Bike fitting that’s as unique as you are
Yes, bike fitting looks at every aspect of how we are built, how we move, how we sit and and how comfortable we are when cycling. Bike fitting should be as normal for us as cyclists, as stopping to enjoy coffee and cake is. However, the new science of bike fitting is still developing, as we start to understand the positive benefits, despite World Tour riders and teams using it for many years. We may want to ride the same bikes as the world’s leading cyclists, yet we still don’t fully comprehend how those bikes have been individually created by a series of quite detailed bike fitting sessions by a group of very talented and technical bike fitting experts. Complete with all the data required, created from numerous measurements and lots of detailed analysis about our bike contact points, these bike fitting experts weave their technical magic to make cyclists more comfortable and more performance orientated than ever before.
Brands such as SQ Lab from Germany know the importance of every cyclist getting an individual bike fitting, and they’ve developed a range of products to support how we all use the bike contact points – hands, saddle, pedals, differently. This new bike fitting information area of the Pedalnorth website aims to guide you through the complex detail and science of bike fitting, making it easier to understand, and ensuring that you are better informed yourself when walking into the bike shop to choose your own next bike. In effect, we and our friends at German technical accessories brand, SQ Lab want you to have your own perfect bike, created from your own unique bike fitting session.
Points of contact
Pedals and Cycling Shoes
Bike Fitting looks predominantly at how we make contact with the bike and how we move once in contact. There’s a chain of that contact, from the soles of our feet and our cycling shoes connected to the pedals, all the way up our lower legs, our knees, our upper legs and hips to our seat and the saddle – the second point of contact. A qualified bike fitting expert will initially look at your body and its detailed measurements, and how you look and move both on and off the bike. This initial chain is particularly important, as it’s critical to get the foot contact – your cycling shoes, cleat position, shape and volume of your foot and the bike crank length etc – right. Getting it wrong here will cause issues and pain in the legs, the knees and the hips.
Yes, bike fitting is a science, and it needs to understand how you move and you each part of your body interacts with the bike. That’s why a professional bike fitting session is so important and how it can make such a difference to your cycling performance, comfort and even your health. It can reduce or potentially remove those twinges and pains that you might feel when riding an ill-fitting bike – which, unfortunately too many cyclists are.
Are you sitting comfortably
In reality, there are only 5 different shapes of buttocks – your gluteus maximus 😉 – everything else is just added flesh we’re afraid to say. Importantly though, how your own buttocks make contact with the bike saddle, and how it effects your cycling action is another critical aspect of the science of bike fitting, and it’s something that the expert bike fitter will look at in detail. Yes, bike fitting needs to both look at your bottom, and also at how it sits on the saddle when pedalling. Pressure points are examined by the bike fitting expert, and the measurements and patterning allow them to help you to fit the right saddle to your bike, maximising your comfort and performance in those most critical of bike fitting areas – your buttocks! We’ll be looking at this – and yes, buttocks – in far more detail, as we and our friends at SQ Lab talk you through the science and benefits of a individual bike fitting session.
Performance & Comfort
Holding onto the ride
The third and final bike fitting contact point that we’ll be looking at in some detail is the hands and handlebars. How many of you go into a bike shop knowing the width of handlebars that you need? How many of you know the design and stem requirements – not many, I’d say. You simply wait until you find out that the bike is uncomfortable to ride, and then consider a bike fitting session, or simply trying a different sized handlebar. Using the SQ Lab system of analysis, you can even get the width of your hands measured, and they’ll recommend the right bars and even the right width of cycling gloves – now that’s a detailed bike fitting session. And, with bike fitting partners all over Europe and elsewhere, using the SQ Lab system, you’re always close to finding that perfect balance between performance and comfort.
There’s lots more to consider in a professional bike fitting session, and it’s something that we want to look at in detail, creating a series of informative blogs and articles to help you to understand bike fitting. This new area of the Pedalnorth website will work with experts to look in detail at the science of bike fitting and how a detailed bike fit from a qualified bike fitting expert can dramatically improve your own ride -from top to toe. We’ll be speaking with bike fitting experts and looking at the development of bike fitting as a science, the benefits of a professional bike fit and why it should be something that all cyclists look at. After all, when you live a cycling lifestyle, don’t you deserve to ride in comfort.
A tailored bike fit is ultimately the best way for all cyclists to gain that perfect perfect balance between performance and comfort on the bike; and brands like SQ Lab have dedicated many years of study into developing one of the very best bike fitting systems in the world – so let’s take a look at the detail, science and benefits of all aspects of bike fitting. The days of taking an ‘off-the-peg’ should be consigned to history, for all of us.
Rudy Project
