7 Tour de France Tips To Make Your Bike Faster And More Comfortable

Want to upgrade your road bike like a pro? In this video, we break down 7 Tour de France-inspired tips that will boost your speed and comfort on the bike — without needing pro-level fitness! From gear setups to saddle choices, learn how to apply real-world pro cycling tech and techniques to your own ride.

🔧 What You’ll Learn:
0:00 – Intro
0:25 – Get the Right Gears (Like Pogacar, Roglic & Alaphilippe)
2:15 – Why Try a 1x Setup? (Copy Jonas Vingegaard)
3:25 – Should You Use Shorter Cranks?
4:30 – Why Bike Fit Is More Important Than Aero Gains
5:40 – Finding the Perfect Saddle (And Why It’s Personal)
6:50 – Learn to Fuel Like a Pro
8:10 – Deep Wheels & Wide Tyres = Free Speed

🔥 Whether you’re chasing more comfort on long rides or looking for free speed upgrades, these Tour de France bike setup tips will help you ride smarter and faster.

💬 Which tip will you try first? Let us know in the comments!

👍 If you found this helpful, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the 🔔 for more cycling tech tips, gear reviews, and performance advice.

#TourDeFrance #CyclingTips #BikeFit #RoadCycling #BikeTech #TTF2025 #TourTech #Vingegaard #Pogacar #SRAM #Shimano #BikeSetup #RoadBikeUpgrades #AeroGains #CyclingComfort #DeepWheels #WideTyres #BikeFueling

Taller France race bikes look incredible and there are some great setup tricks that you can copy on your road bike to make you faster and more comfortable. Now, I will admit that the main reason that these bikes are so fast is the rider sitting on top. They’re insanely fit and they possess bike handling skills that most of us can only dream of. But I’m not about to let that ruin my fun. So, on with the first tip. Having good gears for the riding that you’ll be doing is crucial for riding fast. Let’s take a look at some of the setups which caught my eye at the tour. First up is Tad Paga’s Kargo Y1 RS, his aerobike for the fast stages. He uses a massive 5440 chain ring combo, which is Shimano’s pro standard. Some riders like Sprinter Tim Malia go even bigger with 56 to big rings. But if you’re riding more climbs, even the pros will adjust their gearing to suit the terrain. Take Julian Alfilipe. The Frenchman goes for a smaller than usual 52 to outer chain ring. Okay, he’s still got a pretty beefy 39 inner, but that smaller chain ring will allow him to stay in the outer ring for longer on faster climbs, which feels great. Using a smaller chain ring generally allows you to keep your legs spinning when things get steep. There is, after all, nothing worse than grinding to a stop because your gear is too big. So don’t be afraid to use smaller chain rings if that suits your riding. I do. But you can also adjust your cassette. Primo’s ROG glitch, for example, used a massive spread from 10 to 36 teeth, giving him plenty of gears when the hills get steep. But if you want a truly optimized setup, then why not copy Yonas Finger’s Sevel S5? He used a single chain ring setup which is just a little bit more aerodynamic. And let’s be honest, with that solid chain ring, it looks fantastic, too. I have to say, this is one of the huge benefits with Stram’s 10 to cogs and wide range cassettes. He’s got all the gears he’ll ever need for flat and rolling terrain. Though, I have to say it’s not my preference for the hills, but that’s mostly because I’m not as strong as him. So, if you want a simplified setup, this could be one to try. The Propelaton seems to be divided on this one, but using a shorter crank length is a way that you can get a little comfier in an aero position. Take Jorgensson for example. He’s a tall lad at 1 m 90, but he uses Diddy 160 mm cranks on his Sevel R5. Going short has a few benefits. It can open up the hip angle at the top of your pedal stroke, but for me, switching to 165 mm was just more comfortable. But not everyone is going short. I noticed a lot of the sprinters like Yasper Phillips and Tim Malia, they have stuck with 172.5 millimeter cranks which would be a traditional length for their heights. To be fast over a short distance, a few kilometers say, it’s fine to be super aggressive with your position. But to be fast over a long day, you need to be comfortable. And that’s something that we see with the pros. Look at Sarum Varcold’s setup. that huge Dne is a tall sprinter and his position shows that being low at the front isn’t everything. Having a healthy stack of spacers under the stem is what he needs to be comfy and then deliver some brutal sprint power. So, don’t just slam your stem. Get yourself a bike fit, get comfy, and it’s incredible how much faster you’ll be over the course of a ride. I wish I could point to you just one saddle from one brand and declare it the perfect perch, but that’s impossible. Just look at the variation in the Pro Pelaton. Pagatcha goes for a 3D printed physique. Coffidus have Celatalia. Vanderpole does too. Vingard uses Pro Logo. And Timbera, he’s on a women’s saddle. All of those riders have found what works for them. And that’s really all any of us can do. If you’ve got no idea where to start, then doing this while you get a bike fit is a brilliant way to go. There is one area where you and I can train the same as the pros, and it’s a great one. We can all learn to fuel for expected energy expenditure. It sounds simple, but if you don’t learn to eat on the bike and build your gut tolerance to high carb intakes, you’ll run the massive risk of indigestion. And if you don’t eat enough, you could end up crawling home or getting cramped or something. Pros sometimes have stem stickers with a coded nutrition plan, or you can just set up reminders to eat on your cycling computer. But the point is, make sure you learn to fuel properly, because doing so will make way more difference to your riding than any expensive upgrade. Speaking of expensive upgrades, I do still love them. And my favorite way to make a bike look and go faster is by fitting deep wheels and wider tires. Deep wheels will help to reduce your drag, allowing you to ride faster, and they can also hold on to a bit more speed on the flat. Plus, did I mention that they look cool? Wide tires might seem a strange recommendation for speed, but you have to consider the benefits that they bring. one, they’re generally grippier in the corners, so you can bomit down descents and do that even faster than before, which is great fun. Next, you’ll be comfier with wider tires, or should I say you’ll get less beaten up by shoddy road surfaces over the course of a ride. Combine that with 28 and 30 mil tires being really good when it comes to rolling resistance, and it should leave you with a little bit more energy for a town sign sprint. And they’re important. Now, I do run tubeless, but you don’t need it. TPU tubes are nearly as fast and they’re a lot less messy, but tubeless might stop a few punctures. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you go for. Don’t crucify me in the comments. I don’t need it today. And while a lot of tours riders opted for time trial tires in the opening stages, I don’t think they’re worth doing on our bikes at home. They’re more fragile than regular tires. So, not only does your risk of punctures increase, you’re going to wear through a set of tires faster than you can sprint, but will you be copying any of these taller France tech trends? Let me know in the comments section below. And if you haven’t already, then please take the time to give this video a like and subscribe because it really does help us to make this content for you for free. Thank you very much for watching. And if you want more tour to France content, then why not check out my massive tech roundup from the race that’s just here and it’s well worth a watch cuz there’s loads of little nuggets in there. We like nuggets. Might have them for lunch.