Is a Bike Fitter Enough?

[The Ouzo]

What you want is to convert those inches into km/h

There are calculators that will do the gear ratios into km/h. I’ve got an app called bike gear that does it on my phone. 
 

 

[DieselnDust]

Remind me where you ride mostly again?

the gearing should be guide by the terrain.

[Ncayi]

15 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Remind me where you ride mostly again?

the gearing should be guide by the terrain.

Northern JHB suburbs mostly. From my place to the Cradle and back is like 110km with 1500m of elevation. Throw in destinations like Haarties and I easily rack up 2000m over 140km. And And I am unit of a cyclist. 

Every now and then I venture to the south of JHB when I feel like a flat route. 

[Ncayi]

36 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

What you want is to convert those inches into km/h

There are calculators that will do the gear ratios into km/h. I’ve got an app called bike gear that does it on my phone. 
 

 

Yes the website I used has a similar conversion but to be honest I'm not sure I understand that any better. I know the is a difference between riding at 20km vs 22km at different gears and same cadence. What I lack is perspective in the grand scheme of things in terms of what those differences mean. Does that make any sense? 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Ncayi

[DieselnDust]

36 minutes ago, Ncayi said:

Northern JHB suburbs mostly. From my place to the Cradle and back is like 110km with 1500m of elevation. Throw in destinations like Haarties and I easily rack up 2000m over 140km. And And I am unit of a cyclist. 

Every now and then I venture to the south of JHB when I feel like a flat route. 

Ok then I would keep the 52/36 and opt for a bigger cassette at the back, the biggest your derailleur can handle.

a 50/34 will allow you to use the smaller sprockets more but this is going to result in quickly worn chains and sprockets and chainring teeth. I will get expensive and will the spares situation you want maximum drivetrain life. Bigger chainrings and bigger sprockets give more chain wrap and therefore less wear

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, Ncayi said:

Seeing that this is linked to my bike fit story I thought let me just ask it here instead of creating another thread. 

I need some easier gears for the numerous climbs I have to do. I currently have a 52-36 chain ring and a 11-28 cassette. I want to increase my average cadence from 78-83 to 85-90 rpm which I used to manage with 50-34. 

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Remind me where you ride mostly again?

the gearing should be guide by the terrain.

1 hour ago, Ncayi said:

Northern JHB suburbs mostly. From my place to the Cradle and back is like 110km with 1500m of elevation. Throw in destinations like Haarties and I easily rack up 2000m over 140km. And And I am unit of a cyclist. 

Every now and then I venture to the south of JHB when I feel like a flat route. 

Does "I am unit of a cyclist" imply that you're a heavy? Remind us of your impact on the scale.

You might also want to work on your leg strength to be able to produce more force (torque) at a given cadence. Power = Torque * Cadence (rotational velocity).

It's either the same torque at a high cadence, or a higher torque for the same cadence. That will result in more power, which then translates to a faster speed, or same speed for less effort.

Some gym work, as well as low-cadence high-torque interval training can definitely help you with this. There was a thread where the workout was mentioned. Will try find it and post the link.

[Ncayi]

13 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Does "I am unit of a cyclist" imply that you're a heavy? Remind us of your impact on the scale.

Affirmative! I currently weigh 108kg but aiming to shave a lot of that saw a nutritionist to support on that front. So far so good.

 

14 minutes ago, Frosty said:

work on your leg strength

This was pointed out by a Bio I saw so I will be starting with some work at the gym from September but baby steps as I am coming back from a knee injury.

[Ncayi]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Ok then I would keep the 52/36 and opt for a bigger cassette at the back, the biggest your derailleur can handle.

a 50/34 will allow you to use the smaller sprockets more but this is going to result in quickly worn chains and sprockets and chainring teeth. I will get expensive and will the spares situation you want maximum drivetrain life. Bigger chainrings and bigger sprockets give more chain wrap and therefore less wear

Thanks for the feedback and I take your point. When I used a 50-34 in Cape Town the bib would barely last for more than 8 months. But I didn't really link the premature wearing with the size of my crank.

[Frosty]

Give this podcast a listen to, which helps understand that there’s more to a bike fit that just setting your saddle height, fore/aft position, reach, and cleat positions.

As mentioned before, a relationship with the fitter is important. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/fast-talk/id1490521721?i=1000625538868

A non-Apple link:
https://www.fasttalklabs.com/fast-talk/heres-why-you-cant-have-performance-without-comfort/

[The Ouzo]

What is your average cadence at the moment?

what’s it like on the hills ?

coming back from knee problems you don’t want to be grinding low cadence. 
 

[Ncayi]

Just now, The Ouzo said:

What is your average cadence at the moment?

what’s it like on the hills ?

coming back from knee problems you don’t want to be grinding low cadence. 
 

Before the injury I was averaging between 78-83.  Post injury I've been managing 80-82. But I want to get to 87-90.

I know it's not just about slapping on a dinner plate and poof problem solved. I will do some cadence drills and strength work as indicated by Frosty.

[Frosty]

28 minutes ago, Ncayi said:

Before the injury I was averaging between 78-83.  Post injury I've been managing 80-82. But I want to get to 87-90.

I know it's not just about slapping on a dinner plate and poof problem solved. I will do some cadence drills and strength work as indicated by Frosty.

Ask your physiotherapist for a recommendation for a strength and conditioning expert; I have one I liaise with who works with school kids. Doing the workouts with the correct technique is extremely important.

[Jeroen Swart]

On 8/8/2023 at 2:03 PM, Lynskey said:

Bike fit pffffft. Waste. Been to sports science institute and their fitment nearly broke me. Couple grand that was. Spent a day doing full test and adjust. I feel good. Mostly I feel confident some geyser hasn't told me what I am doing wrong. I do about 18000 a year. So that's my take.

Hi Jacques. Nice to meet you. 

I've gone through your posts and it seems you have had a very negative experience with our service. You seem to also have strong opinions about me.

However, I am unable to find any record of you ever having visited us. You are not on our electronic database of fittings. You are not on any of our email records or billing records.

Can you maybe provide some specifics on when you saw me for a fitting? 

If you didn't have a positive outcome, did you provide any feedback regarding your fitting? We generally aim to ensure the client is happy and will gladly re-assess and correct if they experience any problems.

Best wishes,

Jeroen

 

[Jeroen Swart]

On 8/11/2023 at 6:06 AM, SwissVan said:

Some people including well educated ones have the people skills of a piranha and sometimes you just need to suck it up to benefit from their knowledge…. You don’t have to socialize with him.

jeroen imo is a you describe him, talking from personal experience when he was still an elite level xco racer back in the 1990’s

 

You're not wrong. I was a very cocky youngster.

Have you spoken to me in the last 15-20 years?

 

[DieselnDust]

6 minutes ago, Jeroen Swart said:

You're not wrong. I was a very cocky youngster.

Have you spoken to me in the last 15-20 years?

 

Who wasn’t a cocky youngster…?

[Jeroen Swart]

35 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Who wasn’t a cocky youngster…?

Seems some were very virtuous and not like me. Hence the judgement 20 yrs later