What do you do if you don’t have a good bike fitter in your area? Buy a book or DVD and learn to fit the bike yourself.
What if you can’t afford a bike fitting DVD or book? You go online and look at free info… until you have saved up enough money for a real fitting!
While I highly recommend a good bike fitting, there are some pretty good, free resources online that will help you learn the basics of bike fitting.
Just remember that as with any free information you find on the internet, especially videos from random Youtube users, you might be getting complete garbage! Sometimes this does more harm than good, but I have found a few resources that are worth checking out.
Here are the ones to look into:
Table of Contents
1. Competitive Cyclist’s Bike Fit Calculator
Check out the Bike Fit Calculator from Competitive Cyclist. You plug in your body measurements and this will tell you what size frame you need and what your fitting set-up measurements should be.
Just remember that the human body is more complex than this calculator, and any measurments you get from it should just be used as a guide for what to start at. Don’t take it as your final position.
2. Steve Hogg
Steve Hogg is the founder of the Sydney Cyclefit Centre, and he sells a bike fit DVD for $70. He also gives out a free sample video clip on Youtube.
Go ahead and watch the vid now:
3. Joe Friel’s Idea of Good Posture
Check out Joe Friel’s blog. This post has some pictures showing good posture on a road bike. (The main focus is hip position.)
I also urge you to read the comments on this one for more debate!
4. Knee Over Pedal Spindle?
Thanks to Sheldon Brown and Keith Bontrager, here is a neat article titled “The Myth of K.O.P.S.” (which stands for Knee Over Pedal Spindle.)
This article tackles only one issue of bike fit, but it gets you thinking.
5. Peter White’s Old-School Guide to Fitting
Peter White has a long guide to bike fitting on his website. It’s a long read, and there are no pictures, but it’s interesting.
Just remember that Peter White Cycles is known more for touring bikes than racing.
Now, where does this leave the discerning cyclist who wants a great fit? Well, you could search out a good bike fitter. (If they are three hours away by car, that’s life.)
Or, you could further expand your bike fit knowledge by spending some money. Two options I know of would be by looking into that DVD from Steve Hogg linked above or checking out Arnie Baker’s guide to bike fit.
Or keep searching Youtube, because there are some decent videos on there.
*Warning* I’ve linked to these resources for informational purposes only. Reading online can be useful, but it is still not a substitute for a proper bike fitting.
Know of any good resources I left out? Please post them below in the comments.
Levi Bloom is an experienced endurance athlete who has been training and competing for over 17 years. A former Cat 1 road and mountain bike racer (professional class on the regional circuit), he is now a cycling coach (USA Cycling Level 3 Certified) and sports nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certified).
Even though it’s pretty obvious, I still wanna say just how essential that fitting our bicycle is conducted by a professional to ensure our safety when we take a ride on it afterwards. My husband just bought a mountain bike a few days ago and he plans to ride along the river valley not far from our house this weekend. I’ll remind him about this aspect so he’ll stay intact throughout the journey.