What is a bike fit?
A bike fit is simply the process of adjusting your bicycle to fit your unique physical characteristics, to improve comfort and performance every time you ride.
Why would I need a bike fit?
There are two main reasons that people choose to have a bike fit: they’re experiencing discomfort while riding, or they’re looking to optimise their riding position to improve their performance.
Of course, there can be some overlap between the two - perhaps that new aero Tri position you’ve tried is hurting your neck, or saddle discomfort is making it difficult to stay seated for any length of time. Either way, a bike fit will help you get the most out of yourself and your equipment, whether you’re riding for speed, distance or just for fun across any discipline.
How is this achieved?
Every rider is different. On a bike, the body becomes a system of levers and pivot points, balancing the load and distributing the power. Every person has different length levers, and different pivot positions - move one, and the effect can be felt throughout the whole body system.
Add to that muscle imbalance, old injuries, “tight” tendons, bad habits such as inefficient pedalling, and the picture becomes more complex. As such, there are no set formulas or measurements to follow; instead each adjustment is made with a biomechanical reason, following the same principles with which we have been fitting our customers to bicycles for more than 100 years.
What makes us a specialist in fitting bicycles?
Our bike fitting knowledge has been handed down through four generations, being built on over time with experience not only in high level racing, but also club riding, mtb and adventure riding. Over the last twenty years, bike fitting courses and in-depth physiological research have begun to add to the wealth of knowledge, helping provide the reasoning behind the way things work the way they do, and better understand how to achieve the best results for the rider’s unique requirements.
But what system do you use?
If you’ve been looking to have a bike fit, you may have seen quite a few different electronic fitting systems, which sound great. We’ve tried a few of them over the years, and found most of them lack the same fundamental thing:
While they might take into account your skeletal proportions, they don’t do such a good job of dealing with the huge number of variables presented by the bits that flesh out the bones. They’re great for providing a rough idea of a position for someone of your proportions, but they will not encompass your goals, your fitness level, pedalling style or other little quirks.
We have the bikefitting.com fitting jig here, as we feel it is the best option available, and we do offer a comprehensive fit using the bikefitting.com system if you would like. This provides extra data on your fit, and is mainly beneficial for performance-driven athletes, with detailed 360 degree power and stroke analysis not only to optimise your position for power delivery, but also identify areas for improvement in your training. However, we still like to add the finishing touches, using the information from the bikefitting.com jig to enhance our fit rather than relying on it completely.
Ultimately, you are a human, with all of the irregularities that come with it, so we believe a holistic, human approach is the best approach for most people.
