A good bike fit can make you more comfortable on your bicycle, prevent injuries and pay major dividends in performance.
“Whether you’re a first-time rider or a seasoned pro, if you’re not comfortable, you’re probably not going to go as fast as you would like to go,” said George Mullen, who does fittings at MOB Cyclery in Denver.
A fitter will make sure your seat and handlebar positions are adjusted correctly, but it’s more complicated than turning a few screws. The geometry of the frame is a limiting factor, but replacing the handlebar stem with one of a different size and configuration is another way to change the position of the handlebars.
Mullen might put wedges in a client’s shoes to eliminate knee irritation. Sometimes he recommends switching to handlebars of a different shape.
“We want the sacrum to rotate forward so the sacral vertebrae, the lower lumbar, the thoracic and the cervical vertebrae are in essence straight,” Mullen said during a recent fitting. “That does a couple of things. It takes pressure off the (shoulder muscles), because they’re not reaching with the back. It opens up the diaphragm, and relaxing the shoulders opens up the upper respiratory.”
Client Heather Armstrong was amazed after Mullen made a few adjustments early in her session that straightened her spine noticeably.
“Now I can actually breathe,” Armstrong said.
As he makes adjustments, Mullen uses a CompuTrainer to measure the client’s power output at a set heart rate. Armstrong made noticeable power gains through her session.
“If we’re putting out the same amount of watts but we’re more efficient, we’re actually going faster,” Mullen said.
Mullen charges $180 for a standard fit, which normally takes about two hours. Sports Garage in Boulder charges $125 ($250 with the CompuTrainer and computerized 3-D motion analysis). Wheat Ridge Cyclery charges $89 for a 90-minute session ($149 for a “pro” fit).
