TheSandwichMonster
Junior Senior
- Location
- Devon, UK
This was purchased for me earlier in the month as a birthday present. I went along on Saturday to have the business done, and to see where adjustments were needed.
I met James at the "shop", though he said that as a business, Koolstof are far more concerned with coaching, performance management, etc. We sat down initially to discuss the type of riding that I do, along with the hours that I normally put in and my goals for the coming year. I told him that I typically have 6-8 hours a week to play with, have just started to train with a bit more purpose and also that I was hoping to start racing at some point this season.
The fit proper started with measurements being taken - both me and the bike, before getting the bike hooked up to the turbo/computer and getting me doing a gentle 10 minutes so that he could watch how I looked whilst I was riding. Apparently my back has good shape, but I look tight around my hamstrings/IT band... More on that later. Whilst I was pedalling away, I was also hooked up to a SpinScan analysis machine - basically it monitors power through the whole of the pedal stroke to check for dead spots. It starts off looking horribly wonky and peanut-shaped, but as you become more aware of what you're doing, you smooth out your pedalling and towards the end I was hitting close to 95% efficiency. As a relative newcomer to the sport, it was a real confidence boost to be told that my pedalling is "freakishly smooth"!
More measurements followed: Various body angles and positioning in relation to key points on the bike, before hopping off. Shoes were done first - cleats adjusted to my foot position. I've always thought that I've been moderately toe-out, which seems to be the case. Turns out that the angle of my cleats was pretty good, but the lateral alignment needed moving a good way back. The process continued - minor adjustments being followed by jumping back on the bike and pedalling away on the turbo to see how the changes effected things.
Ultimately, as things turned out, I was way too far forward and a good distance too low in my saddle height. This is because I was horribly aware that my arms seemed to be holding too much weight when I was on the turbo. As it happens that moving me in the opposite direction was the way to go! Other minor adjustments were made with my bar/lever positions. One of the things that impressed me the most was that James was always very clear in distinguishing between changes that would be genuine improvements, over things that he thought might make a difference. He also outlined what I might expect from the new position and the potential next steps once my body had adjusted to the new riding position. I was told that if I wanted to get even lower/racier then my next steps will be to remove some spacers up front and to add a longer stem. The only other reccommended change was to consider replacing my saddle to something with slightly stiffer rails.
Post-fit, we talked about stretching and off-bike exercises - particularly relating to the fact that it looked like my IT band and hamstrings looked a bit tight. I was told that paying close attention to this could see further improvments in my pedalling efficiency. A full report relating to the fit will be emailed through to me later on today, which I'm looking forward to reading.
The moment of truth: Yesterday I took my bike out for a brief ride over some hills - just under 37 miles in the end. It felt like a different bike. Granted, I've also changed shoes/pedals, and last week was a very low training week for me, so I can't attribute performance gains solely to the bike fit, but it felt very good. So far this month I've been averaging ~13mph over the Devon hills. Yesterday saw me hitting 15mph average, with the first two thirds of the ride at nearly 18mph before Exeter traffic slowed me down. Riding position felt very fluid and comfortable and my legs felt very happy for the effort that I was putting out. Strava shows me improving my position on one of the big climbs, and improving a KOM that I already had on another. Also, there was hardly any neck/upper back ache at the end of the ride - something that I always used to be troubled by.
Short synopsis: A great service. Knowledgeable staff, who take the time to distinguish between changes that will genuinely make a difference over changes that might be worth considering down the line. There was no hard sell either - I went in worrying that there was potentially going to be a whole list of components I "needed" to change. In reality, I was told that there were a couple of things that I might want to consider in the future. At only £45, for nearly 3 hours work, compared with other bike fits I've seen costing considerably more, I'd also say that it represents exceptional value for money.
Linky to Koolstof Coaching
I met James at the "shop", though he said that as a business, Koolstof are far more concerned with coaching, performance management, etc. We sat down initially to discuss the type of riding that I do, along with the hours that I normally put in and my goals for the coming year. I told him that I typically have 6-8 hours a week to play with, have just started to train with a bit more purpose and also that I was hoping to start racing at some point this season.
The fit proper started with measurements being taken - both me and the bike, before getting the bike hooked up to the turbo/computer and getting me doing a gentle 10 minutes so that he could watch how I looked whilst I was riding. Apparently my back has good shape, but I look tight around my hamstrings/IT band... More on that later. Whilst I was pedalling away, I was also hooked up to a SpinScan analysis machine - basically it monitors power through the whole of the pedal stroke to check for dead spots. It starts off looking horribly wonky and peanut-shaped, but as you become more aware of what you're doing, you smooth out your pedalling and towards the end I was hitting close to 95% efficiency. As a relative newcomer to the sport, it was a real confidence boost to be told that my pedalling is "freakishly smooth"!
More measurements followed: Various body angles and positioning in relation to key points on the bike, before hopping off. Shoes were done first - cleats adjusted to my foot position. I've always thought that I've been moderately toe-out, which seems to be the case. Turns out that the angle of my cleats was pretty good, but the lateral alignment needed moving a good way back. The process continued - minor adjustments being followed by jumping back on the bike and pedalling away on the turbo to see how the changes effected things.
Ultimately, as things turned out, I was way too far forward and a good distance too low in my saddle height. This is because I was horribly aware that my arms seemed to be holding too much weight when I was on the turbo. As it happens that moving me in the opposite direction was the way to go! Other minor adjustments were made with my bar/lever positions. One of the things that impressed me the most was that James was always very clear in distinguishing between changes that would be genuine improvements, over things that he thought might make a difference. He also outlined what I might expect from the new position and the potential next steps once my body had adjusted to the new riding position. I was told that if I wanted to get even lower/racier then my next steps will be to remove some spacers up front and to add a longer stem. The only other reccommended change was to consider replacing my saddle to something with slightly stiffer rails.
Post-fit, we talked about stretching and off-bike exercises - particularly relating to the fact that it looked like my IT band and hamstrings looked a bit tight. I was told that paying close attention to this could see further improvments in my pedalling efficiency. A full report relating to the fit will be emailed through to me later on today, which I'm looking forward to reading.
The moment of truth: Yesterday I took my bike out for a brief ride over some hills - just under 37 miles in the end. It felt like a different bike. Granted, I've also changed shoes/pedals, and last week was a very low training week for me, so I can't attribute performance gains solely to the bike fit, but it felt very good. So far this month I've been averaging ~13mph over the Devon hills. Yesterday saw me hitting 15mph average, with the first two thirds of the ride at nearly 18mph before Exeter traffic slowed me down. Riding position felt very fluid and comfortable and my legs felt very happy for the effort that I was putting out. Strava shows me improving my position on one of the big climbs, and improving a KOM that I already had on another. Also, there was hardly any neck/upper back ache at the end of the ride - something that I always used to be troubled by.
Short synopsis: A great service. Knowledgeable staff, who take the time to distinguish between changes that will genuinely make a difference over changes that might be worth considering down the line. There was no hard sell either - I went in worrying that there was potentially going to be a whole list of components I "needed" to change. In reality, I was told that there were a couple of things that I might want to consider in the future. At only £45, for nearly 3 hours work, compared with other bike fits I've seen costing considerably more, I'd also say that it represents exceptional value for money.
Linky to Koolstof Coaching
