A
Not sure about the saddle all the way back advice, but the rest seems
pretty practical (one I got past the flat pedal advice).
======================================
>From Rivendell Reader 39, Spring 2007
Brushing out the Maypo with Ipana
There have been recent articles in fat & famous newspapers about bike-
fitting sessions that last 5 hours and cost up to 400 dollars. Our fit-
sessions would never make the newspapers, not even the local Contra
Costa Times, but this thin pub isn't as picky, plus, it has the
insider-thing going for it.
It's easy to rationalize five hours when you're looking at a bike that
costs $6,000 to $10,000 and you believe an imperfect fit could lead to
long-term injuries. Maybe in special cases it will, but most of us
riders have well-lubed ball-and-socket joints that evolved to let us
run away from fierce animals over rough terrain. We don't have rigid
robot joints that grind, squeak, & spark when something isn't laser-
aligned. Pedaling is low-to-no impact and is easy on joints, which is
why you can ride a bicycle into your eighties, and is why riding is
the exercise of choice for injured athletes in rehab.
Anyway, whether a fit session lasts five hours or fifteen minutes, the
goal, is still a position that lets you ride comfortably, efficiently,
and injury-free. That position is determined only by how you rest on
the bike's contact points-the saddle, handlebar, and pedals.
The thing is, you can be comfortable & efficient in more than one
precise position. That's good, because different surfaces, conditions,
loads, traffic, effort, & weather call for adjustments in position.
Here at Rivendell a fit-session starts with measuring your Pubic Bone
Height (PBH). Our site and our catalogue show how to measure it, but
it's easy to explain without pictures, and I've done it a hundred
times: Bare feet ten inches apart on a hard floor. Hook a metric
measuring tape over a thin edge (a hardcover book for instance), and
pull it all the way up until it's pressing hard against your pubic
bone. Have a math whiz take the reading on the floor.
PBH minus 10 to 10.5cm is your Saddle Height (center of crank to top
of saddle). Your frame size depends partly upon the frame's design,
but if we're talking about a bike with 700C road wheels, then take
away another 15cm if you're under 5' 8" & up to 19cm if you're 6' 5"
or taller, to get frame size. If you're in-between, subtract something
in-between.
Saddle fore-and-aft is a quickie. When they go at your knee with the
plumb bob, shifting your saddle back and forth until the bump just
below your knee is directly above the ball of your foot and the pedal
axle, they're working with old information (that you need to center
the ball of your foot below the knee-bump and just above the pedal
axle). I just shove the saddle all or almost all the way back on the
seat post, and 99 percent of the time it's good enough to send you out
on the road with, and you can work out the details there. We like the
knee-bump behind the pedal spindle, for reasons I don't have space to
go into here without having to shrink the type smaller than the 8.5
point it is already.
Saddle angle: Start with the saddle level, and see if that feels
right. It probably will, but now and then some riders like it nose-up
or nose-down a bit. You won't determine the absolute best saddle angle
during an indoor filling session. It has to happen outside.
Handlebar width is the easiest of all. In the old days the common
advice was to get the bars as wide as your shoulders. To me, it's
fishy. People say if the bars aren't wide enough, your chest won't
open up enough and you won't be able to breathe as well, but lungs
don't get squished that easily. You can prove that right now as you're
reading this. Press palm to palm: now breathe.
Still, I'm anti-narrow handlebars. Women usually get 38 cm & 40 cm,
and some go as narrow as 36 cm. That's what happens when you go by
shoulder-width. But when you think of the bar as a lever to control a
bike that wants to fall left or right with every stroke, a wider bar
makes sense, because it's a longer lever. Most riders who are open to
a wider bar and actually try it like it, and they never go back to
narrow after that. Try 2 cm wider than you ride right now.
The best thing I've read about crank length was a few years ago in
VeloNews, when Technical editor Lennard Zinn put riders with various
leg lengths on bikes with various crank lengths and somewhat
scientifically tested their performance cardiovascularly and
otherwise. The test showed most people, even tallies, do better with
165 mm cranks, generally favored by petites. That was a disconcerting
result. Nobody debates 165 mm cranks or 180 mm ones, though. It's
always a 2.5-5 mm debate.
It seems that crank length should grow or shrink according to your leg
length (or PBH), but if average-legged riders (PBH 51-57 cm) rode 170
mm or 172.5 mm, shorties (PBH 70-74 cm) would ride 120 mm, and tallies
(PBH 94-99 cm) would ride 210 mm, and that's not a world we live in.
Here's a guide that won't steer you far wrong: Under 5' 3"? Ride 165
mm. Over 6' 3"? Ride 175 mm. In between? Ride 170 mm or 172.5 mm. If
your legs are long or short for your height, go up or down a notch. If
you have long legs and can't stand the thought of riding 175s, find
some 180s, but be careful around corners. Main thing: don't fret about
a 5mm difference.
Stem length: The old way of sizing the stem - so your view of the
front hub is blocked by the handlebar - doesn't make sense because it
doesn't consider head tube angle & fork rake or upper body position.
You could have a blocked hub with a 74° head tube angle and 40 mm of
fork rake, but the same position with a 72°/50mm combo will push the
hub out in front. It's best to go by what feels good to you, not by
what looks right to somebody else, or an old Italian formula - that
with all due respect to the old Italians - never made sense in the
first place.
Stem length is always a compromise, anyway. A long stem feels better
climbing out of the saddle, because when you do that you lean forward,
so a long reach is no big deal, even feels good and non-cramping. A
short stem feels better down hills, because it makes it easier to push
your butt back, for safer braking.
Most of the women we fit with drop bars get an 8 cm or 9 cm stem, and
most men get a 9 cm to 11 cm, and subsequent stem changes of more than
a centimeter are rare.
Bar height: Most riders are super comfortable when the handlebar is
2-3 cm higher than the saddle, but that's hard to achieve with most
modern bikes. Shoot for getting the bars & saddle the same height,
ride the bike a lot, and raise or lower them as you need to. I like
mine 3-4 cm higher than the saddle, but that's me.
Shoe and cleat positioning can take hours or even days. One of the
goals is efficiency and just riding your bike enough will train that.
I strongly suspect pedaling unplugged (not strapped or clicked to the
pedals) trains your feet to move in circles better than if you're
solidly fixed to the pedal. You don't train a dog to come by pulling
on the leash. The other goal is preventing injuries. Most pedaling
injuries are repetitive stress injuries, from doing the same slightly
bad thing over and over and over again. Pedaling injuries most often
happen to thousand-miles-a-month riders who are plugged into the
pedals. Is it the shoes or the miles? I don't know, but the normal fix
is to reevaluate the position just in case the first plug-in position
didn't thread the needle exactly right, and then try a different
position and see if that works.
I think the best way to avoid pedaling-born knee problems is to ride
unplugged in non-clicky shoes on double-sided flat pedals that allow
you to find your perfect home without locking it there. When your foot
is free to roam a bit, you're less likely to repeat the same exact
motion until a tendon or something goes twang.
It's the difference between rigid robots and loose geese. With a
robot, if you don't align and lube a moving arm or a leg just right,
it grinds & sparks & squeaks until way to go, you wrecked the robot.
That's why robots have never fulfilled their promise of helping with
the housework. Geese, on the other hand, have such wing flexation that
- you can take this waterfowl fact to the bank - they've been known to
fly upside down on super long flights when they can't take a break.
Flying upside down uses different muscles, and when they get tired
they flip back over & feel like new, vivaciously refreshed men & women
all over again.
It's hard to believe how great pedaling unplugged is until you try it.
It's a high hurdle for beginners who are just getting into "serious"
riding and don't want to be held back; and for veterans who have
decades invested in pedaling plugged in, and who have spent a thousand
dollars on special shoes and pedals. If you have a hard time with it,
think about the feet-training again, in paragraph 17.
Getting a bike-fit can be a simple, logical, flowing process. You
don't need five hours inside searching for magic numbers that activate
your turbocharger. The main things are to get the handlebars high
enough & wide enough & the saddle at the right height, scooched back &
level or close to it. It may take one to three tries to find the right
stem length, but don't overthink it. Get a saddle you like, bar tape
that feels good, put the brake levers & shifters where you like them,
don some comfortable clothes, and then just go out & pedal loose like
a goose, not rigid like a 'bot. - Grant
======================================
pretty practical (one I got past the flat pedal advice).
======================================
>From Rivendell Reader 39, Spring 2007
Brushing out the Maypo with Ipana
There have been recent articles in fat & famous newspapers about bike-
fitting sessions that last 5 hours and cost up to 400 dollars. Our fit-
sessions would never make the newspapers, not even the local Contra
Costa Times, but this thin pub isn't as picky, plus, it has the
insider-thing going for it.
It's easy to rationalize five hours when you're looking at a bike that
costs $6,000 to $10,000 and you believe an imperfect fit could lead to
long-term injuries. Maybe in special cases it will, but most of us
riders have well-lubed ball-and-socket joints that evolved to let us
run away from fierce animals over rough terrain. We don't have rigid
robot joints that grind, squeak, & spark when something isn't laser-
aligned. Pedaling is low-to-no impact and is easy on joints, which is
why you can ride a bicycle into your eighties, and is why riding is
the exercise of choice for injured athletes in rehab.
Anyway, whether a fit session lasts five hours or fifteen minutes, the
goal, is still a position that lets you ride comfortably, efficiently,
and injury-free. That position is determined only by how you rest on
the bike's contact points-the saddle, handlebar, and pedals.
The thing is, you can be comfortable & efficient in more than one
precise position. That's good, because different surfaces, conditions,
loads, traffic, effort, & weather call for adjustments in position.
Here at Rivendell a fit-session starts with measuring your Pubic Bone
Height (PBH). Our site and our catalogue show how to measure it, but
it's easy to explain without pictures, and I've done it a hundred
times: Bare feet ten inches apart on a hard floor. Hook a metric
measuring tape over a thin edge (a hardcover book for instance), and
pull it all the way up until it's pressing hard against your pubic
bone. Have a math whiz take the reading on the floor.
PBH minus 10 to 10.5cm is your Saddle Height (center of crank to top
of saddle). Your frame size depends partly upon the frame's design,
but if we're talking about a bike with 700C road wheels, then take
away another 15cm if you're under 5' 8" & up to 19cm if you're 6' 5"
or taller, to get frame size. If you're in-between, subtract something
in-between.
Saddle fore-and-aft is a quickie. When they go at your knee with the
plumb bob, shifting your saddle back and forth until the bump just
below your knee is directly above the ball of your foot and the pedal
axle, they're working with old information (that you need to center
the ball of your foot below the knee-bump and just above the pedal
axle). I just shove the saddle all or almost all the way back on the
seat post, and 99 percent of the time it's good enough to send you out
on the road with, and you can work out the details there. We like the
knee-bump behind the pedal spindle, for reasons I don't have space to
go into here without having to shrink the type smaller than the 8.5
point it is already.
Saddle angle: Start with the saddle level, and see if that feels
right. It probably will, but now and then some riders like it nose-up
or nose-down a bit. You won't determine the absolute best saddle angle
during an indoor filling session. It has to happen outside.
Handlebar width is the easiest of all. In the old days the common
advice was to get the bars as wide as your shoulders. To me, it's
fishy. People say if the bars aren't wide enough, your chest won't
open up enough and you won't be able to breathe as well, but lungs
don't get squished that easily. You can prove that right now as you're
reading this. Press palm to palm: now breathe.
Still, I'm anti-narrow handlebars. Women usually get 38 cm & 40 cm,
and some go as narrow as 36 cm. That's what happens when you go by
shoulder-width. But when you think of the bar as a lever to control a
bike that wants to fall left or right with every stroke, a wider bar
makes sense, because it's a longer lever. Most riders who are open to
a wider bar and actually try it like it, and they never go back to
narrow after that. Try 2 cm wider than you ride right now.
The best thing I've read about crank length was a few years ago in
VeloNews, when Technical editor Lennard Zinn put riders with various
leg lengths on bikes with various crank lengths and somewhat
scientifically tested their performance cardiovascularly and
otherwise. The test showed most people, even tallies, do better with
165 mm cranks, generally favored by petites. That was a disconcerting
result. Nobody debates 165 mm cranks or 180 mm ones, though. It's
always a 2.5-5 mm debate.
It seems that crank length should grow or shrink according to your leg
length (or PBH), but if average-legged riders (PBH 51-57 cm) rode 170
mm or 172.5 mm, shorties (PBH 70-74 cm) would ride 120 mm, and tallies
(PBH 94-99 cm) would ride 210 mm, and that's not a world we live in.
Here's a guide that won't steer you far wrong: Under 5' 3"? Ride 165
mm. Over 6' 3"? Ride 175 mm. In between? Ride 170 mm or 172.5 mm. If
your legs are long or short for your height, go up or down a notch. If
you have long legs and can't stand the thought of riding 175s, find
some 180s, but be careful around corners. Main thing: don't fret about
a 5mm difference.
Stem length: The old way of sizing the stem - so your view of the
front hub is blocked by the handlebar - doesn't make sense because it
doesn't consider head tube angle & fork rake or upper body position.
You could have a blocked hub with a 74° head tube angle and 40 mm of
fork rake, but the same position with a 72°/50mm combo will push the
hub out in front. It's best to go by what feels good to you, not by
what looks right to somebody else, or an old Italian formula - that
with all due respect to the old Italians - never made sense in the
first place.
Stem length is always a compromise, anyway. A long stem feels better
climbing out of the saddle, because when you do that you lean forward,
so a long reach is no big deal, even feels good and non-cramping. A
short stem feels better down hills, because it makes it easier to push
your butt back, for safer braking.
Most of the women we fit with drop bars get an 8 cm or 9 cm stem, and
most men get a 9 cm to 11 cm, and subsequent stem changes of more than
a centimeter are rare.
Bar height: Most riders are super comfortable when the handlebar is
2-3 cm higher than the saddle, but that's hard to achieve with most
modern bikes. Shoot for getting the bars & saddle the same height,
ride the bike a lot, and raise or lower them as you need to. I like
mine 3-4 cm higher than the saddle, but that's me.
Shoe and cleat positioning can take hours or even days. One of the
goals is efficiency and just riding your bike enough will train that.
I strongly suspect pedaling unplugged (not strapped or clicked to the
pedals) trains your feet to move in circles better than if you're
solidly fixed to the pedal. You don't train a dog to come by pulling
on the leash. The other goal is preventing injuries. Most pedaling
injuries are repetitive stress injuries, from doing the same slightly
bad thing over and over and over again. Pedaling injuries most often
happen to thousand-miles-a-month riders who are plugged into the
pedals. Is it the shoes or the miles? I don't know, but the normal fix
is to reevaluate the position just in case the first plug-in position
didn't thread the needle exactly right, and then try a different
position and see if that works.
I think the best way to avoid pedaling-born knee problems is to ride
unplugged in non-clicky shoes on double-sided flat pedals that allow
you to find your perfect home without locking it there. When your foot
is free to roam a bit, you're less likely to repeat the same exact
motion until a tendon or something goes twang.
It's the difference between rigid robots and loose geese. With a
robot, if you don't align and lube a moving arm or a leg just right,
it grinds & sparks & squeaks until way to go, you wrecked the robot.
That's why robots have never fulfilled their promise of helping with
the housework. Geese, on the other hand, have such wing flexation that
- you can take this waterfowl fact to the bank - they've been known to
fly upside down on super long flights when they can't take a break.
Flying upside down uses different muscles, and when they get tired
they flip back over & feel like new, vivaciously refreshed men & women
all over again.
It's hard to believe how great pedaling unplugged is until you try it.
It's a high hurdle for beginners who are just getting into "serious"
riding and don't want to be held back; and for veterans who have
decades invested in pedaling plugged in, and who have spent a thousand
dollars on special shoes and pedals. If you have a hard time with it,
think about the feet-training again, in paragraph 17.
Getting a bike-fit can be a simple, logical, flowing process. You
don't need five hours inside searching for magic numbers that activate
your turbocharger. The main things are to get the handlebars high
enough & wide enough & the saddle at the right height, scooched back &
level or close to it. It may take one to three tries to find the right
stem length, but don't overthink it. Get a saddle you like, bar tape
that feels good, put the brake levers & shifters where you like them,
don some comfortable clothes, and then just go out & pedal loose like
a goose, not rigid like a 'bot. - Grant
======================================
