A Professional Bike Fitting Will Make You Want to Ride Even More
Key takeaways
- I wish I could have figured that stuff out sooner, so for this story, I wanted to gather expert advice on the basics of what people should look for and what questions to ask when buying a bike.
- I walk to meet Rebekah Ko, the community resources director at Seattle's Bike Works, the nonprofit where I volunteer.
- This Trek is upright and handsome and silver and blue, with a short wheelbase, flat bars, grip shifters, and a big, squishy seat, all of which are very different from what I'm used to.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Making the proper adjustments to your equipment and your form will improve your comfort and performance on the bike.Photograph: Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story I've been into cycling for decades—riding with grade-school buddies, kicking around in college, then city commuting in Boston, Paris, Barcelona, New York, and now Seattle. Somehow only in the last 10 years, when I became a volunteer mechanic at a bike-centric Seattle nonprofit, did I think about adjusting anything more than the seat height. Now I’m diligent about making sure I have the right bike and that it’s fit for my body and my riding style.
I wish I could have figured that stuff out sooner, so for this story, I wanted to gather expert advice on the basics of what people should look for and what questions to ask when buying a bike. (My colleague Michael Venutolo-Mantovani has more advice if you’re going that route.) After that, I’d take my own bike to a professional fitter and go deep into the nitty-gritty of bike fit to find out what it means to have a tailored ride.
I start with no bike at all. I walk to meet Rebekah Ko, the community resources director at Seattle's Bike Works, the nonprofit where I volunteer. Ko previously ran the sales floor as general manager at the city's Mend Bicycles, and for the purposes of this story we pretend like I am in the market for a bike that I'd use for transportation and general kicking-around fun. We make sure it’s unlike my own bike, so I won't be comparing the two in the back of my mind.