SwitchIt - Reserve yours now

The NEW SwitchIt^TM $895.00 Reserve yours now with an initial deposit of $200

Attention BikeFit Pros- please contact us for your additional discount.

Wondering what all the hype is?  Here is a video  

http://www.youtube.com/user/BikeFitLLC#p/a/u/0/4w0OU36RfWY

And here’s the latest from a happy user:
Yesterday I shopped at Bikesport for a new bike seat.  The salesperson was Cameron and did an excellent job.  She took the time to show me several seats and to place them on a bike for me to sit on.  When we came close to a decision I asked to go back and forth between a couple of seats several times.  What made this so easy for Cameron and for me was that Bikesport had the quick seat installer that I understand that you have developed.  What we did in a few minutes would have taken much longer, been a pain for Cameron and would likely have resulted in me making a decision that I would not have been comfortable with. 

Great job by Cameron, Bikesport and you folks for the quick install product.

Thank you,
XXXXXX

take a look at this cleat

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/04/bikes-and-tech/clothesline/clothesline-comparing-300-shoes-bontrager-rxxxl-vs-fizik-r3_170563/attachment/9o5b7354

Notice the dark mark on the outer part of the inner circle. Just a typical sign of a foot not wanting to be flat with the pedal.

tats from recent bike fits - enjoy!

CYoga - New Yoga Cycling Class

The secret is out that the Yoga industry is gaining a new leader brought on to help launch new/old traditional Yoga concept called CYoga. The concept hopes to revive the idea that Yoga cannot be done without successfully first riding your bike. Insiders say Yoga has a long tradition of supporting the “Bicycle Poses.” These poses were all but  forgotten and almost lost into eternity except by the purist of CYogaMasterPros. The “Bicycle Poses” or sometimes called the “Cycling Poses” have been around since pre-bicycle conception and is believed to perhaps be the initial inspiration into the bicycle itself. New archives show the Wright brothers and also an old Asian Buddhist practiced a sundry of traditional poses which reflected that of riding a bicycle.

A one hour class of “Cyoga” is almost all cycling and little to nothing is done on the floor or even off the bike like the Yoga most people practice today. Many modern Yogists dismiss the concept as an old Wives Tale and say the mirage of Cycling Poses are silly and have nothing to do with the real tradition of Yoga.

Rumor has it the largest Yoga teaching school is on board with the CYoga concept and will be begin teaching its practitioners Worldwide mid - 2011. This attempt is a response to failed revivals FitYogaRight and a partnership with Euro’s BioYogaRacer.

Insiders say the new leader has always felt Yoga is actually cycling and is finally going to prove it to the Yoga world. However, when interviewing one local Yogist whose name he would not divulge felt if he were playing baseball this would be strike 3 for the large Yoga Company.

Our first attempt in a class did not go so well when practicing the Downward Cycling Dog pose as one of the Yogi Pros in training smashed his nose on the stem resulting in a stream of blood running down his face.

Free BikeFit – March 21 (Monday)- time is 8:30 am at BikeFit office in Kirkland, WA

Here is a rare opportunity for a free bike fit. This offer is for a road bike and the cyclist must use SPD mtn style pedals. (2 hole cleats)

This is a $300 offer for FREE – please call 425-821-7237 and talk to Brian or e-mail Brian@BikeFit.com. A credit card will be required to hold the spot and will only be charged if you do not show up.

Dealer Camp - July 26-28, 2011

http://www.bikedealercamp.com/    Park City, Utah - July 26-28, 2011
Just sending this out to let folks know about this trade show.
Anyone think they might be going?

7 bike fits – Dec 4-5 Clinical BikeFit Pro Green Level Education 2010

Brook -
Left 5 degree varus 1 VV1
Right 10 degrees varus 1 VV1 & 1 Cleat Wedge - 20mm pedal spacer

Terri -
Left 7 degrees varus 1 ITS wedge
Right 0 neutral 1 ITS wedge

Tucker -
Left 9 degrees varus 1 VV1 & 1 ITS wedge - 20mm pedal spacer
Right 10 degrees varus 1 VV1 & 1 ITS wedge - 20mm pedal spacer
Plus – Superfeet

Jeff-
Left 4 degrees varus 1 Cleat Wedge
Right 7 degrees varus 2 Cleat Wedges

Anna
Left 16 degrees varus 3 Cleat Wedges – ½ longer spindle
Right 19 degrees varus 4 Cleat Wedges – ½ longer spindle

Dena
Left 18 degrees varus 2 Cleat Wedges & 1 ITS
Right 19 degrees varus 2 Cleat Wedges & 1 ITS

25 total Wedges – all varus
3.6 wedge per cyclist – slightly below average
4 – VV1 Cleats were used (SPD users)
6 – ITS Wedges were used = 24 percent of total wedge use – higher than average
15 – Wedges used were Cleat Wedges
7 fits = 14 feet – all feet needed wedges
5 feet needed longer spindles (3 of 7 cyclist would not fit properly with most pedal systems)

SwitchIT featured in Pez

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=8926&status=True&catname=Latest%20News

Christmas is not the only thing around the corner so is the arrival of SwitchIT.

We currently have a list of customers ready to purchase. If  you would like to be added to the list, let us know. We can reserve one for you.

Cheers

Don't mess with Texas - Tuesday December 14nth

Texas continues to show up on the radar. Our top seller for independent bike fitters several months now has been Tad Hughes of Houston, TX. Tad is taking it to the road and here is your chance to find out more about this leading fitter at Nelo’s Cycle Shop in Austin, TX  Tuesday December 14th.

http://www.tadhughescustom.com/fitclub.html

Bike Fitting done right in Texas

http://www.stuartwight.com/2010/11/12/bike-fitting-with-durata-trainings-dave-wenger/

I was just reading about David Wegner of  Durata Training. David has not been a customer of ours for all the long, only a few years, but he has certainly taken his job seriously and is becoming noticed. He is also a Retul user who clearly shows us that it is his knowledge that allows him utilizes its benefits.

Both David and the company Retul are customers of BikeFit. We are proud to showcase BikeFit.com customers who themselves are getting a long list of happy customers using our products daily. 

To all - please send us your stories and articles so we can share them with others.  

Connection of Excellence 2010 for brake levers goes to SRAM

Give SRAM a hand! This 2-time winner just can’t be out-done. Racers and riders alike spend the majority of time with their hands on the hoods of their brake levers. So why not make the hoods the most comfortable place for your hands to be anyway? Invented by SRAM, the adjustable reach feature allows riders of all sizes to adjust their brake and shift lever position. Thanks to SRAM for “making the leap.” SRAM- still the best.

First Glimpse - something new at Interbike booth #406

IMAGINE a device that will change the way you do business and the way a consumer purchases a saddle. Imagine NO MORE.

See your imagination become real - INTERBIKE booth #406

Also we have a few spots left for a FREE foot/pedal interface assessment - e-mail Brian@BikeFit.com

Bike Fitting at a mansion!

On the steps of Burn Brae Manor the home of Mike Fraysse’s Sports. This was our first of what I am sure will be many more BikeFit Pro classes.

 Vladi Khlopine, Beth Mason, Barry Miller, Dave Will

Paul Swift, Gene Geeza, Oye Carr, Joyce Pellegrini, Kit Vogel

Twice in two weeks – Sitting Side Saddle.

First, I did not come up with the idea for the solution we applied for this person – but it worked. Steve Hogg (Mr Proprioception) turned me on to this idea when one does not have the ability to feel the center of the saddle. And since I have now seen it twice in a short period of time I thought I would share the following.

Note the photo – sitting off center

We were struggling with alignment on this cyclist. If we address the leg/cleat/foot alignment sitting off center – would we really be helping him? In this case we needed to move ahead in the fit and get him sitting closer to center and then go back to the foundation (feet).

We did first try a Specialized BG saddle by itself because we often have good success getting people more centered with just using a BG saddle. I am not suggestion what you see in this photo is something Specialized supports or does not support. We at BikeFit did this on our own.

Yes this is meant to be temporary and used to help the cyclists know when they are sitting close to center.

FYI – In almost all education classes we offer, we like to show off equipment from other companies in which we have success with at BikeFit. When it comes to saddles no one else comes close to Specialized. Maybe one day what will change but as of right now…second place in saddles is a long way away.

Tour de France - bummed but excited!

I am not going to talk about how many Cleat Wedges are in the Peloton but there are a lot more than most people think.

2 comments

First: I am bummed as everyone else in the office here at BikeFit.com that Christian is out.

Second: We are having a great time watching Todd at VeloCenter on http://www.velonews.com/  check it out. I think you will also enjoy this coverage.

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/

Results of a Group Fitting this Weekend

I was in Portales, New Mexico this weekend fitting a group of 11 riders from the area.
Here are the numbers on wedges and 20 mm pedal spacers used for these fits.

A total of 41 cleat spacers were used. 12 on the left and 29 on the right.
A total of 6 -  20 mm pedal spacers were used -  4 on the left and 2 on the right.
Two riders needed a leg length shim due to previous fractures of the hip.
One rider needed +1/2 speedplay zero pedals bilaterally.
Also, almost half the riders need shorter stems, although the actual number is much higher because many of the other riders had already gone to a shorter stem.
Also, 4 of the riders needed a compact handle bar so they could use the drop bar position comfortably.

Paul and Andrew have asked for posts on details about what is being used during fits so thought I would post some of my results from this group.

Michael Irwin    BikeFit Pro
http://www.bicyclefitrx.com/

Eric Atnip from Lexington recently took our one day class at SlowTwitch.com

http://www.bizlex.com/Articles-c-2010-02-17-91462.113117_Working_couple_tap_endurance_to_set_up_triathlon_shop.html

Eric recently attended a F.I.S.T workshop and stayed an additional day for BikeFit’s education on the Foot/Pedal interface. Being F.I.S.T certified alone does not include cleat adjustments and assessment of the feet. Eric is one of the few to have both the F.I.S.T and BikeFit’s combined education. If you are in Kentucky this place offers a complete bike fit. Read about the new shop opening.

A new world champion at the horizon?

This is the lovely Noemi Cantele, recently fitted by Candian super fitter out of Germany www.cyclefit.de Mr Lloyd Thomas! She is sporting a smile for one simple reason: Noemi wants to win Gold at the 2010 Cycling World Championships in both the TT and Road race. This is what she recently told me after having been fitted with the wedges: "The feeling I have since the first time I used the wedges is to pedal more compact and in a better symmetric way. I feel I have better use of all the the muscles, especially the back muscles of the leg. I have a better power transmission onto the pedals and the feet are more stable."

Who is that?

On my way to Des Moines Iowa for some bike fit education training I had a very brief layover in Denver. I was able to get in a quick hello to long time friend and former competitor Nelson Vails. Nelson and I go way back. He walked me on the plane and talked the flight attendant into offering me a first class seat....about time I might add :-)

Here is a photo just prior to boarding.

Here is one of Nelson in the day – 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist