Make Sure Your Bike Is Fit To Ride

Fit is a bike’s most important characteristic. but focusing on bike fit—rather than frame fit—opens up your options when searching for your next perfect bike.

Written By Aaron Hersh
From bike shops to message boards, triathlon pundits of all varieties espouse the importance of bike fit. Many preach that a rider must determine his or her personal fit coordinates to the millimetre and then select the one frame that best matches. Fit dictates the bike frame selected by the rider. Comfort on the bike is, after all, far too important to leave to chance.

They are right to some extent—a triathlon bike must fit well for the cyclist to ride comfortably, efficiently and fast. But fit is not determined by the frame alone; it’s also influenced by the components that connect the person to the machine— including the stem, aerobars, saddle and headset spacers—in combination with the frame.

The purpose of a bike fit is to find the locations of the three contact points (the saddle, cranks and aerobars) that join the rider and the bike. To go from these points in space to a real bike, the fitter selects a frame and components that position the contact points to precisely match the rider’s fit. There are three ways to go about this. The first of which, the most ideal—and usually most expensive— method, is building a custom frame, which allows the bike to match any position using any contact components. The other two methods, explained here, apply if you are considering a stock triathlon bike for your next purchase.

Contact Components First
First choose the stem and aerobars you want, then select the frame that matches your fit when paired with those components. This strategy eliminates the need to use an oddly shaped stem or spacers that sacrifice steering quality, stiffness and possibly aerodynamic performance. This method is widely considered the “right” way to pick a triathlon bike because it eliminates the need to shoehorn the rider onto his or her bike with questionable components and optimises the frame’s ride characteristics. But it does limit the frames you can choose from. It also ignores the fact that the components can be swapped or adjusted to substantially change the bike’s fit with only minor sacrifices to the stiffness, steering and aerodynamic performance.

Frame First
Start by selecting a frame, then pick the contact point components—saddle, crank, stem, spacers and aerobars—that create a complete bike that matches your fit. Utilising the variability of these parts increases the number of frame options available to each rider. The fit range that any bike can accommodate without screwing up steering, stiffness or safety is limited, however, and the frames that can match your fit are largely determined by your riding style. Are you willing to sit out on the nose of the saddle and push your limits to get into a potentially aerodynamic position? Do you prefer to sit on the meat of your saddle and ride with a taller aerobar position to ensure comfort during the ride and run? Do you have a physical limitation or unusual body proportion that prevents you from riding in a certain position?

Identifying your riding style through a bike fit allows you to arrive at a list of bikes that match that style, instead of a single option, while still preserving the bike’s ride characteristics.

Different Riding Styles:
Upright: A problem flares up when you bend too far at the waist or move forward on the saddle. Maybe you can’t get comfortable teetering on the saddle nose, or you have a physical limitation. the formula for a successful race is riding without inhibition.

Aggressive: speed is your only concern; aerodynamic drag is your enemy. to save precious seconds on the bike you are willing to spend time getting accustomed to an extreme position that would make many riders beg for aerobar risers. no compromises.

FILED UNDER: All / Gear & Tech TAGS: Aaron-Hersh / advice / Aerodynamic / Bike / component / Cycle / Fit / how-to / Saddle / Tips

Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which you can buy on Amazon

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