When we last left our readers, I was contemplating double vs triple…which turned out to be only one of the many decisions to be made concerning my new bike.
The first major decision was frame size. Back in 2003, when I purchased Liberation (Project One carbon 5200) Trek had just started to offer the Women Specific Design (WSD) frames. At first, this sounded like a fantastic option for me, but as I learned more about the differences, I became more skeptical.
First, the wheels were smaller so that there would be less (or no) overlap in the front tire and the rider’s foot. Female readers will appreciate the problems caused when your front wheel rubs against your foot when you make a sharp turn…this never happens to men (unless they are very short). The drawback was that the wheel required a smaller than normal tube – making it nearly impossible to borrow a tube from a friend while out riding.
Since one flat often leads to a second flat, this made me nervous…I didn’t want to start carrying multiple spares, but didn’t want to be stranded either. (At the time, I rode almost exclusively with men.)
The second problem involved the crank. The crank is the part of the pedal that extends from the bike frame to the pedals. It was shorter and this made me wonder if I would have a harder time keeping up with the guys. I felt like this was a non-starter.
At the time, I lived near Blacksburg VA and my bicycle shop was East Coasters. The employees were just beginning to learn how to perform a professional bike fit session and they used me as a guinea pig.
For a couple of hours, they examined my position on my bike. They measured using yardsticks, rulers, plum bobs… they put stickers on my shoes to mark important spots…they asked me to spin and stop, spin and stop… and they issued their verdict: My body and positioning on the bike indicated that I was right on the line between a regular frame and a WSD frame.
Hurray! I wanted a regular frame very badly… but that came with some drawbacks as well.
The first of these: the handlebars were too wide for me and had to be replaced with the best handlebar set that the bike shop employees could find – but still not quite right.
I had no idea how much difference this little detail would make until years later when I used a properly fitted handlebar set for the first time.
The position of the brake levers was problematic as well. My hands are not tiny, but I could barely reach the levers while in the drops. Over the years, I compensated by keeping my hands on the hoods while descending… a nasty habit that is not as safe as descending in the drops. And it turns out, this habit is difficult to break.
So, Liberation arrived from Trek was built-up by the guys at East Coasters. She was beautiful… one of the first Project One custom paint jobs to show up in my corner of the world – if you’ve ridden with me you know her flames. Thousands of miles later, it is clear she was one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
Back to 2013 — the selection process for my new bike frame size started in a similar way. Liberation was placed on the trainer at Liberty Bicycles and Sam White started the process of examining my position on the bike.
He took note of things that looked correct and things that needed to be changed. He taught me a valuable lesson…as the years pass, our bodies change and, accordingly, our bike fit needs to be tweaked.
Small changes in your bike fit can make a tremendous difference to your comfort level on the bike. I plan to make bike-fit tune-ups a part of my annual bike maintenance program going forward.
Sam selected a 50” frame Trek Domane 6 Series for my test ride. He made numerous meticulous adjustments to replicate my fit on Liberation, placed the Domane on the trainer and asked me to spin a bit.
By this time, Liberty Bicycles Co-Owner Mike Nix had stopped by to check our progress. I was spinning for about 10 seconds before both Sam and Mike simultaneously spoke out loud: the frame size was not right for me.
Things have really changed over the course of 10 years and even as the science of performing professional bicycle fit sessions has evolved, it has also become more of an art. Sam quickly replaced the 52” frame with a 50” frame, replicated the adjustments again, and I was off for a test spin.
The Universe was smiling on me that day. My test spin was along a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway and a portion of the route was closed to motorized traffic. It was a February day, but the weather was warm and sunny. I wanted to climb all the way to Pisgah Inn… but Sam would be waiting for me at the shop and I forced myself to turn back at the first tunnel.
Descending with properly sized handlebars was a delight. I had much better control and I could wrap three fingers around the brake levers while in the drops… a lifetime first for me!
As I returned the test bike to Sam, I was delighted and more excited than ever about ordering my new bike…
And in my next installment I’ll return to the great debate of double vs triple, as the compact double gearing on my test bike left a little to be desired.