Speaker: You've just got your hands on your very first bike, how exciting. I still think
it's the best feeling in the world, getting a new bike or getting your first bike. I remember
getting my very first bike and it was a secondhand bike from my dad's friend and I was so excited.
I could not wait to get out in it. Before we go out on our brand new bikes we need to
set it up properly. Setting up your bike properly is the difference between having a safe and
comfortable ride and a not so comfortable ride. I've waited until this very video to
set up my new bike. This is my new Orbea Orca, and I am very excited about it. The favorite
part about this bike is definitely the forks. They're very snazzy.
As I said, I have waited until this very video to set it up and I'm going to take you through
all the basics you need to know about setting up your brand new bike.
[music] I'm going to make some assumptions that your
bike has already arrived assembled by either you or your local bike shop have built it
up. That is with the wheels, the saddle, the handlebars and stuff already on. Before we
get started, we are going to need some basic tools. If you haven't got any already, I would
recommend a small multitool like this one. It's got everything you need to set up your
bike, and it's going to come in handy after, say if you're out on a ride and something
works loose on your bike, you can fit this in your saddle bag or in your back pocket,
and it can get you out of most problems when you're out on your ride.
When I say tighten up the bolt, don't go crazy. Over tightening isn't good. Be careful when
you do. You can get yourself a torque wrench. You just tighten it up and it does a little
click when it's tight enough. [music]
The first step, I'm going to chat about three contact points on the bike, your saddle, your
handlebars, and your pedals. These are three important things to get right when setting
your bike up. Just a little tip for you, you can put your bike in a static trainer whilst
you're setting up your position. This will make it easier because you can jump on and
off and test the position out to see if it works for you. If you don't have one, don't
worry, you can do all these steps without one. You could even get your family member
to hold you upright while you test the position. [music]
I'm going to start off by putting my pedals on my bike. This is going to make setting
the rest of the bike up a lot easier. Now, your bike might have come with flat pedals.
They are the most common pedals but there are lots of different pedals out that you
can get. I've opted for clipless pedals, but even though they're called clipless, you do
actually clip into them. I find these are really good. You can really get the most out
of every pedal stroke, and there are lots of different clipless pedals that you can
get. You can get single sided or double sided, so shop around and see what takes your fancy.
When you go to putting your pedals on, make sure you grease them, if they are new. Mine
have come off an old bike, so they still have a fair amount of grease on them. Also, make
sure you put them on at the right way. Always start fitting your pedals by hand and then
use an Allen key or a pedal Spanner once the threads have caught. The last thing you want
to do is damage the threads in your crank. You only need to nip them up tight, otherwise
they might be a bit tough to remove. If you do want to try out clipless pedals, then we
have done an in depth video on how to set them up
[music] The saddle height will affect your pedaling
efficiency. Now, it's important to get the saddle height right because the wrong saddle
height can aggravate or contribute to any injuries. To adjust our saddle height, we
need to loosen this bolt here to allow the seatpost to move up and down. I'm just going
to show you a rough a quick guide to how I set my saddle height. First step, make sure
what you're wearing what you'd wear if you're going on a ride. That includes bib shorts
and cycling shoes. If you have them, this way any adjustments we make accurate.
A really simple way to set your saddle height is to sit on your bike and place your pedal
down at six o'clock. Place your foot in the middle of the pedal and you should have a
nice slight bend in your leg. As you can see, this saddle is way too high for me. I'm having
to rotate my hips to be able to reach the pedal up when it's at the bottom. I need to
put my saddle height down. Make sure to tighten enough so the seatpost doesn't slip, but be
careful not to over tighten on carbon frames or seatposts. I've just moved my saddle height
down and now as you can see I've got a nice slight bend in it. My leg isn't locked out
and I don't have to rotate my hips to be able to reach the pedals.
If the saddle height is too low, it will put strain on your knees on the top of the pedal
stroke. If it's too high, you will have to rotate your hips to be able to reach the bottom
of the pedal. [music]
Next, we're going to move on to the saddle lay back. This is getting the saddle in the
right position, so it can move forwards and backwards if we undo this bolt here. The idea
of this is to get the saddle in the best position for you to get maximum force through the pedals.
You want to sit on your bike with your foot at three o'clock and now your knee should
go straight down through the pedal. You only need to slightly loosen the bolt to allow
the saddle to move. When adjusting make sure you don't exceed the minimum or the maximum
distances marked on the saddle rails. Once you're happy go ahead and tighten your
bolt up. It might be a good idea to take a little multitool out on your first few rides,
so you can make some little tweaks when you're out. You might also want to consider the angle
of your saddle. I like to ride with mine pretty flat, but depending on the type of saddle
you have, you might want to tilt it down a little bit or up a little bit. Whatever that
you feel is more comfortable. You do this using the same bolt, loosening slightly, and
putting pressure on the tip or the tail of the saddle.
Your new bike might already come with a saddle on it, but it might not be the right saddle
for you. Try that out for a few rides, and if you are
getting some discomfort from it, head to your local bike shop and see if you can try out
a saddle. There are a huge variety of saddles out there, so it's a good idea to trial a
few before you commit to buying one. [music]
The combination of the handlebars, the gears the brakes and the stem are what we call a
cockpit. There's plenty we can do and adjust here to make your bike fit better, perform
better, feel more comfortable, and help you be in better control of your bike.
[music] You can raise or lower your handlebars to
suit your posture and adjust your reach. Having higher handlebars will give you more of an
upright position, and bring everything a little bit closer to you. You could also do the opposite,
so this tends to be more of an aggressive position used by riders who are racing. As
you can see my handlebars are as high as they can go at the moment. Coming from a racing
background, I like my handlebars quite low, so I'm going to lower my handlebars. To adjust
the height of handlebars we need to undo the top cap and stem clamps on the side. Do this
by using an Allen key. The top cap will come out like that. You can then pull your handlebars
up like that. Most bikes have spaces like this. You can
slide them off and rearrange them, just make sure you have the same amount of spaces after,
so the headset will be able to tighten. Once your happy with the height of handlebars put
your handlebars back on the steerer, and make sure it's all the way down so there's no gaps
in between. You then want to put your top cap on, and start screwing that back in.
[music] We need to make sure the handlebars are straight
as well, so make sure you line everything up nice and straight. Start tightening everything
back up. Slowly tighten the bolt, rocking the bike until there's no play in it. Make
sure to do the ones on the side of the stem as well. Once you've made sure everything
is tight, you're good to go. [music]
You can also tweak your handlebars and levers by moving the bar on the stem, and you can
do this by loosening the four bolts on the front of the stem. You can also do the same
for the levers. If you undo them and then you can move them around and slightly on the
bar. This is a really important one because you need to be able to reach your brakes and
your gears from the tops and on the drops. A good starting point is to have them level
like I have them here, and then you could go out and feel like you need them a little
bit higher, so you can adjust them. If you do want to change the position of your
levers, you can do so by peeling back the rubber hood, and it should unveil a little
bolt inside. You need to undo that bolt and give it a little wiggle around. There isn't
too much room for adjustment here because of the handlebar tape, but it should be enough
to get it in the right position for you. Hopefully, this video will give you a good starting point,
but the more you start to ride your bike the more you'll understand what works for you
and what doesn't. Remember, if something starts to hurt don't ignore it. There's probably
something you can adjust to fix it. If we didn't cover anything in this video
don't worry, there's loads more videos on the channel that go into a lot more detail
about bike fit. Let us know how you got on setting your very first road bike up and hope
you have many happy rides on it. I'm off to ride my new bike in the sunshine now, can't
wait. How do I get my whole body in the shot? Wow, why did I think that was going to work?
[00:10:12] [END OF AUDIO]