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Owned by Dan
A FREE space for Bike Fit advice led by Pro Bike Fitters. Post videos of your Bike Fit, join educational webinars, and discuss with other riders 🚴
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18 contributions to The Bike Fit Academy
1d •
Bike Fit Setups
There are a number of bike fit ‘tools/systems’ used by bike fitters, what is the best?
1 like • 11h
Most tools are good at measuring something, but the outcome depends more on how the fitter uses the information, what questions they’re asking, how they interpret what they see and how they explain the data. It’d be interesting to hear from other fitters here: Which tools they’ve experienced? What they felt those tools were good at, and where they fell short? Often the differences aren’t the hardware or software, but the thinking and process behind it.
8d •
Example: posting a Bike Fit video for discussion
I’ll kick things off with my own position as an example of how to use this space. Give people some insight into your own riding, such as: - Riding type: "Road/Gravel/TT/Tri/etc" - Context: “state what type of riding you do - distance / frequency / etc" - What I notice: “briefly state any aches / pains / injuries you have on the bike” - What I’m curious about: ”what are your current thoughts about your own Bike Fit? Or what are you curious about?” If you’re commenting, try to focus on: - What you notice first - What questions you’d want answered before forming conclusions - What positional changes would you want to test first? This is the kind of thinking we’re trying to encourage in this community.
1 like • 8d
@Gary Radford Thanks very much for this.. This is a really solid example of the kind of breakdown we’re aiming for here. Clear observations, separated by view, and explained without jumping straight to fixes. I like how you’ve split it into front / rear / side and described what you see rather than just the outcome. The point about comparing left vs right from the rear is a good one too, that kind of asymmetry often helps guide more questions before it gives answers. Out of interest, what would you want to change first from the things you've mentioned? That’s often where the thinking gets interesting.
0 likes • 2d
@Jason Hurst Hey Jason, thanks for the detailed breakdown. You're so right, the limitations of remote video make in-person fitting irreplaceable, but as a tool for observation and hypothesis-building it’s useful when handled carefully, so I'm glad you liek the idea of creating this space for an "as-good-as-possible" online space for Bike Fit questions and education. I like how you framed this around what you’d want to see next rather than jumping to conclusions, and the link you draw between upper-body control, pelvic rotation, and downstream effects is a good reminder that these things rarely exist in isolation. Thanks again for taking the time to share this level of thinking, would love to see you in our Webinars coming up soon :)
6d •
Top of foot pain
After many years road cycling with a 4mm shim I started with top of foot pain after trying a new pair of cycling shoes (Lake CX 238 - old shoes Shimano R320). I have a (sports podiatrist) confirmed tibia length difference of around 15mm. I increased to a 6mm shim (back on my old shoes) and the pain has subsided somewhat but is still there (old & new shoes). I have done a Shimano Dynamics bike fit and the recommendation is to move to 170mm cranks (from 172,5 - I used to use 175mm), use a wider saddle (155mm from 142mm) and move my saddle forward. The other things I probably could consider are to increase the shim to say 8mm and / or a pedal adapter to widen my stance (Q-factor?) on my short leg. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly welcome
0 likes • 5d
@Neil Harper Hi Neil, thanks for this. It'd be interesting to know what your pedal stroke symmetry is like with the current shim setup. If it's still off then more shimming might be good, or if you're moving to extreme shim depths then an asymmetrical crank length might be a good option. Like Gary says, the first place to start would probably be shoes though. Loads to unpack in this one!
1 like • 3d
@Neil Harper That’s a good example of how symmetry can change depending on context rather than pointing to one “correct” setup. Instead of a hard limit for shim height, it’s often more useful to ask what the shim is actually solving, and at what point adding more starts to create new constraints. But I know you'd prefer a number! So from personal experience during Bike Fits, if I ever start thinking we need any more than 9mm of shims, I'd also start thinking about using a different crank length. Interested to hear how others (especially other Bike Fitters) in here decide when a shim has done its job versus when a different crank length makes more sense.
4d •
Cleats
The issue is after a bike fit. Friend suffering with sore gastonemus (calf muscles) at the top just under the knee. His cleats were pushed back and straight. When he uses flat pedals, his toes naturally go out and his heels move in towards the frame. Does he need to align his cleats off centre to account for this?
0 likes • 3d
Good question, great example of where what we see off the bike can be useful, but not the whole answer. The difference noticed between flat pedals and clipped-in riding raises some good questions. Flat pedals are usually a lot wider so your feet don't necessarily want to do the same thing on flat vs clipless pedals. Most of the time, allowing the foot to do what it wants to do is the answer to a comfortable cleat position. It would be useful to know if the feet are trying to rotate whilst on clipless pedals or not? This might not be the source of the calf pain of course, there could be other factors at play, but starting at the feet is usually a good start 👍
4d •
🎥 Free Webinar: Why Most Bike Fit Problems Happen?
🗓️ Friday February 6th 🕓 4pm We’ll be running our first live webinar for the community, looking at why bike fit problems happen in the first place, and why random adjustments so often fail to fix them. We’ll cover: - Why most fit issues aren’t caused by one wrong component position - Common traps people fall into when making changes - How to think more clearly about position before adjusting anything - Bike Fitter Q and A afterwards This is about understanding, not prescriptions, and should be useful whether you’re dealing with a current issue or just want to improve how you think about your own bike fit. 📅 Details and sign-up are in the calendar. If you can’t make it live, a recording will be available. Feel free to drop any questions or themes you’d like covered in the comments.
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@dan-smith-1101
Professional Bike Fitter at UK Bike Fit. Founder of The Bike Fit Academy.
Active 41m ago
Joined Nov 22, 2025
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