Key areas of comfort for a professional bike fit
We frequently talk here at Lake about the benefits of a bike fit, and in doing so, we rightly focus on the key benefits from a footwear perspective. After all, that’s what we do; we design and create probably some of the most comfortable cycling shoes available today. We want those shoes to fit you perfectly, and for them to help you to also maximise your performance and enjoyment of the bike.
However, for those of you who haven’t yet experienced the benefits of a professional bike fitting session, there are some other key aspects to your overall cycling position that it can help to resolve. Many professional bike fitters will start with the shoes and how you engage with the pedals. They’ll also look at some other key aspects of your bike, that may be causing issues. We want to help you to understand the other benefits to be achieved from getting a detailed and personal bike fit yourself.
Saddle height & saddle choice
Saddle height is one of the most critical aspects of a bike fitting. Get this wrong and there’s so much more that can go sideways. Every cyclist ought to know their saddle height, along with the position of the saddle and the type of saddle that best suits your anatomy and riding style. A professional bike fitter will look at your gait, measure your leg length and look at your pedalling action. They’ll take a number of measurements, including pressure measurements and your sit bones, before helping you to choose the right saddle for you and setting it up at the right height.
credit: Jose A. Rodriguez-Marroyo
Crank length and cleat positioning
They’ll also take measurements to ensure that the saddle is set in the right position fore and aft, to alleviate any shoulder or back pain. Once this is good to go, they’ll look at crank length too. With the correct cycling shoes on your feet, and the cleats set in the correct position, with the correct float for the cleats, you’ll already be seeing and feeling the benefits of the bike fitting session. There’s lots of information on our website about cleat positioning; it’s also something that we covered in detail recently and is super important.
Handlebar width and positioning
When people buy a new bike from a retail shop, they’ll frequently just get the standard bars on the bike, alongside the standard stem that the factory chose to put onto that bike. However, having incorrectly fitted handlebars, either too wide or too narrow, can cause issues with shoulder pain and pain elsewhere. A professional bike fitter will look at shoulder measurements, hand size and reach and set the right width of handlebars to maximise your comfort. That also relates to the depth of the drops and the length of the stem, and whether or not you need the bars raising using risers too.
Many cyclists feel pain in the shoulders when using incorrectly fitted handlebars; and even the position of the levers can easily be adjusted by a bike fitting expert, to further help with your cycling comfort. Cycling brands produce handlebars of all shapes and sizes these days. Many cyclists ride more frequently with their hands on the corners of the tops, and you can get handlebars specifically designed with areas to rest the hands more comfortably.
If the shoe fits…
Each of the points listed above are critical in ensuring long-term rider comfort and can also help to maintain health by reducing key areas of pain felt when cycling. Bikes are a costly investment in many cases, and so it makes sense to get the bike that fits you perfectly in every way. Here at Lake, along with our expert shoe fitting partners, we’ll continue to innovate and to design our cycling shoes to be some of the most comfortable in the world. We also supply custom insoles, to match those super-comfortable, high-performance Lake cycling shoes that our expert bike fitting partners help you to decide upon. Ultimately, we want all cyclists to ride into a future with lots of smiles on every ride, and we k and we know that a professional bike fitting session will help you to achieve this – wrapped of course in our legendary Lake cycling shoe comfort.