by WorkonSunday on Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:41 am
i recently set up my wife's bike with a Power Mimic Expert. we are lucky that we have a turbo trainer so this makes things quite alot easier without have to lean over the wall etc. What we found was:
A) for back/forth, when you sit on the old saddle and lean against a wall or put it on turbo, get into riding position, then use one hand to slide between your butt and saddle to feel where to sitbone lands on the saddle. this should normally close to the middle of the seatpost and near the "wing" of the saddle. This should be reference point to replicate when switching over to another saddle. 3cm for specialized is a guide line but it's essentially trying to repeat your sitbone location going to a new saddle.
B) for tilt, our seatpost allows us to loosely tighten the seatpost screws so that the saddle can move/tilt while rider is setting on it. (if you have one of those two bolts (front and rear) type, it may take a few more try and error). This is definitely a two people job. Rider on the bike, while second person observe and tighten the screws. We found that for the power mimic, it is most comfortable if you sit on it with your body straight (hands off handlebar, as if you are reaching your backpockets or playing on the phone) , and you can feel if your body weight is neutral (neither is sliding backward or forward). We did it with pedals at 3 and 9 o'clock positions, stand up, then slowly place the butt on the saddle to start to feel the pressure. Once you have the tilt balanced, the pressure should feel pretty even. We found this takes alot of stress off the arms and wrists. (my wife rides with 5mm spacer so i would say, pretty aggressive position)
The end result is that we have the saddle slides back 1cm from center (according to the markings on the rail) and, using method shown in previous posts, the angle is tilting downwards 0.4 degrees.
Some say pour 10ml water out of your bottle to save that last bit of the weight. Sorry, i go one step further, i tend to the rider off my bikes.
What I did was trial & error until I get it right. I had difficulty adjusting the tilt but eventually found the sweet spot after the 3rd ride, and it's -8 Degrees. Now when I compared that to my Aeroad with Fizik Arione, I realized the tilt is exactly the same. I set it back also about 3cm and played with the tilt.
