...

[@johnmarike2911]

@@SrFederico If you're seated on the bike and feel your quads burning but don't feel it in your butt, try pushing yourself back on the saddle. You should start to feel your butt burning too while taking some of the load off your quads.

[@SrFederico]

@@johnmarike2911 Ok, I will try to figure that out. But maybe I'm already in a balanced position, I don't feel any of the two being overly engaged.

[@TheMoodyedge]

Bars that are too high can also cause neck and shoulder issues because you tend to prop yourself up on them. Try seat up and bars down, worked for me after having horrible neck and shoulder pain after 2 hour rides. Lowered the bars 25mm and put the seat up 25mm. Have since rode 5-10 hours and lived to tell the tale.

[@Katcycle]

I suffered achy neck and shoulders, my bike fitter spotted that my saddle was too far back, so he moved it forwards by about 25mm. It did the trick, and now can ride for hours without those particular aches and pains.

[@michaelbosch9024]

Numbness in my four foot like in the toe box area of a shoe. I ride vintage style pedals and toe clips on my fixed gear. Numbness can start as soon as 15 minuets at times. i weigh 225lbs and wear a size 13 shoe.

[@jasperktm]

Got a brand new bike at the beginning of this year adjusted everything and no pain anymore way better. And off topic Roglic maybe going to Ineos pretty big news he is probably going to leave Jumbo.

[@SpecialeyesRider]

I took a photo and drew a line with a sharpie to represent the angle of my hip, knee, and foot. How do I get the ink off my phone now?

[@johnbagofdoughnuts9610]

Hip pain after longer rides. Seems to randomly switch sides. Some pain in the glute muscle right behind the hip joint too. Thx

[@joaoc_PT]

Since i tilted my saddle, as in my area there are a lot of climbs, i think the benefits outweighed the cons of sore hands in certain positions. I can always switch hands between several positions, however, in the climbs, saddle has only on or off of it.

[@christiankeim]

During climbs Eddie merckx use to get his saddle adjusted multiple times.

[@ruinman8722]

Shoulder pain here. How could you tell if you are weak or your fit is bad? Because I feel like my body is in good shape but I still get shoulder pain after 1.5-2 hours saddle time.. I'm a beginner, this year I went about 3500 km so far.

[@Trancefreakeh]

Informative, but I'm missing a section about lower back pain.

[@JamesSmith-qs4hx]

I imagine chest pains are fairly common with people who are 3 dart finishers.

[@dh7314]

I want a bike fit but they’re so overpriced. I’ve had them before and the benefits were tiny, the pains I had went away but came back. Because fits are subjective you get a different fit from everyone you speak to.

[@99cya]

I made a bike fit because of 2 reasons: my bike fits better (obviously) but mainly to learn more about fitting a bike. In the 3 hours i learned a lot and asked many questions. The bike fitting made me more aware if many things. For me it was worth it.

[@jayjohnson7594]

Define overpriced....I struggled with really bad knee pain to the point that I didn't ride my new shiny bike that cost me several thousands of dollars. A competent bikefitter identified the issue in cleat position, the fit (i.e. width) of my shoes and arch support. I can now ride for hours and hours in comfort with zero issues, and I learned a lot about how my body functions on the bike. All that for less cost than those OSPW systems or a ceramic bottom bracket some people still seem to prioritise. Being able to ride comfortably and enjoying every second of it is definitely worth the investment. I agree that bike fitting is not an exact science, but any bikefitter worth their salt should work with you in follow-up sessions if your problems/pains persist or come back. Also, bike fitting is not about the bikefitter's opinion on what your position should be based on some objective one-size-fits-all theoretic framework, but rather about what is the best position for a certain individual based on their unique physiology and the feedback the rider gives the fitter.

[@zao.224]

​@@jayjohnson7594Google is free

[@cardsfan2397]

My local bike shop has free lifetime bike fit when you purchase or build a bike from them as long as you own it. Otherwise, it's $100 if you brought your own.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

All fitters aren't created equal

[@josephclarke7133]

Have you sent this to Chris Froome?

[@raybarber9837]

My left hand gets numb. Right hand is fine?

[@stefan4341]

… like sitting on a snooker ball 😂😂😂

[@melusine826]

Womens position issues going to be slightly different but similar. As someone more into mtb/ gentle trail and not at all interested in road, is this still applicable?

[@2ball434]

Gender doesn't have any difference in terms of position issues. ( only gender related issue would be having wide hips. ) Your proportions are doing to be more important.

[@Katcycle]

@@-alex-3724 ooh i wondered why my hands get numb, bike fitter couldn't fix that one, although did fix my neck and shoulder aches. I wonder if my weight balance is the issue? I'll have to give that some thought.

[@kevindean9613]

Since ripping a muscle & vien from cramp ,I've booked a professional bike fit ,I don't want to go through that again .

[@gavinm717gkm]

Time to lower my saddle.

[@julian.scheunemann]

Numb Hands: The main basic parameter for having too much weight on the front of the bike has been left out. Saddle Setback is the no. 1 parameter and starting point for weight distribution on the bike. Stem length is just a result of the proper saddle setback and desired reach.

[@Abnsdllnnlosnfd]

Exactly

[@RuiPedroRocha]

How is that angle 25 - 30 degrees? It's almost 180! 😅

[@adamwallace9790]

Me thinks someone at GCN failed GCSE maths.......

[@madyogi6164]

👍 I don't need signs. I need flat surface with no curbs.

[@daviddawn9043]

In my mind shortning the stem would load hands more, sure it is better to bring bars up

[@wspmjw]

Nice dive into the specifics. You can summarize this in one phrase, get a proper bike fit by a professional.

[@leedorney]

If I make a change I do it on a ride that way I can faff around with any minute adjustments..

[@nagasako7]

Basically go with less aggressive geometry until your core is conditioned etc

[@charlesmiv3842]

Saddle sore? Lower your saddle height a bit and apply chamois cream before rides. That's eliminated all of my sores, even on a big that's too big.

[@herbwhite5924]

Numb hands? Padded gloves changing hand position often.

[@vintagesteel]

Even if you fully optimize bike fit you'll still experience these pains and discomforts if you're in the saddle long enough....

[@user-go6tj2rx4o]

I suppose the knees hurt more often by using higher gears when driving in steep mountains.

[@Calatriste54]

Angliaru steep.. mercy!

[@jamesflesch587]

What if your legs go numb

[@stevefraser7501]

Super giant trying to tell normal sized humans about bike position?? Is this just telling people wanting to buy a road bike "GET A BIKE FIT"? In the words of Monty Python, ""You''re all individuals""

[@vstylie]

I thought for sure he was going to say "saddle sores are a pain in the butt."

[@66mikkim]

All you need is a propper bike fit. Doin all them "tips" by yourself can make it even worse. Get a bike fit if you are having issues on the bike.

[@David-qx8jm]

Professional Bike fit should come with a new bike no charge Keepemcoming

[@bennettsbicycles3412]

Still nothing about Shimano?! lmao

[@donwinston]

I want my veins in my arms and legs to show like Connor's.

[@haughtonhuggins7394]

Seems i suffer from all

[@NessieJapan]

Interesting, but with all due respect, I'm not sure Conor is the man for this job. His proportions are outliers.

[@Nickle314]

Problem is the pressure on your nuts travels up your spinal column to your eyes where it causes red green colour blindness. The evidence is overwhelming. Just watch cyclists at any set of lights