- There's no reason to be uncomfortable on your bike.
Hi, I'm Jason with a co-op.
Yes, a good bike fit is important for not only performance,
but also comfort, spending time in the saddle.
Performance writers can spend a lot of time tweaking
and getting those things exactly right for themselves,
but for most of us, we just want our bike to fit
and be done with it.
I'm gonna show you a few simple steps
to make sure you get that done for yourself.
Things you're gonna need.
We'll start off with Allen wrenches.
You need an Allen wrench for adjusting your seat height
which could be done here,
you might have a quick release that you can use,
but if you don't,
you're gonna need to actually have an Allen wrench
that fits this spot to raise the seat height.
And you're also gonna need an Allen wrench
underneath your saddle to kind of move it forward and back.
You're also gonna need a plumb bob,
which is basically a string
with anything of weight tied to the end of it.
It could be keys,
it could be an actual plumb line.
We're gonna use that for getting our seat forward
and backwards adjustment correct.
And you're gonna want a bike
that's the right frame size
and there's a simple check for that.
For road bikes,
you wanna stand over the top tube,
feet flat on the ground,
and you wanna lift it up until the top tube
makes contact with your body.
And that should be about an inch.
If it's a mountain bike, same thing,
straddle the top tube,
but you've got plenty of room to move
with this or recreational bike
just cause the top tube is at a steeper angle
and you're riding on uneven ground.
And so you need a little bit more clarity
to step off the bike.
So a bike fit starts with your seat adjustments.
Your height and how forward and back it is.
That's the foundation of your bike fit.
And you wanna start with this every time.
And you wanna make sure that you start off
with a seat level.
If the front end is tipped down a little bit,
it can cause you to slide forward
put too much pressure on your hands
you can get numbness in your hands and fingers.
So level seat and we're gonna start with a height first.
Having a second person's assistance can be really helpful
in a bike fit.
They can stand and straddle the front wheel
and hold the bike up for you while you do this
but you can do it alone.
And so I'm gonna demonstrate how that works.
Using that table to hold myself up.
I'm getting on the bike,
you definitely wanna fit your bike with the shoes
that you plan to ride in,
and the thickness basically, the thickness of the soul
is the same as the ones you're gonna ride in.
You don't wanna try your bike
on with some thin slippers
and then wear a thicker soled shoe
while you're actually riding
cause it'll throw off the bike fit.
With your feet on the pedals.
Pedal around, put one crank straight down
in the six o'clock position
and see that you have a slight bend in your knee.
That's what you're looking for.
If you have a locked leg,
it means your legs having to reach too far
to get to the pedal,
and you're gonna really make your your hips swivel,
you're gonna give yourself some low back pain.
If you're experiencing low back pain,
that might be what it's from.
And also, you're rubbing on your seat more
and you might get a little saddle sore.
So not ideal.
If your seat is too low,
and your knee is too bent like this,
that's when you're gonna lose efficiency
and it could actually develop some knee pain.
(pop sound)
Now that we have the seat height adjusted correctly,
we wanna adjust how forward
or back that seat is in relation to the pedals.
So you wanna to get on the bike,
put your pedals in position three o'clock and nine o'clock.
So your your pedal cranks are horizontal to the ground,
doing this myself it's important to have my hand
on that brake, so I don't ride away accidentally.
But this is when I'm gonna take that weighted line,
the plumb bob and I'm gonna move it over
and hang it from right in front of my knee
and look to see that it doesn't come down
right in front of the middle of the pedal.
That's the position you want.
If this line is dropping down by your toes,
it means your seat is too far forward.
If this line is dropping clear back behind the pedal
or somewhere further back,
it means your seat is too far back.
Once you have the seat height
and fore aft adjusted for pedaling efficiency,
you don't wanna touch that again.
That's where it needs to be for optimum biking.
(pop sound)
Everything else is gonna have to do with the reach
or how far forward you're reaching to get to the handlebars
from the saddle.
Shorter reach is back here
where you're a little more upright and it's relaxed.
A longer reach as you're further forward,
you're down and aerodynamic
and slightly more aggressive stance.
So ideal body position here for the reach length,
my body should be at about a 45 degree angle
to the horizontal,
and my arms should be coming out of my body
at about a 90 degree angle down, to the handlebars.
If that's not the case,
then this stem is what needs to be adjusted.
If I'm reaching way too far out,
you can get a shorter stem
and it can bring you back into this position.
From up too high,
I can get a longer stem
or something is down a little bit lower angle,
and that'll get me into the correct reach for me.
Your reach is really gonna
be determined by, what the stem length is
and what the stem angle is.
And there's a variety of angles
that maybe come straight out,
some that comes up at an angle,
some are shorter, some are longer.
The stem is really what's gonna help you
put your handlebars in a position
that gives you the right reach.
That's when you might need somebody's help
from a bike shop to help you get the stem
that's gonna be right for you.
Those are the basic steps of a bike fit.
Seat height, adjusting back and forth on the seat,
and also your reach length.
Adjusting a bike and fitting a bike is really an art.
And so we really do recommend
you go to a professional fitter if you can get to one
but this should get you on your way
to having a comfortable bike on your own.
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