Seating Position Critique

Lanmaster53 · Dec 31, 2020

Attached is my current seating position. I've only been at it for a few weeks, but every session ends with left shoulder pain. I've got long arms and long legs with a short torso, so it's been hard finding the perfect seating position. Based on this photo, below are what I'm thinking about changing and a few questions. I would love some input from those with more experience.

Plan:

1. Reduce the wheel angle. My goal is for the wheel to point directly at my shoulders and the top of the wheel be level with the top of my shoulders. Adjusting the angle should do this without needing to change the height of the steering column.
2. Move the wheel closer so that my elbows are closer to 90 degrees.

Questions:

1. What about the angle of the seat? My nose is lined up with the pivot point of my hips and feels comfortable, so I didn't plan on changing it.
2. What about my legs? I'm comfortable at idle and full throttle and feel no leg fatigue, so I didn't plan to change that either.

Thoughts?

Thanks eveyone!

BrightCandle · Jan 2, 2021

Definitely agree with plan item 2, the usual recommendation is with your shoulders and arms straight your wrists should be on top of the wheel and the hands droop over the other side. But in practice it usually results in about 90 degrees at the elbow. The other thing to note is your shoulders are forward too, you will want them relaxed more or its going to start to hurt, the seat might not be helping here looking at the shape of it.

In terms of angle of wheel the usual recommendation is it points at your shoulders to nose so I think its roughly right as is, it needs to be closer but the angle is fine.

Legs look OK, the key thing here is often to make sure that pushing the pedal fully doesn't max out your leg and that its also comfortable to sit with the foot not pressing the pedal for the ankles. Sounds like you have that right (its the one I struggle with getting spot on).

Overall seat angle looks fine to me.

Lanmaster53 · Jan 6, 2021

BrightCandle said:
Definitely agree with plan item 2, the usual recommendation is with your shoulders and arms straight your wrists should be on top of the wheel and the hands droop over the other side. But in practice it usually results in about 90 degrees at the elbow. The other thing to note is your shoulders are forward too, you will want them relaxed more or its going to start to hurt, the seat might not be helping here looking at the shape of it.

In terms of angle of wheel the usual recommendation is it points at your shoulders to nose so I think its roughly right as is, it needs to be closer but the angle is fine.

Legs look OK, the key thing here is often to make sure that pushing the pedal fully doesn't max out your leg and that its also comfortable to sit with the foot not pressing the pedal for the ankles. Sounds like you have that right (its the one I struggle with getting spot on).

Overall seat angle looks fine to me.

Made the changes and it worked wonders. I can drive sprint for hours on end now with little pain or fatigue. Thanks for your review! Bringing the wheel toward me did allow my shoulders to relax a bit, but even this Corbeau DFX, which is sized up to a 38 inch waist, is super tight on my 6'2'', 195 lb frame. More so at the hips than shoulders though, which allowed for the relaxation. Thanks again!