I put this over in the reviews section last night by accident. Jagur responded and his response is below.
I have begun riding again and raised my seat a good 1.5" from what I felt was comfortable. The seat was raised in an efort to avoid some knee pain I was having with the seat at my original height. I might add also, I pumped up my air seat to what felt hard. Before, I had the seat very cushy. So the overall increase in height may be more.
I went out on a 2 mile ride along a creek bed, yesterday, that had about 5 spots of short 8 to 12 foot climbs in it. I couldn’t ride up any of them. I constantly stalled.
Afterward, my lower back was really in pain. I can reach the pedals and my hips don’t rock. I think the pain was caused as I pulled up on the seat handle, but couldn’t lower my hips low enough to get leverage to push on the pedals. The raised seat would stop me from lowering my hips enough, so it felt.
Anyone else had a similar problem. Do we all lower our hips(this assumes out of seat climbing) when climbing?
Thanks,
Jagur’s response:
product review section eh?
id say you recieved a faulty back and you sould ask the maker for a new one.
or,have you tried a quick-release seat collar?you could move your post up & down on the trial so the load is varied.
> Anyone else had a similar problem. Do we all lower our hips(this assumes
> out of seat climbing) when climbing?
Greetings,
I don’t know if any of this information is useful, but perhaps.
I often have some lower back pain after a MUni-ing. Stretching before
and during a ride seems to help. Like you I have an air saddle, but
unlike you I have the pressure low so it’s nice and soft. Also, I tend
to keep my saddle slightly lower for MUni than for cruising the streets
as it allows me to come off the saddle more when maneuvering on rough
terrain. Also like you, I have had a problem with my knee (torn ACL and
meniscus).
I have determined (for me) that hills are very hard on my knee and I
suspect this is where your problem lies. I ride with a sports brace
under my leg armor, but I have still have had problems with my knee
after riding up hills. I would probably lower the saddle for MUni as I
don’t believe it will prevent the stress to your knee(s).
Like me, you may have to adjust your ‘style’ slightly to accommodate you
age and condition… yes, it is very sad indeed.
Thanks to the Jagur and Jason for responding and the 32 other people who viewed this thread.
If your still interested, read further,
I went out today and rode the same route again, but with less pain. I lowered the seat post, but I rebuilt my airseat.
I took out the 20" tube and replaced it with a 12" tube on the bottom and put the stock foam pad on top. I inflated the seat to
a fairly hard level. All this under a Roach cover.
I also lowered the seat a bit and reduced the angle of the seat so it was a little bit more level.
I am glancing off the seat in front, but I didn’t have the pain I had yesterday. I also put more PSi in the seat than yesterday.
I think part of the problem was the pressure in the seat. At lower pressures, my butt/lower back moves around more and isn’t as stable, so maybe the increase in pressure helps make for a more solid seat, thus reducing the pain.
Part of my stalling seems to be caused by just being out of practice for three months, but it’s probably due to the shorter cranks. Next try will be to ride the trail with the smaller 2.6 Gazz on it to see if that makes a difference. That should give me more torque. Eventually, I hope to go back to the 170mm cranks, but that will be after further experimentation.
>Thanks to the Jagur and Jason for responding and the 32 other people who
>viewed this thread.
And hopefully the countless lurkers out there on Usenet?
>Eventually, I
>hope to go back to the 170mm cranks, but that will be after further
>experimentation.
You’re riding with smaller cranks now to prevent knee problems, ISTR?
For some people (depending on the type of knee condition they have), larger cranks would mean less knee problems since for the same
riding conditions the stress on the knee joint is smaller. Maybe
something to keep in mind.
Klaas Bil
Today (1 January) is the first day this year. Happy New Year!
Yes,
It feels like the knee pain is coming from the knee bending at the top of the pedal rotation. The shorter cranks were to help reduce the bend. I think I put too much pressure there when I am out of the seat climbing, even though this is a dead spot. The longer cranks would help as I pedal through the rotation. Working on form might help too.
It’s a conundrum. I wish I could figure it out easily. Time will tell
