Specialized Body Geometry Bike Fitting

Riding a bike shouldn’t be painful. Well, unless we’re talking about the kind of pain that comes when you’re pushing yourself to the max.

But a casual pedal shouldn’t hurt. Your butt shouldn’t hurt. Your hands and elbows shouldn’t hurt. Your knees shouldn’t feel pressure.

If you’re experiencing any of these things, chances are you need a professional to analyze the fit of your bike. Here’s the great news! While many riders think they need a new bike, often they just need adjustments on their current bike. Simple centimeters can make a world of difference in your comfort level, and reduce the chance of injuries.

A Bike Fitting from Lititz Bikeworks

Now, let’s talk about our fit professional. Mark Branle is not only the founder of Lititz Bikeworks, but also a Body Geometry Certified fit technician. This doesn’t mean he took an online course and printed out a certification. Mark actually flew to Specialized’s headquarters in California numerous times to take intensive multi-day courses with lots of post-course homework and assignments. Those in the industry know that Specialized is the leader in comfort technology. There’s no better certification to have.

Mark has been performing bicycle fittings for over a decade and has been racing competitively for over 15 years. He knows the importance of a proper bike fitting. After being fit and instructed by the best in the business, Mark is ready to help riders be one with their bike, regardless of experience or riding style.

Comprehensive Interview

In the pre-fit interview, Mark reviews your cycling history, goals, injury history, and any other relevant personal fitness history, allowing us to sharpen the focus of the Flexibility and Structural Assessment. By asking structured questions relating to injury history and physiology, he can anticipate limitations in key range of motion areas that may affect important aspects of your bicycle set-up.

Flexibility and Structural Assessment

The Advanced BG FIT Flexibility and Structural Assessment identifies individual strengths and limitations, as well as body structure and flexibility as it relates to cycling. This important information will allow us to determine and explain the most beneficial position for you on your bicycle across all three of your bicycle contact points. This thorough step-by-step process includes physical therapy assessments pertaining to foot structure, spinal curvature, hip flexibility, leg length discrepancy, gluteus strength, core strength, and more.

Side Plane Assessment

Dynamically assessed using the side view of the cyclist, while taking into consideration information from the previous Flexibility and Structural Assessment, the goal is to deliver a correct individualized neutral position that’s both powerful and comfortable through adjustments to cleat position, saddle position, stem length and angle, and handlebar position. In addition, we examine areas pertaining to weight distribution, shoulder, elbow and hand alignment, hip angle, and torso angle. Establishing an effective individualized neutral cycling position allows the cyclist to fluidly and effectively adapt to changes in terrain, cadence and effort, leading to increased comfort and efficiency.

Front Plane Assessment

Dynamically assessed using the front view of the cyclist, while taking into consideration information from the Flexibility and Structural Assessment and Side Plane Assessment, the goal is to focus on the finer points of a cyclist’s alignment to deliver optimized hip, knee and foot alignment and squareness on the saddle. We review foot stabilization through cycling-specific footbed systems, forefoot shims, cleat wedges and cleat shims. We make adjustments to align you squarely on the saddle, achieving balanced power delivery from the whole body.

Report

You’ll receive a detailed report that records the set-up of your bicycle based on your individualized cycling position. This report may be used for future reference, to match all of your bicycles to your new position, or to assist you in purchasing a new bicycle.