Road Bike Fitting - Take that leap of faith and do it yourself
Im due for a new bike soon and have been looking at the basics of frame fitting. Here is what I found.As a road rider who rides a little more than your average commuting cyclist Ive been told by many to go to my local bike shop for a fitting and get it done 'properly'. That's all good and well but my last visit to a bike store had me feeling a little jaded by the lack of knowledge on bikes and bike geometry. Fitting a bike properly goes a little deeper than finding the right height bike and raising the handle bars till your back stops hurting. Which is the method this one particular bike store uses to sell $10000 bikes. I wont name names here.
Which leaves me with the very good point, If you want a proper fit I recommed you seek out someone who can give you a very good fit and who can then recommend some brands and models in particular sizes for you to go and try.
Ok considering that I can have a bike delivered to my door for far cheaper than any local bike shop can ever offer. I wondered what exactly is wrong with me learning how to fit a bike and then possibly building everything myself.
Theres a cycling forum called bikeforums.net which is rather good, there a few nice people there and its possible to buy a fully built bike or maybe just a nicely priced frameset.
For reviews and discussions on all things cycling you cant go past roadbikereview.com
Choosing a Bike
ok where to start?? Well you should already , hopefully, have a general idea of what type of rider you are how flexible you what type of distance you are going to be covering whilst riding this bike. I say this bike because I would have a different type of bike for commuting then say for racing then i would for touring. For commuting Id want an upright position on the bike with a strong and steardy frame fork and wheel set weight not really being a factor. On the other hand a Racing Bike would have you in a more aero position with much consideration on having the bike as light as possible, So weight and speed are very much the main concern.
Say for instance I want a fast road bike built for taking on century rides in comfort, i also have a week back so this needs to be take into consideration. A couple of bikes that come to mind quickly in this category are the Specialized Roubaix and the Cervelo RS. Now that I have in mind what type of riding I want to do and I have some idea of the style of bike I want, its time to go on to sizing. You have to remember here though that although most bikes are pretty they might not be the best suited bike for what your doing.
Futher reading on bike fitting head over to http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit
A very good online bike fit calculater is located here at wrench science
Get yourself a tape measure!
First thing to do is measure everything... in general if your going to shop for items online then you need to have every body part measured precisely. More on this later, but for now you should measure your inseam. That's basically the length of the inside of your leg from your pelvic bone to the floor (without shoes).
But generally you follow the rule : (inseam length) X .67 = frame size.
For example is my inseam was 83cm, i would multiple that by .67 to give me the frame size of 55.61cm. So when you go searching for a frame you want the seat tube to be around 55.61cm from the center of the bottom bracket to the center of the top tube.
Going to the online bike fir calculator on competitivecyclist.com is a great place to start, take note that these measurements are only guides and you will need to do some tweaking afterwards.
My Measurements from competitivecyclist.com
| Gender | M |
| Inseam | 84 cm |
| Trunk | 70 cm |
| Forearm | 39 cm |
| Arm | 70 cm |
| Thigh | 63 cm |
| Lower Leg | 60 cm |
| Sternal Notch | 149 cm |
| Total Body Height | 184 cm |
Competitive Eddy Fit French Fit
Seat Tube C-C 54.4-54.9 55.6-56.1 57.3-57.8
Seat Tube C-T 56.1-56.6 57.3-57.8 59.0-59.5
Top Tube Length 59.5-59.9 59.5-59.9 60.7-61.1
Stem Length 12.2-12.8 11.1-11.7 11.3-11.9
BB-Seat height 78.3-80.3 77.5-79.5 75.8-77.8
Saddle-handlebar 58.4-59.0 59.2-59.8 60.9-61.5
Frame
So with all this in mind, i chose a 56cm Cervelo RS I found a good price on this item on ebay.
EBAY : Cervelo RS 56cm $2773.72 with free shipping in AUS
With the frame in your hand the next step is to source the remaining parts.
The Frameset comes with :
- Frame and Fork
- headset
- Seatpost and clamp
Two items which can you can sink alot of your money into are wheels and groupset.
If your a lightweight rider then most wheels are fine but considering Im a little heavy than your average rider (100kg) and I opted to get mine customer made. Benifits here being that I can build them how i like nice and strong and fast and Im not paying for things i dont need like stickers and red spokes. Admittedly the top of the range wheels for Campagnolo or Fulcrum might be faster but I would cry if i payed so much for wheels and had them buckle on me. Also the servicablity of custom wheels and the ability to replace any part any time for a small fee is very appealing.
TWE in Taren point in Sydney Australia make a great wheel and they are honest which is a bonus. Life time warrenty for a wheel that is built for you by a specialist. I have a pair and they ride beautifully.
For my Cervelo though I am looking for a little bling as follows :
A Couple of places to look for custom wheel are :
Groupset
Picking a groupset can be expensive but for most people who dont race anything above a Shimano 105 Campagnolo Veloce is fine. The great thing about buying a from this level and up is that if anything breaks or wears out you can then upgrade with a higher level component.
I opted for Campagnolo Chorus groupset I cant justify the extra for record or super record and if I need to later I upgrade individual components as needed.
- 2008 Campagnolo Chorus QS 10S Carbon Cranks Groupsets NEW from ebay costs $1650 delivered.
With this groupset you also get the cranks and my sizing would indicate I get the 172.5 size cranks.
When your considering your Groupset take note of the different gearing sizes and options,
different riding styles would lead you to choose a different configuration.
Standard, Compact and triple. The latter two giving you more options when riding hills and slightly more technical courses. With the standard your pushing a bigger chain ring up front which is great when you want to carrying some serious speed. Most people nowadays would generally go for the Compact option with middle of the road rear cluster, 12-25 perhaps.
Seat and Handle Bars
These items are the most personal part of the whole bike setup.
choosing a seat can be a trial of patience no matter where you buy it from.
Some stores may offer a trial of some sort depending on how much they like you, but in general you wont know what feels good till you've tried a couple.
There are online stores that have reasonable offers, i would search all over the net first though, good deals can be had in the most unlikely places.
Your handlebars should be wider for comfort and narrower for speed and aero efficiency.
Id go by the rule of having the bars as wide as your shoulders are, keeping in mind that some brands measure their bars differently. A 46cm in one brand could be a 44cm in another.
Stem and handle bar height
If youve managed to source the correct sized frame, the next step is to get your handle bars in position. This includes cutting your fork and getting the correct sized stem.
No two people are the same even if they are the same height with the same inseam measurements. Theres no reason why you cant try a few different stem sizes as for the height of the handlebars Id place the stem on the fork at a comfortable position ride with it around making sure the reach and height are comfortable. Then and only then, when you have your ideal riding setup would you cut your fork. Theres no problem with riding with an uncut fork for a while so you can be sure. Just remember that once you cut your fork you cant uncut it, this could mean that your going to have to buy a new fork.
Cheapy Second hand stems are a good idea even if there a bit scratched or beaten up, then once you know what you need you can go buy that super carbon replacement. A good idea here is to buy your stem from a local bike shop with the agreement that you can return it if its the wrong size. Remember that theres nothing wrong with flipping the stem upside down to give you more options.
Obviously with all the bits and pieces that youve collected and purchased online you are pretty ready to build your bike. Id recommend a basic bicycle mechanics tool kit with lock ring removal tool, bottum bracket remover tool etc.
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