Von Cycling: Husband Guest Post: Bike Fit

Today features a guest post by my husband (with pictures by me!)

Today I went for a bike fit with Giant Sydney.

I guess the important thing to realise is that this is actually a fairly involved process.

It’s not just to get the bike to fit the rider, but also to teach the rider how to best use the bike.

(Image from velo-orange.blogspot.com.au/)

Measuring and Adjusting

First, a series of measurements are taken, things like height, flexibility, core strength and a series of tests to see how I used my legs while moving and my feet while balancing.

The fitter made adjustments to my cleats (the shoe attachments that clip into our pedals) as well as to my saddle.

(Image from drivemybike.wordpress.com)

My bike was put on an indoor trainer and a few measurements taken of me on the bike.

At this point some drastic changes needed to be made to my saddle. I didn’t realise, but I’d been slipping around and also reaching too far to the handlebars.

After the adjustments I could feel exactly where the “normal” seating position was and settled into it easily.

Adjusting the rider

(Image from muppet.wikia.com)

I rode for a while on the trainer while being observed, both by the fitter and a camera.

It turns out there were several issues with my position, elbows turning outwards and locked out arms as well as knees flailing outwards at the top of the pedal stroke.

The catch phrase was: “Soft Hands!” Remembering this helped me to keep my elbows a little bent and my weight back and over the pedals where it’s meant to be.

The camera system is quite nifty . . . it has automatic image analysis that was measuring distance and angles of my body and the bike and making sure they were all within correct values.

[EDIT: I was watching my husband's video and found it hilarious at some stage that he was doing full gas on the trainer in the store and you can see people in the background walking around looking at shoes..hehehe]

Different Riding Positions

One of the greatest things I learnt at the bike fit was how to use different riding positions most effectively on the bike.

There’s the “normal” position on the hoods while seated. This was the position that most of the measuring was done in and a lot of the initial corrections were made.

I also learnt that when standing up in the pedals, my weight was far too forward. Again, I needed to get “Soft Hands!” so that I could put my weight properly over the pedals.

I'm not saying this is a great position, just that I love this video clip -

it makes me giggle so much!

Le Velo - Robin Moore

I even learnt a new position, the back a little on the saddle, leading the drive a little with the heels. I’ve never really done this before because with my old saddle position, it wasn’t really reachable.

The last and my most favourite is the “full gas”. Down in the drops and pushing over a big gear as fast as you can in an aerodynamic position.

This position is interesting because while you’re supporting all your weight on your feet because you’re pushing so hard, you don’t actually get out of the saddle, you use the nose of the saddle as a guide to keep your position and you stay low to avoid the wind.

(Oh Cav - www.customgetaways.com)

After a little instruction and adjustment of my position each of these positions felt good, but I know I’m going to need more practice to solidify them.

And we’re done

There’s a lot of confidence in knowing your bike has been set up as well as it can be and matches you perfectly. There’s no second guessing and I’m looking forward to seeing how well the changes turn out in the long term.

I think my only regret is that I’ve covered nearly 3000km this year without getting this done. I’ll be needing to break some old habits instead of being able to learn things fresh.

I would suggest that since the price ($159) is a reasonably small percentage of the price of most road bikes, this is an invaluable process.

This is especially so if you’re like me and at least know a bit about riding, but haven’t ridden drop bars before and you really want to get the most out of your shiny new bike.