I’m having issues with my fit in my MTB. I have a transition spur, and am finding i have way to much weight on my hands. The main issue seems to be that I cannot put my saddle far enough back.
I have had a bike fit on my road bike, and have tried to get the saddle into the same position on my MTB, but that is impossible due to the stepper seat tube angle and 0 offset seat post.
Are there any tips or tricks outside of getting a setback dropper (9point8 seems to be the only one) or going to a 10+ year old frame?
The Fair Bicycle Drop Best would be a good solution! It isn’t super inexpensive but gives you the option to add more setback to your current seatpost. I think they have adapters that work for most seatpost designs.
Typically you want to place your saddle for pedaling mechanics, not weight distribution. This is of course not a blanket statement, but generally speaking. I know many MTBs (Spur includes) have steep STAs for climbing purposes (my Tallboy also matches that description), but if I were you I’d put the saddle in the same place relative to the BB as your road bike if at all possible, and then look at cockpit changes for your hand position. Either move the stem up if you have spacers to spare, or try rolling your bars or swapping to one with more rise.
As someone who had a slammed 100mm stem on their XC bike for far too long, I’ve had to accept that my MTB and road fits are just going to be different. Between crank length, Q-factor, cleat/shoe differences, different torso angle, it’s just not going to be a 1:1 transfer. I’d maybe slide your cleats back in your shoes to give more “effective” saddle rearwardness, and maybe lower the saddle (my mtb saddle height is a cm or two lower than for road/gravel for the same knee extension). You could try going to a 50 or 60mm stem from the stock 40mm, it definitely biases to more of a “trail” fit than an XC fit out of the box. Definitely don’t be afraid to try raising your bars, either.
In addition to many of the things already mentioned, what about saddle tilt? Sometimes even a fraction of a degree can make a big difference on weight in your hands. Of course you want to make sure there aren’t other unintended consequences.
Another vote for spacers, riser bars, and/or saddle tilt. Possibly also bar width if you haven’t cut them down.
Another thing to consider, IMO, is terrain. Most of my long rides are through mountains, but I have a flat loop nearby I ride regularly. Im sometimes tempted to change fit for the flat loop, but then I’m reminded why I prefer the steep STA and wide bars on all my other rides
Why are you trying to copy your road bike fit with your MTB? Unless you are using your MTB for gravel, rather than mountain biking, they are two different bikes, two different fits, for two different use cases.
The saddle height (or specifically distance from BB to particular point on the saddle) should be the same, but that’s where the similarities end. The MTB will likely have a steeper seat angle, to position you further ahead of the rear wheel for climbing, while also having much wider bars and hand position, and often a slightly more upright seating position.
If the reach is too short, try a longer stem, or maybe the frame reach is too small for you. Trying to push the saddle back beyond where the frame designers intended will shift the weight back, unweighting the front wheel, which may adversely affect handling and front tire grip.
For flatter and longer XCM courses copying the road bike fit makes sense. Many recent XC bikes have too steep seattubes for longer flatter courses, they are made for up and down courses, but not everybody rides those.
Moving the sadle back will move the centre of gravity back. More weight is carried by saddle and pedals, less by handlebars.
Pivot Mach has slightly slacker headtube, Revel Ranger as well.
9point8 dropper might help. Some saddles also have longer rails and can be moved further back, but there is a danger of bending the rails.
Overforking will also slightly slacken the seattube.
Thanks all. I have always tried to match road and mtb in saddle position. I’ve done big events before (Salzkamergut Trophy 211kmm, 7100m climbing) with my TallBoy 2, much slacker seat tube with a 25mm offset seatpost. My saddle was not slammed forward. For longer days, with up, down, along, rolling, etc I am not a big fan of the slammed forward position. I also have long legs for my hight, larger feet (eu 46/7) and long femurs, so never feel comfortable being too far forward.
That being said, I will play with the front end before I look to move my saddle further back. Maybe I can get that comfortable before I spend on adjusting the seat position.
