A professional bike fit taught me that slamming your stem probably won’t make you faster, saddle height could be holding you back when cycling climbs and 9 other road bike bike fit tips to help make you more comfortable and faster on the bike.
Whether you choose to get a professional bike fit or do a bike fit at home it’s a cost-effective way of improving your cycling experience. These bike fit tips could help you cure that cycling back pain, knee pain or diagnose that uncomfortable saddle.
In this video, we’ll cover bike saddle height, saddle width, saddle comfort, how to climb hills better cycling and advice on road bike stack height and reach.
Let us know any of your bike fit tips in the comments section below…
You can read more about the bike fit here: https://road.cc/content/feature/what-i-learnt-professional-bike-fit-304865
With thanks to Luke Craddock and Synergy Performance: https://www.synergyperformance.co.uk/
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⚫️ In this video
0:00 Introduction
0:26 Foot/pedal connection
0:58 Get shoes that fit right
1:52 Arch support
3:13 Physical Assessment
4:13 It’s not your saddle’s fault!
6:28 Short nose saddles
8:26 Saddle width
9:24 Saddle height & Climbing
10:24 Slammed stem = slower?
12:30 Bar width
13:50 Your position should change over time
14:45 Outro
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35 Comments
Go to 10 bike fitters and you will get 10 different set-ups !!!
Sorry this just put me off fit, I think you got to experiment yourself, you didn't look to happy with the slating lol
Bike fitters are snake oil salesmen. You know who knows best how your bike fit feels? You. Use a camera, be mindful of what you're feeling. Figure it out.
Ive met a salesman before.
A 42 looks way to small to me.
This isn't that scientific at all. Check out Rotul that uses a laser and pivot points to find good positioning. Not some ones opinion
Don't forget to add the price of a new stem, saddle, bars and shoes to the 200…
yea some bike fitter even tells you that you have the wrong bike where the bike geometry for that particular brand is your exact size & the bike fitter or the shop owner pushing you to buy a new bike….. !!!!
what is the red tape on the fork for? Or is that part of the paint?
One of the biggest scams out.
As a former pro cyclist, this advice is actually 100% accurate. I don’t understand the comments here other than people who are afraid of being taken advantage of which is understandable that said this fitter knows exactly what happens if you don’t get it right and why and what to do about it this person’s got a lot of experience and scientific knowledge. I know that I began my life as a professional cyclist, and got expert advice and it changed the way I rode considerably my Time trialing my hillclimbing, am I descending all improved, and if that wasn’t enough pain that I had in my neck for several years of training went away completely without this I would’ve never gone on to do the things. I did check the guy out. He’s got a lot of good stuff to say.
The point where he implied, I am not MVP., though. 💀😢
Looks like very reasonable advice and methods.
A comfy bike is a fast bike. If I can ride 14hours in an upright position. That’s 14 more hours of training.
There is a difference between a cycling shop giving you a bike fit to suit their bike based on the manufacturers heigh to size guide. And a body geometry fit which looks at you physically and how your body moves as shown in this video. Manufacturers try to make something that is one size fits all. But we as humans are different shapes and sizes. 2 people of the same size. One could be short legs and wide torso and longer arms. Other could be opposite. So you would have different bike sizes and stem lengths and handle bar widths and seat widths.
One of the most important adjustments for me was the Q factor, once I put pedals extensions on I had no more shin splints, knee pain foot numbness. I've also gone to the point of full leg extension with the end of my femur over the pedal spindle, my foot doesn't float at the bottom of the stroke and the cleat as far back as possible. This works for me but then we are all different.
Um, well, if this guy isn't the speaker cables of cycling then why is he wearing a gold watch?
Good advice from a guy who knows his stuff
Just get on your bike thank god we are blessed to have be able to ride and have fun , that’s all we need to do , everyone please stop overthinking things
Great video 👏. A dialled in bike fit, correct shoe and cleat positions will bring comfort and enjoyment to your cycling……and ultimately a faster and fitter cyclist?
I am missing one important thing at "home" (the city where I live)…. There just aren't any good bike fitters here. I've tried two and both had me all kinds of messed up. Saddle so far back that my hamstrings were completely deactivated, bars so high that I gravitated to the drops all the time, etc… It felt like they were trying to set me up on a beach cruiser when I have an S-Works SL7 and very decent flexibility and core strength. Just out of luck in my case…
Would the chamois in every different bib affect your bike fit?
I don’t find videos like this helpful. So specific that its useless
I could have listened to Luke talk all day, love hearing people talk in-depth about niche topics they've specialized in. Great video!
Find a copy of Greg LeMond’s “Complete Book of Bicycling” and follow the setup instructions therein. That’s what I did 35 years ago and I’ve ridden pain and ache free since.
You can look at yourself from across the room by video yourself with a camera and review it later. What you do with that information based on the level of knowledge and experience you have is a different matter! Finding a true professional at what they do is always worth pay for.
Great content, thanks!
What a truckload of bike fitting bull$hit! You just need to know the basics like for example your leg should be slightly bent on the down pedal stroke, then try different frame sizes and see what's more comfortable for you. Play a bit with different stem lenghts if need be. Experiment with fore/aft seat position etc. That's all you need, not this 'professional' comedy intended to make you hand over your hard earned money. Truth is that even if your position on the bike is slightly off the 'perfect and ideal' one, your body will eventually adapt to that position without losing any noticable performance.
Steve Hogg is the bike fit GOAT.
Love to see a follow up to this. How did it feel back on the road for climbing, bike handling, endurance, etc. Did anything change initially? Also would be good to see a checkup to see what changed for you over time. Call it a series.
Who gives a crap if he had done it for the views?!?! There are people who burn down Ferraris for views!
Like the host said, he has touched 0.5 million people. It’s more good than anyone would do in the lifetimes.
For all the critics, next time out money where your mouth is and do something impactful rather than point fingers!
No offence to any of the famous bike fitters on YouTube. I’m merely an amateur enthusiast, and it’s just one (my) opinion, no experience, knowledge, wisdom etc claimed here.
But I was watching this and kind of blown away by both sides of the exchange, both from Jamie’s and Luke’s and was struggling to put my finger on why.
I think of anything of the genre, this stands out for the its stark contrast versus the bikefitters one has become accustomed to on YouTube who it seems put so much effort, not into what they say vis a vis fit / components on the bike, position etc, but in industrial scale amounts, simply conveying to us the viewer, just how much of an :expert: they are, how wise they are, after all the years and years of experience they have and frankly come across as insufferable human beings. One in particular you may recognise from description, routinely scowling/shouting at the camera, throwing away whichever respective saddle etc it is, in contempt/frustration at all of us imbecilic mortals for having the temerity to use said saddle/pedal system etc.
By contrast, here’s a bikefitter who comes across as passionately interested in bikefitting, cycling and knowledgeable on the myriad aspects of interrelated elements, but at the same time possessive of a level of humility, such that he’s not completely up himself and primarily treating the clip simply as a vehicle for an ego trip.
Breath of fresh air and hopefully you do do a follow up subsequent to this session, the changes it led to and the [one assumes] take away flexibility exercises, and if these together with the passage of that time prompts any further adjustments.
Luke is incredibly knowledgeable and helped me with a bike fit and lactate profiling. The guy is passionate about the science behind his work, would definitely recommend his services to anyone. Great video
I really appreciate this vid thanks
thanks for the informative video. just curious, the armband that you have, a heart rate monitor (Coospo HW807)? I noticed that the bike fitter uses too 🙂
Improve ypur comfort, improve your performance, enjoy riding more, any one is good, getting to all three is priceless, Even if different fitters have different outcomes most will improve your fit. Do it. Cycling can be better of we enjoy ot more, even if we are not MVP.