Tour & Racing Cycling : Advanced Bike Fitting

The ball of the foot should be properly positioned over the pedal axle. With the pedal in the 3 o'clock position and the foot held at the appropriate angle, the ball of the foot (outermost protrusion on the inside front of your foot) should be directly over the pedal axle. Adjust your cleats appropriately.

Rough saddle height adjustment

With the right crank in the 5 o'clock position (approximately in line with the seat tube of the frame) raise the saddle until the heel of your foot just reaches the pedal (without rocking your hip towards that side). Now check the left side. You may notice that one side seems shorter than the other. That's perfectly normal because everyone is asymmetrical in one way or another. Generally we size to the shorter limb so as to avoid over extending a joint.

Place your feet in the proper position on the pedals and begin pedalling at a moderate cadence with moderate resistance. Ideally the saddle should be as high as possible without overextending the joint.

The easiest way to establish the correct height is to raise the saddle until it is too high, then lower it slightly. When you are close, a difference of only a couple of millimetres can be felt, so raise and then lower the saddle in very small increments.

What's too high?

You will be watching or feeling for two symptoms:

a) Smoothness of the stroke - When the saddle is too high your hips will start to rock slightly side to side trying to compensate for the added length, or you may start pedalling with your toe down more than normal.

b) You will feel the flesh (all the internal stuff) in the back of your knee start to tighten.

Either of these indicates that the saddle is slightly too high, so then you can lower the saddle a few millimetres at a time until these symptoms disappear. From the side view, your knee should have a slight amount of flexure in the lowest position of the pedal stroke. At this point in the sizing procedure, don't go neurotic trying to get the saddle height perfect, because you may need to change it again after the next step, saddle fore and aft location.

Saddle fore and aft

For this you will need to have a plumb line - a string (about 24") with a weight on the end and a helper.

Pedal for a minute or two. Your helper should pay attention to the angle that your foot is in (heel up, heel down, neutral) when it hits the 3 o'clock position. Now placing your pedal in the 3 o'clock position (holding your foot at the correct angle) you will drop the plumb line from your knee noting the relative fore / aft distance from the plumb line to the pedal axle.

If you are 5'2" to 5'8" with average shoe size and pedal at a moderate rpm, then the line should pass through the pedal axle. If you are taller, or have proportionately larger feet or favour pushing larger gears at a slower cadence, then the line should fall slightly behind the pedal axle.

Conversely, if you are shorter or have smaller feet or tend to spin at higher rpm, then the line should fall through or ever so slightly in front of the spindle. It's all proportionate, ... a 6 footer, with size 10 (44) shoes that pedal with a moderate cadence, may have an ideal knee position about 15mm behind the pedal.

In mountain biking, the tendency is to pedal with a somewhat slower cadence so generally people are set up with the line slightly behind (5mm) the axle ... and up to 2cm behind the axle for very tall cyclists. Ultimately, you will fine-tune this position by making small adjustments and trying them out for a few rides.

Hopefully you will be able to adjust your fore / aft position sufficiently by sliding your saddle on its rails. If you cannot move the saddle enough (and you already own your bike), then a change of seatpost may offer the added bit you need. Many seatposts are on the market and you will notice different styles and locations of the clamp. Some are along the centre line of the seatpost while others, in varying degrees are offset to the front or to the rear of the post. If you are buying a new post (or a new bike) it is always desirable to have room for adjustment both fore and aft if possible.

This is where the seat tube angle of the frame comes in. Ideally the saddle should both be in the correct fore / aft position for pedalling and the saddle should be clamped in the middle of the rail travel, so you will always have room for adjustments either way. A frame with a seat tube angle of 73 degrees will accommodate better than 80% of cyclists along with proper selection of the seat post.

Once the fore / aft has been set, you should re-check the saddle height. If you needed to move the saddle back, you will probably need to lower the saddle slightly, if brought forward, you will need to raise the saddle.

Upper body position

This is probably the least understood aspect of the fitting process. The first rule you need to understand is that there are no rules that apply universally, so don't bother with them. It's just you and your bike.

The object of upper body fit is to find the right place in space to put the handlebars so that you are comfortable for as long as possible, as efficient as possible, in a variety of positions. It's very good to be able to adjust your position over the course of a ride in order to give different muscles an opportunity to rest a bit. Ideally, assuming you are generally fit, after a long day in the saddle, all of your body equally tires without having strained any particular muscles or joints.

When we started with the saddle height we positioned your feet properly on the pedals first. Likewise, so must we first find the correct handlebars and locate your hands properly. Road bike handlebars were designed for a variety of positions which is great if you plan on a long ride. A pet peeve of many is that mountain bike bars don't offer that range of movement. As a minimum, we highly recommend adding a set of bar ends to your bars to add options to your position.

Proper bar width is crucial to achieving maximum comfort and endurance. If your bars are too wide, your neck, shoulders, upper arms and wrists will have increased stress. If the bars are too barrow, your breathing will be constructed and you may feel increased tightness in your shoulders and upper arms. For bar selection try the following.

While standing with your arms relaxed at your sides, raise both arms until they make a 90 degree angle at the elbow. That's your natural hand position. Looking at your hands you'll notice your fingers are probably flexed slightly, palms facing slightly in. Your wrists are almost straight as well, both bent at the end of your arm. What you see is what nature intended. While setting up the bike we try to stay as close to that as possible.

With your arms in the same position look at your hands again and now turn your hands palms down. That's exactly where they should be when you are holding the grips of your mountain bike bars. Your elbows will be naturally slightly bent outwards but your wrists are still basically in line with your lower arm. So armed with this observation, you're ready to select your bars. The width can be cut so your hands are spread correctly. Choose a bar end that fits your hand, not the colour or brand. The angle of the bar end should be set so that your hand and wrist are in a natural position.

Now that you've got the bar figured out, it's time to find out where it goes. Again, forget any rules you've heard. The ideal is that your weight is distributed as evenly as possible over your back, butt, shoulders, arms and hands so that no one muscle or joint is overly stressed. That's why your back posture is important.

Many cyclists have a tendency to bend forward at the waist. This puts increased strain on the lower back and obstructs the diaphragm. Instead the cyclist should pivot the hips forward, which takes pressure off the diaphragm as well as the lower back. Additionally this will help set up your posture for an elongated torso position which will evenly carry the strain placed on your back while lowering your centre of gravity (improves stability and handling) and improves aerodynamics.

So where do the bars go? With the use of the Size-Cycle (which can be found at Rock 'n' Road Cycles) it's easy to determine, next best is to have the use of an adjustable stem. If neither is available, see if you can borrow a few stems of varying lengths and heights. The principle is the same. Establishing the correct saddle height was made easier by first identifying what was too high. Similarly finding the right bar position is made easier by first identifying the wrong bar position. Put another way, it's easier to identify discomfort than comfort ... comfort is a lack of discomfort. While going through this procedure you need to 'check-in' repeatedly with various positions along your spine (lower, middle and upper) as well as between your shoulder blades, your shoulders, upper arms, fore arms, wrists and beck. You will be calling these points up and asking how they feel while you are pedalling ... are they tight, are they carrying more weight, etc?

On the Size-Cycle we first place the bars so that they are obviously too close. The cyclist will feel the close cramped feeling, the burden of weight on the butt and arms. Then bars are placed obviously too far out ... so the cyclist is freshly tuned to the sensation of being too stretched out. Cyclists are often surprised to find that symptoms which they felt and assumed they were too stretched out actually were the result of being too cramped. In both cases there is too much weight on the arms.

Essentially what you need to do is move the bars about a smaller and smaller circle until you find the one place that all points along the back, arms, etc. feel equally comfortable. Torso length, build and flexibility combined with the length and proportions of the upper arm versus the lower arm dictate optimal position. What's perfect for one cyclist may look quite a bit different for another. Please note that bar height is equally important to reach. Once you have completed the bar location, it's time for a fine-tuning. Start all over again with the saddle, because each part of you is attached ... you know the shin bone's connected to the ... you change one you influence the other.

Additional Information

When sizing for proper position, don't worry about frame or stem dimensions. That comes next ... The way you feel on the bike is infinitely more important than the way the bike looks. Which is another way of saying that if you already own the bike you plan on keeping for a while, don't worry if your stem looks too short, or too high, or if your seat is pushed way forward, etc... the most important thing is that you will be more efficient and have more enjoyment when your biomechanic position is correct.

1. Ankling. There has been significant debate about the correct angle of the foot as it moves about the pedal stroke. Toe down, heel down or foot flat ... there have been highly successful professional espousing each extreme and everything in between. We are convinced that the angle of your foot is like your gait when you walk. It belongs to you, and is something that develops naturally. Don't worry about copying someone else.

2. Where to drop the plum line from your knee. There are two points used to drop the line. The base of the tibia tuberosity (where the protrusion below your kneecap disappears into your shin bone) is the more commonly used location. When possible we prefer to find the soft hollow just behind the kneecap (on the outside of the leg). This is more of an indicator of the true function of the knee joint.

3. Back posture is a problem for many people, cyclists and non-cyclists alike. Cyclists sometimes have poor back posture (on the bike) because they have been riding poor fitting bicycles for too long. Or sometimes they adopt poor posture on the bike because they already have poor posture, perhaps from sitting bent over at a desk all day, or just because they never paid attention. Ideally your back posture should be almost straight ... when standing your lower back should be slightly concave in the lumbar area. If you have difficulty straightening your back, do not force a major change suddenly, as you may cause as much damage and pain as you may avoid. This is because your muscles have developed in support of this position and are not accustomed to being elongated.

The best cure for this is stretching ... improving your flexibility. If you have a real problem, yoga can work wonders. If you are buying a new bike, and you feel you need to correct your back posture, buy the frame to fit optimally with your elongated position, but outfit initially with a shorter stem and then as you gain flexibility, change to a longer stem.

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