Athlete Background

• Experience: Novice
• Interest: Daily rides and touring
• Goals: Overall fitness and more bike touring
• Injuries: None
• Notables: Athlete recently finished a multiday tour ride from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. on an upright hybrid bicycle. Following the multiday tour, the athlete contacted me for a bike fit and frame size recommendation. In addition to bike fitting, I also research and recommend frame size(s) for athletes looking to purchase new bikes -this service ensures purchasing correct frame size. Below is the CAAD drawing which recommended frame size (stack, reach, front center, and the fit solution)

Bike Data

• Brand: Guru
• Model: Praemio 
• Size: Custom
• Year: 2016
• Notables: Titanium with an oversized headtube

Fit Data

• The first step is to check saddle fore/aft which in this case required a small adjustment to back from the handlebars. Fore/aft is a balance point adjustment and in most cases (my experience) requires alignment to the aft position. When I make an adjustment to the aft position, the saddle height increases so it’s important to assess knee angle during the visual assessment process.
• The next step is to check the saddle tilt. The tilt was measured at -1 degrees measured from the sweet spot. The saddle in question has a hammock shape with a rather sizeable dip in the center so it required angle measurement from multiple spots on the saddle.
• The third step is to check Saddle height. The height was extremely was close to spot on so only a small adjustment (minus 5 mm in height) was necessary.
• The fourth step is to check effective body extension (measured from the sweet spot of the saddle to the center of the handlebar). As mentioned the athlete contacted me prior to purchasing the bike and I made recommendations on frame size and components so the effective reach was spot on at this point in the alignment process.
• The fifth was to configure headset spacers and or above horizontal alignment (bar drop). Considering the athlete’s flexibility, experience and custom headtube length I set the bar drop at neutral.
• Next, I assessed the hoods, bar angle and lever reach. The alignment of the hoods was slightly upward positioned so I reangled them a couple of degrees downward to reduce the pressure on the wrist. The braker/shifter levers were too far from the bar when positioned in the drops so I adjusted the levers towards the bars to ensure access to braking and shifting.
• Last I set the athlete’s double-checked the cleats. No shifting had occurred so the cleats were left as is.

Conclusion

After a long warm-up on the trainer and multiple hard efforts, I was pleased with the athlete’s position on the bike. I asked the athlete for feedback and based on the changes made he felt that the small adjustments were not noticed but that the bike especially the bar drop felt powerful and pressure on the perineum felt comfortable. The end result of the fit can be seen in the pic below.