An important but sometimes forgotten part of bike mechanics, bike fitting is the science of adjusting and adapting bicycles to their riders for comfort, endurance and performance. Whether you’re a fair weather commuter or a hardened tourer - feeling comfortable, in-control and efficient on your bike will help you to enjoy cycling.

This course is for anyone interested in learning the techniques of bike fitting in order to achieve a better position on the bike and to help others do the same. We expect a mixture of mechanical abilities and help will be on-hand, so you don’t need to be an experienced mechanic.

The course will start with a morning seminar on the key concepts behind bike fitting and will cover: initial assessment, objectives, anatomy, biomechanics, problems and adjustments, equipment choice, conditioning, riding technique, and measurement. The afternoon session is a workshop where you will be able to practice these skills in pairs with the help of the instructor to achieve a better bike fit.

What you need to bring:

• Your own bike - it is important that this bike is roughly the right frame size for you as this cannot be adjusted. The course covers bike sizing but you should ask your local bike shop for advice if you have serious concerns that your frame is the wrong size for you.
• Your normal riding clothing, whether that’s lycra or normal clothes. Something that shows the knees and elbows and not too baggy is recommended.
• Comfortable clothing for the seminar (changing facilities available).
• Any equipment that you are considering changing - e.g. if you are trying to choose between two different saddles or handlebars.

About the instructor

Tom Kirkman is an experienced bike fitter and recent physiotherapy graduate and has helped hundreds of cyclists of all types and abilities to cycle in comfort. Tom is also a mechanic and has worked in bike shops for many years. He is keen to see the benefits of bike fitting move beyond the traditional niche of performance road cycling and into the mainstream.

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