Bike
Trial Biking
Bike Fitting: Tailoring a bike to fit like a glove
What is bike fitting and how it’s for both leisure and professional cyclists.
Bike fitting is suitable for everyone.
© Nicolette Soh
Do you experience backaches or numbness in your feet and hands? It could be your cycling position is not ideal or you may not be using the right components or even bike size. This is where bike fitting comes in. Bike fitting is all about getting your ideal bike position to allow you to put a bike together to suit your needs and goals. We sit down with Timothy Lim, a bike fitter who has been running his own bike fitting business, Loue Bicycles, for three years now, to find out what exactly does bike fitting entail. When did you get involved with bike fitting?
I started getting obsessed with bike fitting in 2010 as I had a lot of issues when I was a professional cyclist. This was back when I was still with the OCBC Singapore Continental Cycling Team. I tried out quite a few bike fitters locally but none of them could solve my problems, and I realised with my own research and reading that bike fitting here was not as advanced as it is in Europe or in the US. From then on, I started doing bikefits for friends and free lance in bikeshops. In 2012, I had a bad accident on my bike, which forced me to take a break for rehab. I took this chance to fly to the U.S to attend a bike fitting course.
When did you start and why did you start Loue Bicycles?
I started the business in 2013, when I was in the midst of leaving the OCBC team. Cycling is a passion for me and it helps that I used to be a professional cyclists with a lot of issues. My experiences as a cyclist have definitely helpedme relate well to my clients and their issues. Recently, I’ve even started participating in triathlons so I’ll be able to understand my triathlete clients better.
Timothy and his team of bike fitters.
© Timothy Lim
What sets Loue Bicycles apart from the rest?
We combine cycling experience with knowledge. I have two other members on my team, one of whom was on the OCBC team with me and the other is a triathlete. We invest a lot of money to travel to meet other professionals in the cycling science industry to learn and constantly improving on our bikefit protocols and methods, as well as to learn about new bikefit equipment and tools. It was great that I got to run a workshop on foot pedal interface at the International School of Cycling Optimization (ISCO) conference held in the Germany last year. These interaction with other health professionals and bikefitters are crucial to help us solve common cycling injuries and bikefit issues. Loue Bicycles uses not only motion capture to study the movement of a rider, we are the only bike fitters in Singapore that study the contact points of cyclists using the Gebiomized pressure mapping system. The saddle pressure mat has 64 sensors in it! We also study hand pressure and foot pressure, as we realised that most of client’s bikefit issues stems from contact points, and the pressure system allows us to validate positive outcomes. The system quantifies pressure by creating a pressure profile so we are able to make necessary adjustments to the bike.
A report on saddle pressure analysis.
© Timothy Lim
What is bike fitting and who is it for?
We aim to optimise a cyclist’s position on a bicycle based on their goals and physical requirements, which ultimately means adjusting the bicycle to accommodate the cyclist. Bike fitting can help to prevent injuries, increase efficiency, comfort and improve performance for all cyclists. Bike fitting is not just for professionals; anybody who cycles should do a bike fit so that their current cycling position will not cause injuries for them in the long run.
Checking for physical discrepancies.
© Nicolette Soh
What does a session of bike fitting consist of?
We offer two different options at Loue Bicycles. A basic fit takes an hour and more, usually for beginners or people who aren’t sure of what they want.
A full bike fitting is two and a half hours long, as it’s an in-depth assessment of the rider on and off the bike. We need to understand the cyclist’s needs, goals, current discomforts and injuries so we always start off with an interview, talking to the cyclist about what kind of cycling he or she does, past history of injuries, how long he or she has been cycling for. After which we move on to a physical assessment to understand the rider’s range of motion, quality of movement, strength.
During this assessment we also check for the physical discrepancies of your body (e.g. one leg is longer than the other), which affects how a cyclist moves on the bike. We also get them to perform certainmovements to check the activation and stability of major cycling muscles as well as other exercises to test their strength and flexibility.
The next part of the fitting happens on the bike. We get the cyclists to cycle at different loads and monitor their movements and cycling position. The most important part of the on-bike assessment is the bike fitter. The fitter has to be trained to analyse cycling positions and make calls based on individual’s needs or problems like flexibility or physical discrepancies. That is why bike fitting is made of art and science – the equipment such as motion capture and pressure mapping is the science part and analysing a cyclist’s movements is the art part of the job. The fitter has to have an eye for it, and this comes with experience and practice.
At the end of the process the cyclist will receive a report detailing what are the adjustments needed for the bike, what equipment to purchase if necessary and tips of technique correction. If the cyclist brings his or her bike along with them for the fitting, we can make the adjustments for them on the spot. If the rider is a beginner, he or she can bring this report to any bike shop in Singapore and they will be able to build the bike according to the report.
The bike fit report can be used to build a bike.
© Nicolette Soh
Adjustments can be made to your bike on the spot.
© Nicolette Soh
Bike fitting can help improve your cycling experience for greater two-wheeled adventures. You can find out more about bike fitting and Loue Bicycles here.
