Buy the right size road bike -- Introduction
https://vimeo.com/261856637/18615d0013
Purchasing the right size bikes is the first step in making sure you have the proper bike fit. Without getting the right bike, tinkering with the fit is somewhat of a lost cause.How hard could it be? Well, turns out pretty hard in many cases.
If you just look at the basic numbers of it, it becomes clear. They build bikes for riders usually ranging from about 5’0” (152 cm) up to about 6’4” or 6’5” (195 cm), and have done so for many years. Back a number of years ago, when bikes were built out of metal predominantly and with what we call traditional geometry -- meaning the top tube is horizontal compared to the sloping top tubes of today’s compact geometry frames -- it wasn’t uncommon to see a model made in nine, ten or even twelve sizes.
Today, it’s rare to see six or seven sizes, and four or five is most common. So what this means is that while they still make bikes to fit the same range of sizes of people, they’re doing so with fewer sizes. This inevitably means more people in between sizes.
When we are in between sizes of a bike, the selection becomes a problem of the lesser of evils. It’s likely that neither will produce a great bike fit scenario but which will include the fewest compromises.
This program is built around taking the information from your existing bike (and it doesn’t matter if that bike is perfect or terrible) and drawing conclusions from it. We’ll correlate how it’s currently set up (length and rise of stem) with the issues and sensations it gives you (Struggle with saddle discomfort? Or hand pressure? Upper back/neck pain?) to make virtual adjustments to it so that we can better plan the geometry we’ll be looking for in your next bike.
Most people going through this program are in the situation where they have a current bike that they’re not entirely happy with, or they’re just not 100% sure it’s the right size. If you don’t have a bike to work from right now, then the process isn’t drastically more difficult but you will have to do a bit more work, because I’d recommend you get on a bike any way you can -- borrow one from a similarly-sized friend or acquaintance, rent one from a bike shop for a day or two. The effort and expense will be very much worth it, because the biggest mistake new riders make in buying a bike is they defer to the salespeople since they have no frame of reference.
A reference point will be hugely helpful -- even if it’s just a couple days of borrowing or test riding -- since how you feel on the bike trumps anything that a salesperson tells you.I need to make clear that this process is geared toward getting you a bike that will allow for your best possible bike fit. Notice I didn’t say you will finish with a perfect bike fit. This is because bike fitting and bike sizing are very different tasks. Bike sizing is a much “coarser” or broad strokes kind of sequence, where bike fitting is attending to the very fine details of every possible mechanical and ergonomic nuance. Obtaining a perfect bike fit is well beyond the scope of this program. However, we need to have the best sized frame first if we have any chance of having that perfect bike fit. The bike sizing is critical and has to be done first to ensure the best fit and when done right makes proper bike fitting much easier.By the end of this program, you will be armed with numbers and a more complete understanding of what you need to look for in your new bike. You’ll be able to laser-focus your purchase and quickly rule bikes in or out based on a quick check of their build specs and geometry. I want to empower you so that you can take charge of the money you’re going to invest in this new bike, and the best way to make sure someone is going to ride and enjoy their new bike is to first make sure it can achieve a great bike fit.
What if I don’t have a bike? // This is my first road bike…
If you don’t own a road bike and/or this will be your first one, then you’re at a distinct disadvantage, because you have no history, or body of knowledge, to refer to and draw conclusions from. Obviously having owned and ridden a road bike, even one that’s sized and fit poorly, will give you some information to base your decision making on even if it’s “I don’t want my new bike to feel (fit) like that!” If this will be your first bike you unfortunately don’t even have the benefit of that.So what can you do?
You could use one of those formulas you see online occasionally where you plug in a few of your body measurements and it spits out your position. But the problem with these is that….well, the problem is that they just don’t work for most riders. If you have great fitness, few or no movement issues and you fall into the middle of the bell curve for height, inseam, torso length, reach, etc.) then it might work. If you’re like the other 95% of the population then it won’t. But here’s what I would recommend; it’s going to take a little effort but the result (your new bike) will be much better:
We need to get you that experience.How, you ask? Through borrowing, demo-ing, and renting. Perhaps you have a friend, acquaintance, family member with a bike you suspect is near your size. Ask to borrow it, even if it means just a couple rides on an indoor trainer or thirty minutes around the park (after all we want to be nice to their bike and not presume it’s okay to take it on a 80-mile epic in the rain or hang on to it for a month). Many local bike shops offer chances to demo bikes, sometimes for free or a very small fee. If not you could always rent a bike for a day or two. There’s a chance that they’ll work with you on the cost of the demo/rental especially if you let them know that you’re in the market for a new bike and will be purchasing one soon. They will likely even help point you in the direction of a size they think would fit you (why not just rely on their recommendation instead of going through this program? More on this later…).
You’d be right to wonder how doing a few test rides is going to help that much.We’re going to accelerate your learning process through this program and you’re going to learn a bunch in a very short period of time. Most riders will have looked at few (or none) of the things we’re going to be talking about in the next few sections and assessing them while you’re riding is going to provide us with a wealth of information to draw conclusions from.
Put as simply as I can: If you do each test ride and you’ve recorded in a basic way (it only take a few minutes) the main measurements of the frame and how the components are set up on it (again more on this in the next few sections), when you see how each new bike (and new setup) makes you feel, it’ll naturally point you in the direction of what setup you should be aiming for. You will learn a huge amount in a very short period of time.Because you’ll be riding different bikes and different setups, you can make a case that you’re going to be learning more than all those people that already have a bike they’ve been riding for a while because chances are they haven’t seen or tested as many iterations of setup as you have.So for all of you that DO have a bike and have read this section, I’d encourage you to experiment with different setups so that you can learn more about your position -- even if it’s just what you DON’T want your bike to feel like.
We get into this at the end of the next section where we categorize you based on how your bike feels and whether you’ve explored your bike fit or made changes to it.So go on some test rides, experiment with things, but document it all. There will be a documentation sheet in the form of a pdf at the beginning of the next section, and I’d encourage you to fill one out for each bike and set-up you ride.