Key Measurements For Bike Fit

stringybob

I am on to my third road bike now and have been very lucky with the first two as I have literally set the saddle at the right height and they have been fine - comfortable, no niggles or pains. I have been out on my latest bike (Planet X Pro Carbon) a couple of times and within a short time I am suffering neck and shoulder pains.

As I haven't looked into bike fitting / set-up too much, my intention is to take some measurements from my winter bike and replicate them on my new one. What would you say are the key measurements to consider?

debeli

All of them. But they are few and the adjustment is the work of minutes.

Start with seat height, I measure from the centre of the crank to the ridge of the saddle.

Then seat fore/aft, which you can do in a number of way - I use a plumb line from my knee cap.

You may also want to set the angle of the saddle to match. Some people find themselves quite fussy about that.

Then get onto the bars. Height for comfort and stem length either to match the other bikes or to obscure the front hub from sight when you're riding on the hoods.

Oddly, you may find yourself sensitive to crank length - or that may just be my advancing years....

But the answer to your question is "All Of Them". Each is a function of all of the others and none is less important than any other if it is an exact match you want.

Anonymous

Don't forget bar width.

seanorawe

I take these measurements,

Saddle height - Measure centre of crank to top of saddle
Reach - from tip of saddle to the middle of my bars or where the front plate of my stem joins
Saddle fore/aft drop a plumb line from the tip of the saddle and measure distance from the centre of the crank to the line.
Angle of bars I just go by feel and muscle memory.
Saddle angle, I keep it flat using a spirit level

capt_slog

Some of the measurements mentioned seem odd if you start to examine them, and please, I'm not saying that they're wrong, but they don't stand up to analysis. I'd like to know how they are arrived at.

Debeli wrote:

Then get onto the bars. Height for comfort and stem length either to match the other bikes or to obscure the front hub from sight when you're riding on the hoods.

I've seen this a few times, and use it. But it's starting point seems to be where you're sitting on the bike(?). So, get everything in the right place which is determined by the stem length and saddle position(?) such that you can't see the hub, and then change just the front forks from straight to raked (or opposite). Suddenly you can see the hub again, so you must be sitting in the wrong place?

seanorawe wrote:

Reach - from tip of saddle to the middle of my bars or where the front plate of my stem joins
Saddle fore/aft drop a plumb line from the tip of the saddle and measure distance from the centre of the crank to the line.

Used these as well, but both of them assume that all saddles are the same and the bit that you actually sit on is a fixed distance from the saddle tip, if they are I'm surprised because they don't look it.