Cycling 101 Tips: #3 Basic Fit

These are all baseline and are adjusted to your own body preferences.

Saddle Height: There are many scientific ways to determine saddle height. But the easiest starting position is to place your saddle at such a height so that when you are pedaling backwards with your HEELS on the pedals that you hips do not rock forcing you to bounce. This should give you as much as a 20 degree angle in your knee when you put your foot back in "ball over axle" position. Basically, you want to have a slight bend in your knee when the pedal is at the bottom of its stroke. Some people with knee problems raise or lower the seat depending on their condition. A simple measure is: Pain the back means to high, pain in the front means it is too low.

As the season continues your saddle height can raise as much as 3/4" and at the start of next season you may find that you need to lower your saddle until your body remembers where it should be. Remember to write it down.

Saddle Angle: Start with it perfectly level. Some men like it slightly tilted up and some women like it tilted down. There are companies that feel that tilting it down will put more weight on your sit bones and alleviate numbness; but this can also increase pressure on your hands.

Saddle Fore-Aft: This can be subjective; but can really help people with neck or knee problems. The basic premise is to set the fore-aft position of the saddle such that a plumb-line dropped through your knee cap will bisect the pedal axle when the pedals are horizontal. Climbers like to position the saddle slightly rearward to give them more power and sprinters like to have it more forward to allow them higher RPMs (think of triatheletes)

Stem Reach: the length of the stem is very subjective. A long stem slows down the steering input and a short stem can make it quick (like a bus). But the stem is changed in 10mm increments to allow for proper fore after positioning. too little weight on the front and you pop a wheelie going up steep climbs. too much weight and you are spinning your rear tire when you need it on that climb. There is also an angle associated with the stem and this changes the effective reach of the stem (if you remember your geometry class from high school).

Flat/mtb Bars: Bar lengths, I am a huge proponent of wide bars to allow for leverage. Issues with this is tree clearance. Wide bars slow down your steering input to make tight spots easier to deal with. Narrow bars make the bike handle extremely nimble and very quick some people don't like this twitchiness. A typical bar is 22-26" in length. I am currently at 24.5" width and have no trouble with the trails we ride today. Also for people with bar ends, you need to allow for an extra 1" for the clamps of the ends.

Road Bars: have the drops area completely horizontal, some prefer to angle it up slightly to be perpendicular to your arms (I do this). I run a standard 18" wide bar; but I think I would like to get a wider bar just to feel like I'm opening up my chest cavity while riding.

Flat Bar sweep: I a huge proponent of sweep, I have 11 degrees of sweep to my bars; but some bars are as little as 3 degree. One thing that is CRITICAL is that the bar is set FLAT. Such that when looking at it sideways that the grip area is completely HORIZONTAL. I have run into too many people that have encountered wrist problems because of the bar angle.

The standard profile of any rider is a 45 degree angle along your FLAT back. Unless you are Lance Armstrong and have fused vertebrae your back should be relatively flat. Road riders/racers might like a lower position to gain more aerodynamic advantage; but loose a sight line advantage (like driving in an SUV). Casual riders like more upright riding but this tends to affect front end handling and can create more back and butt related issues as all your weight is only rear.

Approximately 20% of your weight is on the bars, any more and you could pinch nerves and cause numbness any less and you aren't helping your butt out. But ultimately 40% of your overall mass is set at the front wheel this will provide the most comfort for the ride.

Changes to fit need only be a few millimetres for your body to notice. Make small adjustments, ride for an hour or more and see how you feel. This process will feel never ending; but when you find the right formula you will be so happy that you made the effort.