Check your bike fit: what to change on the bike

When your position does not feel right, it is worth looking at the set-up of the bike: often it is a few millimetres. These rules of thumb tell you where to look first. They are not a diagnosis and replace no fitter.

If something hurts, that is a reason to stop. If it stays, ask someone who can look at you.

Front of the knee

Rule of thumb: the saddle is more likely too low or too far forward. The knee bends more at the top than it needs to.

Check: raise the saddle by two to three millimetres and ride a few times. Then look at the setback: on a road bike the saddle nose is usually 40 to 80 mm behind the centre of the bottom bracket.

Back of the knee

Rule of thumb: the saddle is more likely too high or too far back. The leg is almost fully straightened at the bottom.

Check: lower the saddle by two to three millimetres. If your pelvis rocks as you pedal, it is too high. The calculator shows where your knee angle lies at bottom dead centre.

Inside or outside of the knee

Rule of thumb: your foot is not sitting on the pedal the way it would by itself. Usually that comes down to the cleat: its rotation or its position sideways.

Check: loosen the cleat, sit on an edge with your foot hanging loose and see where the heel points — turn the cleat so that your foot stays there. Single millimetres matter more here than with saddle height.

Numb hands

Rule of thumb: too much weight is on the front. The handlebar is too low or too far away, or the saddle nose points down.

Check: set the saddle level (spirit level), then raise the handlebar with spacers or shorten the stem. And change hand positions on the bars now and then.

Neck

Rule of thumb: the handlebar is too long or too low, and the head has to tilt far back to look ahead.

Check: look at the reach — it belongs to your body — and try a stem one step shorter (they come in steps of ten millimetres) or raise the handlebar with a spacer.

One thing at a time

Change one thing by two to three millimetres — one step for stem and spacers — and ride a few times afterwards. If you adjust several at once, you will not know what made the difference.

And then?

In the calculator you see how saddle height, drop and back angle relate on your bike. The training shows what your position asks of hips, trunk, shoulders and neck.

Look it up in the calculator Training for your riding position