I’ve made some fit changes to the Merckx, looking to improve my position on the bike and to be more comfortable on long rides. It seemed that I was consciously shifting back to get to the proper position on the saddle, so I moved the saddle forward about 10mm. That did help, but after a couple of rides I decided to swap out the stem for a shorter one. Another improvement. One of the guys on the Wednesday night shop ride suggested I might want to lower my saddle a bit, so I lowered it about 5mm. This seemed to be better still, so I’m going to leave it as is for now. After a few more rides, I may tweak here and there, but I want to get some miles in before making any more changes.
I’m also considering trying a new crankset on the Merckx. The main change is to try 160mm crankarms, 10mm shorter than the 170mm Campagnolo crankset that is on the bike now. The chainrings are the same tooth count, so the chain will work, and the front derailleur should only need a tweak or two.
Curious to see how the shorter crankarms may work for me. I have enough info from previous rides to try and make an objective assessment, but the seat of the pants may be telling as well.
The new cranks use a square taper BB, so it’s not a direct swap. Still, not too difficult to do – I’m thinking an hour or less should be enough to swap them around. I’ll need to raise the saddle 10mm or so and probably forward just a bit from the present position. Since the weather is improving too, good opportunity to get some road miles in and see how they feel.