Take this test! Are you "bike fit challenged"?
It'll come as no surprise that some people are more bike fit challenged than others. I've mentioned in the past that with the way bikes are built these days, with fewer sizes, more people inevitably fall in between sizes. I've gotten a lot of questions about this - the most common being "what bike will fit me best?" This can be a really difficult question to answer since it really is something determined on a case by case basis.https://youtu.be/3BoRGbutUecBut it also became clear based on the questions I got that I should do a video to help people determine whether they're going to be more of a challenge to fit to a typical bike than the average person. So here we go....a quick a relatively easy to execute couple of tests to figure out whether you're a huge pain in the butt to fit to a bike or whether you're one of the lucky ones that can fit bikes pretty easily.There are three main factors in play here.
- Inseam length. More specifically How long your inseam is relative to your height - the greater the percentage your inseam is of your total height then the shorter your torso is. Having a relatively long torso will make it easier to fit to bike. Why not just measure torso length? Simply because measuring inseam and total height are easier.
- How long your reach is, again compared to your height. We can compare your wingspan or arm reach to your total height and get a measurement of what's called your "ape index". The longer your arms are relative to your height, the easier you'll be to fit.
- How flexible and strong you are -- the more athletic you are, generally the easier time you'll have fitting a bike
Here's how we interpret these numbers to see if you're a difficult bike fit or an easy one:Inseam -- Take your inseam length and divide it by your height. I'm 5'10" tall and have a 33" inseam so 33/70 equals .47 . This means that my inseam represents 47% of my total height and appears to be pretty much average for the population. The higher your number, means that your inseam is a greater percentage of your total height. Many rides are at 50-51%. Having a long inseam works against you on the bike because it also means that your torso is a smaller percentage of your height. Having a longer torso is much more conducive to an simple bike fit as it makes the reach to the handlebars easier. With longer legs and inseam, this just means the saddle is higher and doesn't help solve any of the more standard bike fit problems. A rider with a shorter inseam - lower percentage of total height, perhaps 41-42% -- will generally have a little easier time fitting a given bike.Reach or Ape Index -- If we subtract reach from height we can get an idea of how long the arm are relative to height. I personally am 60 inches tall (5'10") but I have a 64 inch wingspan, so my Ape Index is +4 inches. Longer arms will make it easier to fit a bike as well.Athleticism -- Here we're going to keep it simple. There are many ways to quantify and measure athleticism, but I'd like to keep this simpler than that. We'll just consider very generally how athletic we are. Most people have at least some sense of how mobile and strong they are -- we can accomplish what we need to by just judging ourselves very superficially. Often we'll use athleticism as the "tie breaker" in our "easy fit-tough fit" judgement.For instance, someone who is 76 inches tall (6'4") and has a 78 inch wingspan and a 38 inch inseam. Their inseam is almost 51% of their height and their Ape Index is +2.The +2 Ape Index is good but not exceptional. More exceptional is the extra long inseam which definitely can make it a challenge to fit some bikes. Let's assume this rider is very athletic -- they have very good flexibility and have great truck control and strength. This athleticism may be enough to make it clear that he'll be an average to good bike fit, despite his long inseam.Watch the video, and do the test. Let me know in the comments of the video or here what your numbers look like. Are you bike fit challenged?