Heya guys, gonna bother you guys once again regarding this issue. Just got a 2005 Cervelo Soloist Team bike, stock with Centaur 10 speed. I purchased it used with only 120 miles on it and the previous owner had set it up with aerobars and triathlon positioning(seatpost reversed). Also, he had quite a few spacers on the stem and used a 110mm stem with a 15 degree rise(eyeballing it). I understood his config since he needed to get the aerobar pads on the same level as the saddle.
Anyways, I tried my hand at repositioning it into a road bike config;
1. Reversing the seatpost head(an ability of the Cervelo Soloist) to achieve the 73 degree angle
2. Reversed the stem so it's a 5 degree drop(the fork is leaning back and hence offsets roughly 10 degrees of the stem drop),
3. Raised the seatpost (so that when the bottom pedal is parallel to the seatpost, my knee has a slight bend),
4. Adjusted the cleats (so that the front of my knee is above the balls of my feet at the 3 o clock position),
After my first 2 rides, my lower back ached a tad, and so I rotated the handlebars back a bit and so far been feeling better. Still a slight strain after 15 miles.
My question is this, is it worthwhile to pay a very certified bike fit specialist(has over 20,000 fits under his belt, an Olympic medalist, bike mechanic, decades of exp, etc as his resume) to look it over? It'll cost me $100 and takes roughly 90-150mins, on top of an outside test ride. I'm very sure he can help with the source of my lower back pain. But I also think that the strain will go away as I strengthen my core. I feel better if he did look it over but at the same time, it is $100. I feel like the only major adjustment that could be made would be to change the stem, to what I don't know. Then again I'm a definite amateur at bike geometry and he could do more than just the stem change. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Izzy G.
Anyways, I tried my hand at repositioning it into a road bike config;
1. Reversing the seatpost head(an ability of the Cervelo Soloist) to achieve the 73 degree angle
2. Reversed the stem so it's a 5 degree drop(the fork is leaning back and hence offsets roughly 10 degrees of the stem drop),
3. Raised the seatpost (so that when the bottom pedal is parallel to the seatpost, my knee has a slight bend),
4. Adjusted the cleats (so that the front of my knee is above the balls of my feet at the 3 o clock position),
After my first 2 rides, my lower back ached a tad, and so I rotated the handlebars back a bit and so far been feeling better. Still a slight strain after 15 miles.
My question is this, is it worthwhile to pay a very certified bike fit specialist(has over 20,000 fits under his belt, an Olympic medalist, bike mechanic, decades of exp, etc as his resume) to look it over? It'll cost me $100 and takes roughly 90-150mins, on top of an outside test ride. I'm very sure he can help with the source of my lower back pain. But I also think that the strain will go away as I strengthen my core. I feel better if he did look it over but at the same time, it is $100. I feel like the only major adjustment that could be made would be to change the stem, to what I don't know. Then again I'm a definite amateur at bike geometry and he could do more than just the stem change. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Izzy G.