Bike Fitting

References from happy riders are important in selecting a bike-fitter, but the sample-size of customers and the number of options are usually quite small.

I found this link. Not much I disagree with in the advice. (I actually used to use the 0.833 “Lemond” formula or the 1.09 formula for seat height, but I now fine tune by feel.)

https://gobiking.ca/resourceshow-to/good-bike-fit-fundamentals/

Anecdote on bike fit. On my recent gravel tour, I had a crank arm start to fail. Found a (used) replacement at a bike store en-route, but it was 2.5mm longer than the one it replaced. I currently have a wonky set-up while I get a the proper replacement organized. Right is 172.5mm and left is 175mm. I don’t think I can tell the difference. Maybe, just maybe, if I think about it, but it is certainly not a bother.

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Definitely agree re flat bar bikes for many, but then they are not cool are they?
My custom bikes had a slightly longer headtube so the moderately elevated front end still looks right with minimal spacers or stem angle. I ride on hoods and drops comfortably.

Bruce

My custom gravel bike also has a less “aggressive” position than does my road bike. That’s more aligned with the functionality. Both are perfectly comfortable.

your pressure seems very low - at least for gravel. With tubeless 40mm tires on wide 26 internal rims I don’t go below 30. And when I have ca 50% or so of tarmac it’s closer to 34/36. My weight is 75kg and I used sram’s calculator - they suggested 34/36. I feel much better off-road with closer to 30psi.

My tire pressures are just fine. On my gravel bike I did run at 30 PSI. I’m running WTB Raddler 44mm tubless with Vittoria liners. I experimented with lowering pressures and settled on about 22/24. I’ve ridden that way for hundered of miles now. It’s the right pressure for me and my setup. I also have a 27.5+ mountain bike, setup tubless, and run 16 PSI on that.

On my road bike I run Gravelking slicks 32mm tubeless on Zip202. 45-50 PSI has given me the best balance of comfort and performance. I also have a singlespeed with 34mm tires and run 35 PSI. I’ve ridden these bikes for years and thousands of miles that way. I haven’t gone over 60+ PSI on anything in years.

I also haven’t had to deal with flat tires in many years, since I concerted to tubless on everything. I love it that way.

cool. I think that I just don’t like the squishy feeling on roads when Im below 30

Well, for me, when riding gravel the paved roads are mostly just shorter transitions between the loose, chunky stuff, but even there the low pressures don’t bother me. :slight_smile:

If I’m riding flat crushed limestone paths (like chat-surfaced rails-to-trails) I don’t even bother with my gravel bike. My road or SS bikes are suitable for that.

100 psi on my S-Works Venge (25mm).
40 psi on my Vielo V+1 Gravel (45mm).

Works perfectly for me. Horses for courses, and experimentation is the key…

Or just turn their brop bars the other way up, to give a high position opabove the bar level… (I remember seeing a couple of bikes where people had done that, but decades ago. My road bike (until it was trashed by a seemingly blind motorist a few months ago) had a drop bar, the drop of which I only ever used when riding into a howling gale - I fitted repeater brakes on the flat part of the bar, giving me a comfortable riding position with hands relatively close together, with benefit of a neatly streamlined width in traffic. Which prompts a question - my do mountain bikes have such wide bars, it seems getting wider by the year? One bike I’m interested in trying has bars 780 mm (30.7”) wide - that surely must be uncomfortable or to ride (except for very wide people), as well as being a liability in any narrow spaces!

Yup, wide bars standard. I guess more control as slower steering? Feels wrong to me.

My new Orbea came with 760mm bar. Judicious use of hacksaw ensued…

Bruce

I’m running about 85psi to 90psi on 25mm on my road bike, and 36psi to 38psi in 40mm on my gravel bike. So, a little lower than you, I guess. I can’t stand the squish.

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Wide handlebars (760-800mm or so) are common on many newer mountain bikes. They are preferred for downhill/enduro mountain biking because the wide bars provide better control on fast downhills.

I cut a 760mm carbon handlebar down to 720mm on my mountain bike because I’m using it more for XC mountain biking on narrower singletracks with lots of trees.

Less control as you have to move your hands more to turn! However the gearing effect, gives more turning force…

Surely more control in the sense that it reduces sensitivity, so bumps and lumps don’t cause you to twitch the steering too much.

Whatever!

Bruce

My mountain biking friends who go to Colorado to do downhill/enduro would differ on your assessment of control. My friend who knows that I cut my bar said specifically he understood why I did it, and that I don’t need the control of wide bars since I don’t do downhill. He further states that he deliberately keeps his wide (800mm) for the very reason that he does downhill and needs the better control wider bars afford. (including for his trips to CO ski resorts to do the big rides).

Ah - I don’t do the sort of thing serious downhill MTB freaks do clearly wide bars are lost on me - and hopeless both in narrow forest trails or in traffic on the road. I wonder if bar width is factored into bike fitting? I guess it would be.

I don’t do the downhill thing either, but that (i.e. control/handling) is why they use wide bars. I had to cut mine down to 720 for the more densely wooded singletracks.

As it turns out I’m selling my mountain bike. I don’t use it very often at all, and selling it will help fund my new road/adventure bike. Once the mountain bike is gone and the new road bike is here, all my bikes will have drop bars with 42cm gravel-type handlebars that feature short reach, shallow drops and 12-16º flares.

I had a road bike that Was tge first bike I’d ever bought new 10 years earlier and a basic hardtail MTB (bars 650 which I thought was very wide!) bought cheap secondhand a couple of years ago. Since someone killed the road bike (luckily I bounce better) I’m looking for a new replacement, and going for electric to increase range/duration. But I do less road riding now so looking for something multi-capable, for road, trails, forest paths, and some rougher. (I’ve never considered getting a fitting, only checking manufacturer’s sizing guidance and seeing if comfortable.)

If I had to keep just one bike I would go with a gravel bike as the most versatile; preferably with two wheelsets. One for road, and one for mixed surface riding.