LOOK - under the front toward the inside

A small wear mark. Are you looking here to see the uneven wear?

The BikeFit booth is up and ready - Interbike 2010 is just hours away

Lift the lever to release. Push down to tighten. 

Rotate the tilt knob with your finger to adjust tilt.

Yes it is that simple.

Visit the Foot/Pedal demos at the booth

Wed, Thur and Fri   11am and 3pm daily.

we may even squeeze in an extra one or two so you can still ask for a spot.

Going to Interbike?


Receive a FREE Foot/Pedal Interface Assessment by one of our BikeFit Pros at Interbike.
You MUST reserve your spot in advance -
Select one of the times below

Wednesday 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM
Thursday 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM
Friday 11:00 AM (this session is booked) and 3:00 PM

Where - Booth # 406
Bring your SHOES, PEDALS and CYCLING SHORTS.
Please call us to reserve your spot...425-821-7234 or e-mail Brian@BikeFit.com
- credit card is required only to hold your reservation, $100 charge if you do not show

Local Dates for Green Level BikeFit Pro Education courses are now on line

Here is the most recent schedule for local the BikeFit Tour offering BikeFit Pro Education and Training. The following are all Green Level Education courses. For more information click on this link.
http://bikefit.com/schedule10.php

October 31 & November 1
November 14 & 15, 2010
December 12 & 13, 2010
January 16 & 17, 2010
February 13 & 14, 2011
April 17 & 18, 2011
May 22 & 23, 2011
June 5 & 6, 2011

Not Retul, Not BG, Not Serotta (or SICI), Not F.I.S.T.

Welcome back Beth!

We are glad you are back safe and sound!!!!

Here is a little interview catching up with one of our customers that took a leave of absence for a period of time

http://www.cxhairs.com/2010/06/21/cross-training-in-iraq-a-chat-with-beth-mason/

Average number of wedges

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/cyclingnews-fitness-q-and-a-may-4-2010

Hit the link above and scroll down - notice the number of wedges Hogg mentions he uses.......are you anywhere close to this?

We fall a bit short but our average is increasing. We used to be around 4 wedges per fit. Today we are closer to 4.6 or 4.7 wedges per fit.

What is your average number of wedge per fit?

Bike Fit - SPD cleats and pedals.

I think I echo the sentiment of others by saying that I prefer to work with almost any other cleat and pedal when it comes to bike fit. But I think when it comes to really trying to improve what we do - we must learn to embrace our weakness or area we like the least.

I personally took this challenge and one of the results was the new V V 1 cleat, perhaps the most advance cycling cleat in the world. Here are some of the considerations for taking this challenge.

Market size and share - The SPD market is the largest market of pedals in the world. I will restate that as there are more people (A LOT MORE) riding some sort of SPD or SPD knock off than any other cleat and pedal. This is a huge and relatively untapped market. It really is ours for the taking.

Mtn bike fits and control - When it comes to so called mtn bike fits I often hear people say bike fit is not as important as a road bike. This could not be further from the truth. What controls a mtn bike more, than lets say seat height or position, is the foot/pedal interface. Your feet control the bike and are far more important for control of the bike than they are on a road bike.

The kicker – in spite of the fact that the connection is more important the platform size is small and not as stable. – The relative contact surface of an SPD cleat to the bottom of the shoe is so minimal. Often efforts we put into working with this cleat have been tough. Even when we get a desired adjustment it can be difficult to make sure everything maintains its setting. One less variable (incorporating a wedge into the cleat) eliminates one of the adjustments we need to control when working with SPD cleats. In other words it should be easier to address by eliminating one of the reasons we may tend to shy away from SPD type fits.

Here is a link to some early success with the V V 1 cleats. I hope you too will enjoy this type of success soon. http://hypercatcycling.wordpress.com/

5 cycling magazine editors were all recently fit with Speedplay pedals at Sea Otter

Here are some of the initial numbers from the cleat/pedal fits. This is a direct reflection of the variance between the 5 fits and the ability of Speedplay and the use of cleat wedges to meet the individual needs.

5 bike fits performed = 10 pedals used
6 pedals needed different length spindles (60 percent)
9 cleats received cleat wedges (90 percent) – No ITS Wedges.
Shorter spindles – 5 (50 percent)
Longer spindles – 1 (10 percent)
3 Received Superfeet insoles.

Without Speedplay Pedals only 40 percent would have been fitted properly. In other words any other pedal system in the world would have netted only a 40 success rate.

Without Cleat Wedges only 10 percent would have been fitted properly. This combination is the best way to fit more cyclists properly.

Four needed shorter right spindles. It is more common we see the left longer than the right so this was not surprising.

This group was fairly typical regarding how many needed different length spindles and wedges. We see the same ratio in our fittings and education classes.......not a good sign for any other pedal.

Atypical of this group was that more often we find longer spindles are needed. This group as whole needed shorter spindles but again the left to right ratio is common.

We share this information not to impress you but the impress upon you the importance of cleat wedges and proper spindle widths. We hope you are able to experience the same success.

Leg Length Discrepancies - Are they common?

The question is how common are leg length discrepancies? So far this week I have seen a 70% of fits requiring the use of leg length shims. I want to thank Steve Hogg for thinking out of the box and making a solution to address this common problem. What do I look for and what does jump out? What really jumps out is how uneven the saddle is; one side is usually more compressed/lower than the other.

In the even the saddle is brand new the other clue I look for is leg extension ... especially when the saddle is new and the client is complaining about lateral lower back pain and or hip pain.
While the Gmeter is marked with a nice green area indicating the range for an ideal saddle height, when the difference is 5 or more degrees I start to thinking about a possible discrepancy.

Testing the assumption is easy; just put a leg length shim under the shoe and ask for feedback. The words you can hear a client scream or utter are " ... I feel even and balanced" or "I feel as I am not reaching as much now" or "I went out for a long ride and for the first time my lower right back and hip has not hurt" or "I am now feeling the same amount of pressure on the saddle !" One client this week had such a good feeling of being balanced that he said "maybe now I can ride without my hands as I have never been able to do so because my bike would veer to the right!" which then led me to think why did he not mention this during the pre-fit interview?

Let's hear how you test for leg length discrepancy on the bike!


Wedge average count thus far this week: 15 wedges in 4 fits = 3.75 wedges/fit

An ITS Wedge story - question 3 from post below

3) Should I cut your product to the proper size? I have a size 43 shoe and I am using the uncut 10 - 11 size ITS wedge. I am kind of afraid to cut them because I am getting a great result now. Will they work better if cut?


Phil,


In general, the size 10-11 will work for most people that have a 43 shoe size. However, your guide should be where the ball of the foot is located on top of the wedge. If the ball of the foot is behind the thickest area, you would need the next larger size wedge.  The opposite of this would be where the ball of the foot is in front of the thickest part of the wedge. If this is the case, you may need to trim the front or get the next size smaller ITS wedge.

You were happy with results thus far. So, I can understand why you might not want to cut them. Because of your honest and thorough feedback we will be glad to send you an extra set of the original orange ITS wedges to do with as you please. We will also throw in some cleat wedges because the cleat wedge is almost always preferred. Specialized does not offer a cleat wedge…yet!