When people come to visit our bike fitting clinic in Kensington, we often talk through the various aspects of position on the bike, however, in our opinion, one of the most key focuses for riders to invest in should be quality, well-adjusted touch points. 

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In this article, we’ll cover what to look out for, and how you can make smart upgrades to your bike’s touch points to improve your comfort and overall time on the bike. 

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An investment in the correct set up has the short term benefits of a more comfortable ride and the long term benefits of injury prevention and more time on the bike, 

What is a touch point?

Your touch points on a bike are traditionally your saddle, handlebars and pedals*. There’s only three touch points on a bike so it’s important that these are quality and fit your style of riding. For example an endurance road saddle isn’t any good if you’re just ducking down to the shops. 

Handlebars + gloves

The position of your bars and your style of riding can make a big difference to your overall comfort on the bike. Rotate your hood too far forward and you’re stretching, have them too far toward the ride and you can’t hold onto the brakes and change gears easily. 

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There’s no one size fits all approach here as every rider, and position is different. 

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If you get numb spots in your hands after long rides, we’d also suggest investing in some quality gloves and bar tape with more cushion.  Gloves increase overall comfort on the bike but also in the event of a crash can help protect your hards from gravel rash. For bar tape, you can get gel inserts that are fitted underneath your bar tape which help dampen the road a bit. However, be warned, too much comfort on the bars can impact your feel for the bike and overall handling. 

Shoe and cleat position

A well-fitting pair of cycling shoes (and cleats) is one of the smartest upgrades you can make for a more comfortable ride.

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A well-fitted cycling shoe will feel snug on your foot, but not tight with a little bit of toe room at the end. Overall it should feel stable and secure. 

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It’s important to make sure you adjust your cleats to suit your riding position and so your knees are tracking straight to avoid injuries. Remember, different brands/styles of cleats and shoes will require different positions.

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If you need help with your cleat position or shoes, we cover this in all our bike fit services and are always keen to help you ride more comfortably.

Saddle

A saddle is the most important thing to get fitted for when you’re starting out riding. An uncomfortable saddle can be the difference between falling in love with cycling and never riding again. 

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Before shopping around for a saddle, it’s important to understand the size that you need and the style of riding you’ll mostly be doing. There are a lot of articles out there about how to measure this, but we like this on from BikeFit.com.

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We’d suggest looking at the large brands of saddle manufacturer such as Shimano or Bontrager as a lot of these manufactures offer free returns if they aren’t suited to your body. 

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There’s so many options out of the market for saddles at the moment, but we can help you find the best option to suit you and your body type!

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By booking a bike fit with us, we can help you with all of these vital touch points and make sure that your ride is as comfortable as possible on the bike!

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*If you’re a paracyclist your touch points might vary slightly depending on your classification however we are can still assist with a bike fit. 

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