Bike Fittings
Benefits of a Professional Fitting:
A professional fitting is the best way to get the most out of your bike and your riding. A well-fitted cheap, low-end bike will outperform a poorly-fitted, super expensive bike any day. If cycling is a routine part of your life, whether a racer, commuter, or just a casual rider, getting your fit checked and improved can bring enormous benefits to your riding.
- Gives a huge boost to your power and efficiency to ride further and faster
- Greatly improves comfort, and reduces aches and pains
- Helps to prevent injuries
A professional fitting is the best way to get the most out of your bike and your riding. A well-fitted cheap, low-end bike will outperform a poorly-fitted, super expensive bike any day. If cycling is a routine part of your life, whether a racer, commuter, or just a casual rider, getting your fit checked and improved can bring enormous benefits to your riding.
Niall Gengler is a certified fitter through SICI's Fit Program, and has over a decade of experience fitting all types of riders.
How it Works
Bike fitting involves using well researched biomechanics to put your position within a range where it is well known to give the best performance, as well as injury prevention and comfort. Then, the very fine tuning of exactly where within that range you should be involves carefully listening to feedback from the rider, and observing how the body responds to each change in position. Each individual needs very different things, which is why an in-person fitting, and observing how you actually respond and feel is so important to getting you into the position that you need. The process is a lot of fun because as the rider you can directly feel the differences in position and how they affect the ease and performance of pedaling, and comfort.
Process:
I'll have you bring in your current bike, and I will set it up on a stationary trainer. We'll talk about what you've been experiencing with aches, pains, any past injuries, and talk about what types of riding you like to do and how you use your bike.
I'll have you get pedaling and will take measurements to look at what your current riding position looks like. Its very rare that there isn't something to be improved... usually quite a lot! The pace you'll be riding on the trainer for the fitting will be nice and easy, so don't worry about having to perform an epic workout. If you will be using your bike specifically for racing, and/or will be riding with lots of high intensity, we will simulate those conditions for testing and achieving the best fit, but for most recreational riders the riding effort needed is low, with just some short, moderate efforts.
Time and Cost:
Typically fittings for existing bikes take anywhere from 1-2 hours and cost $200.
What to Bring:
You'll need your bike, riding clothes, and riding shoes. It is also helpful to bring a waterbottle.
After the Fitting:
Sometimes it is possible to achieve your new fit position by adjusting your bike as is, and no additional parts are necessary. In other cases, parts such as a new stem, seatpost, or saddle for example may be needed. If certain components such as a new saddle or different length stem are necessary to achieve your new fit, I can supply and install whatever new parts you need. I have access to almost every bike part brand out there, so there are typically loads of options for any given part, and it is possible to choose from budget to super high end.
In some cases, a customer's bike might unfortunately be so far off from fitting properly that there is little that can be done to get to an ideal position with the existing bike. In those cases, I do whatever I can and makes sense to get the most out of the bike for the customer, but looking towards a new bike might be necessary. If the customer is then planning on finding a new bike, I can provide fit info from the fitting to help determine what off-the-shelf bike sizes might work. For the ideal fit situation, commissioning me to build a custom bike is also an option of course!
General cost reference for common parts sometimes needed after fittings (this does not include installation):
Process:
I'll have you bring in your current bike, and I will set it up on a stationary trainer. We'll talk about what you've been experiencing with aches, pains, any past injuries, and talk about what types of riding you like to do and how you use your bike.
I'll have you get pedaling and will take measurements to look at what your current riding position looks like. Its very rare that there isn't something to be improved... usually quite a lot! The pace you'll be riding on the trainer for the fitting will be nice and easy, so don't worry about having to perform an epic workout. If you will be using your bike specifically for racing, and/or will be riding with lots of high intensity, we will simulate those conditions for testing and achieving the best fit, but for most recreational riders the riding effort needed is low, with just some short, moderate efforts.
Time and Cost:
Typically fittings for existing bikes take anywhere from 1-2 hours and cost $200.
What to Bring:
You'll need your bike, riding clothes, and riding shoes. It is also helpful to bring a waterbottle.
After the Fitting:
Sometimes it is possible to achieve your new fit position by adjusting your bike as is, and no additional parts are necessary. In other cases, parts such as a new stem, seatpost, or saddle for example may be needed. If certain components such as a new saddle or different length stem are necessary to achieve your new fit, I can supply and install whatever new parts you need. I have access to almost every bike part brand out there, so there are typically loads of options for any given part, and it is possible to choose from budget to super high end.
In some cases, a customer's bike might unfortunately be so far off from fitting properly that there is little that can be done to get to an ideal position with the existing bike. In those cases, I do whatever I can and makes sense to get the most out of the bike for the customer, but looking towards a new bike might be necessary. If the customer is then planning on finding a new bike, I can provide fit info from the fitting to help determine what off-the-shelf bike sizes might work. For the ideal fit situation, commissioning me to build a custom bike is also an option of course!
General cost reference for common parts sometimes needed after fittings (this does not include installation):
- New Stem: ~$25-40 'budget' pick, ~$70-85 typical 'high end', $85+ for very high end/exotic materials
- New Saddle: ~$40-70 'budget' pick, ~$70-120 typical 'high end', $120+ for very high end/exotic materials
- New Handlebars: ~$30-50 budget, ~$50-85 high end, $85+ very high end
- Seatpost: ~$20-45 budget, ~$45-85 high end, $90+ very high end
Fitting the legendary "High Mileage Steve" for a custom frame: Steve usually rides 20,000-30,000 miles a year!