I’ve ridden mainly clipless for years. My current main bike fits me perfectly, size chosen to give me the longest possible top tube while just fitting my 125mm Reverb in. At 5ft10 I have quite a long body and short legs.

I recently dug out my old Five10’s and flats but – I don’t fit!

It seems the ‘stack’ height of an SPD pedal and shoe is noticeably more than a flat. I could do with losing about 5-10mm, any ideas on the best plan?

I could do with a new saddle anyway to replace an aging SDG Bel-air – are there any low stack saddles?

Can the Reverb be modified at all to reduce its upwards travel?

Shorter cranks? (I’ve always ran 175mm by habit, but is that actually correct? How do you know?)

File 3 or 4mm off the top of the seatube and re-cut the slot!?

What pedals? Some are very thin, whereas my old DMR V12 had a much thicker body, should be easy to pick some up cheap?

FWIW Kona Jack Shits are/were very thick (more so than V12s, I think). I’ve got a pair, can measure them if you like.

Low stack saddle sounds the most straightforward way, Bel airs are quite tall, but don’t know how you’d get measurements to compare against.
Having had older style thick pedals vs newer style thinner pedals I wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back.

I’ve faced the same issue, the easiest (and cheapest) solution is the saddle, but finding dimensions listed anywhere is seemingly impossible. It is probably worth visiting your LBS with a ruler.

I used shorter cranks, I prefer 165 as I get more ground clearance when pedaling too, and the 10mm difference was enough to solve my problem.

Personally I am not a fan of trying thicker pedals, as I prefer the stability of a thinner pedal and really like my burgtec so don’t want to change.

The old Flites are probably about as low-stack as you’ll find, I suspect.

Can the Reverb be modified at all to reduce its upwards travel?

😕

Just don’t let it go up so far?

this is classic n+1 territory

Shorter cranks would be my choice. Unless you’re already on short cranks?

Can the Reverb be modified at all to reduce its upwards travel?

mine has a button, just under the bars. I’ve seen others with a button just on top of the bars.

HTH

Get some shorter cranks – I’m fractionally taller than you, have long legs and run 170 and 165mm cranks now. Previously had 175s on all my bikes.

I had a high-ish end Specialized Saddle that was very low stack height, as I remember the bolt from the seatpost clamp poked up through the gap in the middle of it and get worryingly close to my balls.

Ooh, just had another thought – what is the frame made of? Are you able to remove the seatclamp and cut a few mm off the seat tube? I did this on my old Mondraker so I could get the seat lower on downhills, might work to drop your reverb down enough?

sdg circuit saddles are quite low

What is the last thing you made? (pics pls)

Speak to the dude on 2nd last post, and speak nicely to him.

I’ve taken 20mm off a carbon frame seat tube and transferred the slot from front facing to rear facing.

The old Specialized Phenom was the lowest saddle. Can’t get them now but they are stunningly expensive on ebay 😉

The Reverb is the problem. The seal head stack is massive. I got a 160mm Bikeyoke Revive to replace a Reverb 150mm. It sits 18mm deeper into the seat tube so chopping the frame was something I did not have to do.

I’ve got some Shimano DX pedals (a few years old now) that are quite chunky.

I don’t move my seat when switching onto SPD’s so they’re pretty close.

Or old school, low cost dropper. We used to call them qr seat clamps (also of the short body, long torso, large frame, not enough room for a dropper club!)

tbh it sounds like your frame is too big if you can’t get to full extension with only a 125mm Reverb.

In order of cheapness

Cutting a chunk off the seat tube
Lower profile saddle
Lower profile dropper
165mm cranks – lots of benefits here
New frame

sofaking – Member
sdg circuit saddles are quite low

Approx. 40mm from rail centres, if anyone’s interested.

snotrag – Member

Shorter cranks? (I’ve always ran 175mm by habit, but is that actually correct? How do you know?)

leg length divided by 5 is a rudimentary guide, but less rudimentary than simply using the cranks that came fitted…

try 165’s (there isn’t actually much choice in the world of crank sizes), not only will this solve your problem, you may well even prefer them…

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

What is the last thing you made? (pics pls)

Speak to the dude on 2nd last post, and speak nicely to him.

Having looked at that post, this, if he’ll oblige.

Messy but… a zip tie around the saddle rails and to the seatpost bolt to limit the height the saddle goes to?

To be honest I think the problem might be worse that you think though….ridden properly* the axles when using flats should be across your instep rather than further forward on your foot where clips put you. Which means you need the saddle a bit lower still.

To be honest I think the problem might be worse that you think though….ridden properly* the axles when using flats should be across your instep rather than further forward on your foot where clips put you. Which means you need the saddle a bit lower still.

That will be the actual cause of the problem, have you seen a 5.10? no way those clogs have a lower stack height than an spd LOL!

As above you are placing your feet further forward on the pedals so rather than drop the saddle you might want to try moving your saddle forward a similar amount, sounds odd but can feel right.

Dropping might still be required though, depends how much you stretched with your ankle when in spd.

Cheers all!

it sounds like your frame is too big if you can’t get to full extension with only a 125mm Reverb.

Its not at all. In the days before droppers this issue would not ever come up. Part of the problem is that a 125mm reverb is more like 150mm of seatpost, I think other brands are a bit better in this respect.

leg length divided by 5 is a rudimentary guide, but less rudimentary than simply using the cranks that came fitted…
try 165’s (there isn’t actually much choice in the world of crank sizes), not only will this solve your problem, you may well even prefer them…

Thanks, I think this might be a good idea, I’m a ‘spinner’ anyway and short-ish legs as described so it could be what I’ve been always missing!

That will be the actual cause of the problem, have you seen a 5.10? no way those clogs have a lower stack height than an spd LOL!

All three pairs of my 5 tens have a lower stack height than any of my SPD shoes have. But then I’m assuming the fact you said ‘seen’ rather than ‘tried’ means you haven’t actually used them.