These keep going on and on, I know. But fitting a bike is so cool and so extensive in the science and physiology that goes into doing it right, I can't stop talking about it.
Now we're going to get into fitting myself on a bike. For everyone who was paying attention in the color measurement game I talked about in previous posts, I am a yellow and green combination for my flexibility and range of motion. But there's more to my fit than just that.
Our fit bike was a 58cm, which is what I assumed I would be, possibly a 56cm since I like a smaller bike. However, things changed awfully quick. I will get into that shortly.
First off, my pre on the bike assessment showed the color ranges I listed above, but also showed me that I actually have a slight toe-out in my right foot. Something I found strange since my whole life I have been pigeon toed and slightly bow-legged.
After making the slight adjustment to my cleats to fix to my foot position, I felt immediately more comfortable. From there, we checked out my hip, knee, ankle alignment and found I had to push my cleats all of the way in as well. It may possibly be a good idea for me to put in some spacers or find some pedals with a wider Q-factor.
Again, once these adjustments were made, I found even more comfort on the bike. Things just kept getting better. But what started to pop out was the fact that I wasn't getting the stretch on the bike that I needed. I wasn't quite getting comfortable, even as they brought the handlebars up. So the main speaker came over and gave us some insight. Instead of popping me up higher, since I like a more aggressive position, slide me both out and down. It was weird to think about it, but every time we went further out, I became more comfortable and seemed able to do better work on the bike as well. The only thing that was changing was the top of my pedal stroke was starting to seem like it was being cut off. The fix there? Shorter crank arms.
At this point, I was at 130mm stem with a -7 degree pitch. On a 58cm. Crazy. I never would have thought I needed this much stretch on my bike. But as they looked at me more, it was determined I have a much longer torso than lower body. So I am disproportionate to the upper body. I needed more top tube to open me up. At this type of position, I was looking at a 60 or 62cm bike. Again, mind-boggling to me. Especially since I came in thinking 56 or 58cm. Either way, I was feeling better.
This just goes to show you that simply throwing your leg over a bike and checking stand over clearance doesn't mean the bike will fit.
-Dave
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