A case of bike fit:
Found these images of Solomon and I on the front of the 2007 Oregon state cx race. He went on to win the race and I froze my ass off and mentally dropped out of the race. Pictures do not convey temperature well.
I’ve included a couple of Sven Nys to highlight what should be good cyclocross fit. Do you see the similar positions? Arms bent, cockpit a little shorter than a traditional road racing position.
This is by no means a scientific review and photos tend to distort a riders position on a bicycle. Nor is this a critisisim of Solomon’s fit in the photo. I do know that Solomon has a National caliber road racing background and it is fair to assume a road racing-esque position would feel familiar and comfortable on a cx machine for him.
I truly believe: don’t fix what is not broken. I would not start messing with Solomon’s position unless he was having issues with it. But, the question always remains, ala’ Sean Kelly, are riders winning because of their position or in spite of their position?
Tried to get a good side shot of Sven or someone else… No dice. The photo of him above is in the “hammering” hunch, the photo to the left is the relaxed and cruising/cornering position.
Meant to post this 6 months ago. It has been a busy spring.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:43 am
[…] out of the race. Pictures do not convey temperature well. I??ve included a couple of Sven Nys to hhttp://www.mollycameron.com/2008/06/04/a-case-of-bike-fit/‘It was chaos, absolute chaos’ The Desert SunShortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, a gunman rushed […]
June 5th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I’ve been thinking about proper fit/reach and this post today while riding and realized the one big variable could be arm length. someone with shorter arms might have less bend and still have good front/rear weight distribution. not sure how long your or solomon’s arms are. I actually have quite long arms and have been noticed over the years that just cuz I can reach the bars comfortably doesn’t mean my position is good - and have slowly broken from the flat-back roadie position I grew up on when I was a kid. the other big variable in reach (and thus torso and arm bend) would be bar height. are yours any higher than his?
June 6th, 2008 at 10:38 am
All of that would figure into a good design/fit.
Shorter arms would not need to equate less bend. A well fitting bike, to be balanced, would have a top tube/cockpit reach designed for the riders arms and torso.
Cyclocross arms out stretched would indicate to me a bicycle designed a little long for the rider, not that his arms are too short for the bicycle.
And, I think in the photo, I am sitting very upright, letting Solomon pull through or something. So I don’t think my position looks ideal.
The bar height would be taken into account too. When Sacha and I met to talk about my SpeedVagen’s last summer, I showed him the footage from the 07 CX Worlds. There are a lot of side views of the top cx riders through the trees. And we talked about the position and the design of my bicycles.
Why I mentioned Solomon’s road background in the post. You have to take in to account what the riders body is accustomed to.
I actually met up with the person who did Solomon’s fit for his Speedvagen and he mentioned that Solomon has a funky back bend so the longer reach in the position was the best way to get the back to look good with out “scrunching” him up.
August 8th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Nys got his position by riding bmw when he was a child and racing on the road in the summer !!