Increase mobility before bike fitting?

Training
1

Hello people!

A quick question related to bike fitting. I’m currently pretty stiff and I’d like to increase my mobility. I’d also like to make a first pro bike fitting.

My question is: should I increase my mobility before any bike fit (considering my lack of mobility workout, range of motion should greatly improve) or these topics are not related (eg. a better mobility won’t change the bike fitting result)?

Thanks for your help!

2

  1. You should always work on improving mobility as it will help with considerably more than just cycling.

  2. I would not work with a fitter that only offers a “one time” assessment. Working through iterations over time is best. This takes into account improved mobility, mechanics, etc

3

Your joint flexibility and mobility will change your bike fit.

I did a professional fit on a Sunday after I had gotten a massage two days earlier on Friday evening. That massage has loosened up all my tight muscles, so my body was able to handle a larger range of positions without issues. So the filter didn’t find much that needed tweaking.

A week later, after a few hard rides and days of being hunched over the computer, my body was back to its normal state of tighter hips, shoulders and hamstrings. So I wasted the money on my bike fit.

It’s much better for your fit to be based on where you are than where you aspire to be. It’s not like you’re going to suddenly change your flexibility dramatically. That takes time and continued investment. In the meantime, you could be setting yourself up for pain / muscle imbalance that will slow you down or keep you from getting more flexible.

So my advice is this: if you know you have for issues now, get fit now. Don’t keep riding if you get pain on the bike, you need to fix that ASAP. If your fit is 90% correct already and you’re looking to get that final extra bit, then give yourself 6 weeks to work on your flexibility consistently, then get the fit.

In the meantime, there’s a fitting app that you can use to see how close to a good fit you already have and make some tweaks. Search for it on the forum.

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4

Here’s the app I was referring to

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5

Yep! I have this and it’s been great so far for me. The annual $75 subscription provides opportunity for the “iterations” I noted above.

I’ve been working with a guy for the last several years doing check ins on my TT position, but use myvelofit for road bike and can’t imagine I’d actually pay a fitter for that position again.

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No.

You can make minor tweaks next year.

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7

I would just get the fit done and not increase mobility beforehand. How would you decide your mobility enough for a bike fit?

I’d get the bike fit and continue to work on your mobility. I doubt better mobility would have a negative effect after your bike fit

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  1. Mobility improvements take time and don’t happen overnight.
  2. If you are having serious issues with your current physical state & bike fit, doing a bike fit to alleviate that is worthwhile, IMO.
  3. You can revisit your bike fit if & when you change your physical state and the “new” bike fit in step 2 above is no longer appropriate.

Essentially, get a fit now if you are having issues. Work on your physical state if & when you want to. Redo bike fit if the first bike fit starts to fall short of your new needs.

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9

Would also recommend obtaining and saving detailed measurements from your fit with some annotations to ensure reproducibility, and if you’re willing, consider making small marks at key locations with metallic sharpie or something similar (saddle height/setback, bar position/rotation, etc)

As your mobility improves you may want to make some incremental changes on your own or with your fitter and this will make it easier to track your changes and revert back to your original fit if needed.

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