Case Study One - DId I really do this fit?

A bike fit is not permanent, it’s simply a snapshot of a point in time. Like your bike or your gear, your fit evolves and needs to be refreshed. A general rule of thumb I have used is barring any trauma resulting in injury, or radical improvement or decrease in fitness, have your fit re-assessed every two to three years. I’ve refit literally hundreds of riders and can’t think of one who did not feel the process wasn’t completely worth the time and investment. The scope of the changes vary from rider to rider, sometimes adjustments only in millimeters, but the feedback I receive from these clients is always positive. They can noticeably feel the change during and after their rides.
I recently had a client stop by the shop to get a new pair of cleats set. Simple enough and it takes just a few minutes. I ask clients to bring their bikes and kit to these adjustments so I can validate the cleat set while they are pedaling, allowing me to ensure the cleat rotation and placement is just right. As he got on the bike and began pedaling his fit looked different....a bit off...wrong even. The reach to his bars was egregiously long and it appeared to be a stretch for him to reach the bottom of his pedal stroke. Frankly, it didn’t look like a fit I would do. Well, in fact it was....sort of.
The last time I had fit him was roughly two years ago. We had just met and at the time he was just starting an indoor cycling training program. An avid cyclist and bicycle enthusiast in the highest order, he had a passion for riding and was seeking to improve his cycling and fitness. He was sequencing things correctly by getting his bike fit first.
Over the course of the appointment and through our discussion we made significant changes to his fit, all of which he understood and appreciated. His fundamental positioning and center of balance was changed. We’d set him up for comfort, power and success. After the fit we worked on his pedal stroke with the aid of spinscan, a computer guided stroke application that graphically shows the client how and when they are applying power to the pedals. His stroke needed work but after a few minutes of coaching and visual feedback he completely smoothed out his stroke and stabilized himself in the saddle.
So what changed between his first fit and today? In a nutshell he’d changed. I could see that he had slimmed down, significantly improved his strength and radically smoothed his pedal stroke. All of these changes, a result of hours and hours of time and focus had resulted in him sitting much further back in the saddle. This is not to say that all cyclists who get stronger and more experienced move rearward in the saddle. Every rider is different. This simply illustrates that for cyclists, over time, things change. He had used the fit we’d set him up with but it was now time for an update.
As we were getting his cleats set and he was on the bike I could clearly see what was needed. “Look, you need to be re-fit.” “Really?” he replied. “Can we just move my seat a bit?” It’s not good business to sell someone a service they don’t need. Neither party wins so I don’t go there but if there is no doubt that a client needs to be refit I strongly recommend it. He needed more than a quarter hour consult. A little hesitant he agreed and we arranged a time.
Sure enough, as with the first appointment, he completely understood what I was doing and the value of having his fit checked and adjusted. A bike is a series of angles. Change one thing and you’ve just changed two others at the same time. We made changes to a number of his coordinates, even ended up putting on new handlebars to adjust his reach to his drops. We also shortened his reach and placed him more firmly over his pedals. Balancing a rider on the bike takes advantage of how the bike was engineered and where the frame designer assumes the riders center of balance will be. If a rider is positioned incorrectly the bike will not respond as it’s designed to. Too far forward and the bike feels twitchy. Too far back and the front might feel sluggish. Centralizing the weight of the rider over the bottom bracket and viola! I took one final look from all aspects, asking him to move his hands from one position to the next on the bars and pedal under different loads, running through various gears, and deemed the fit complete.
As with his first fit we finished by working on his pedal stroke. That was the icing on the cake. With the exception of a small hitch at the top of the stroke he had managed to completely reengineer his entire pedaling style, becoming smoother and more fluid, driving the pedals throughout the entire circle. He now sits more firmly in the saddle and has a gentle hold on the bars with his shoulders relaxed. I’m happy to take a little credit. I’m sure it helped but he was the one who did all the work. Well done!
I’ll see you on the road. -Paul Kundrat