How do I dial in saddle height and fore-aft on a gravel bike to avoid knee pain?

[George60]

I’ve been trying to dial in the fit on my new gravel bike, and I just can’t seem to get my saddle height and fore/aft position to feel right on longer rides. My knees feel fine for the first hour, but then I start getting a dull ache in the front, which makes me think my cleat position might be off.

[AveryNW]

Same thing happened to me with a new gravel bike. First hour felt fine, then a dull ache in the front of my knee showed up. I fiddled with the seat position and the cleats for a bit; moving the seat forward a touch and nudging the cleats a few millimeters changed how my knee tracked under load. It helped for a while, but the ache kept coming back on longer days.

[Thomas68]

I did two long rides and kept notes on how the knee felt at around 60 and 90 minutes. I tweaked the foot alignment by a few millimeters and rode again; the load felt a little different, but the ache returned after a while.

[Eric_R]

Another angle: maybe the problem isn’t just your fit. On rough sections I started thinking about hip flexibility and pedal stroke; the knee pain still showed up even when the numbers looked ok, which made me question if something else is going on.

[Evelyn_T]

Is the real problem maybe hip stability or something outside fit, like technique? What have you tried beyond chasing the numbers on the fit?