Welcome to the weekly newsletter! Glad to have you here and I hope you’ll have an amazing week ahead. I wish you all the best; sunshine on your rides, tailwind, great legs and a wonderful coffee stop.
Introduction
It’s been a short while since I wrote something. Sorry about that!
I have just started a new major project and whilst keeping on top of all the responsibilities I’m trying to figure out what “the next thing is”. Honestly speaking, I just love to write stuff. It being LinkedIn posts, longer form articles or this weekly newsletter. I seem to never really get tired of writing and it feels very natural to me.
Somehow it gives the sense that writing should be all I do BUT it’s not easy to secure purely writing projects. The need is high but it’s a competitive market and you need to get some referrals before, some good reviews that put your above your competition. I’m slowly working towards this and I’m writing some very exciting things lately that I’ll be sharing in the near future when it’s released on the clients’ website.
In this weekly newsletter I will talk about one specific subject and that is “The Place of Bikefitting in the Customer Journey”. Because more and more I feel like it’s just wrong and ill-defined right now. I know this for a fact as I have conducted some bikefits but being a consumer now who doesn’t get its bike and equipment for free anymore, it’s even more clear to me.
Bikefitting in the Customer Journey
Traditionally we think about bikefitting as a post-purchase service. You go to your cycling shop, maybe a dealer of a specific brand you like nearby or even an online shop like Canyon. Most of us then start halfballing a more or less correct setup. In an attempt to replicate the position of your previous bike, you set up the next bike as similar as possible.
A newcomers’ story
When you are new you follow some advice online, probably you have heard about the Greg Le Mond formula (inseam leg length x 0.883). Then you set your saddle to that height, you keep the setback in a neutral position and you try to ride the thing.
As a newcomer to the sport you will have more problems because as you will find out, you buy a bike without pedals. Say what?! Yep, you buy a bike without pedals, just like you buy shoes without laces or a car without wheels, right? Well no… It’s kinda wrong put in 95% of the cases it will happen.
So you need to get some pedals, but which ones? Shimano? Speedplay? Look? Even if you have made this educated guess, you are presented with your next mistake :) Because as you have pedals you now need shoes and they come in all kinds, shapes, brands, … Will you go for a stylish Italian Sidi or rather a hyper fast super aerodynamic Bont shoe?
When you have made yet another educated guess, the real fun can start, go out for a ride! OR NOT?! Well not exactly. You need to jump through one more burning hoop! You have your shoes, you have your pedals but you still need to add cleats to your pedals. Adding them is something anyone with an alloy key can do, but how do you put them correctly? And how does this setup change your cycling position? All very good questions and all things that can be answered by a bike fit!
The pair of glasses analogy
Imagine something different, many of us have less than optimal eyesight (just like many of us with less than optimal physical abilities). So what do you do to eliminate that problem? You wear glasses!
Let’s see the different steps for when you buy glasses:
You have a terrible headache when reading things OR you crash your car/bike against something OR you just have the feeling of not having optimal eyesight. All children in Belgium are tested at school in a medical exam for this, I guess it could be similar in other countries.
Anyways you will now know that your eyesight is less than optimal. So you look up an optician.
The optician will measure with highly specific measuring tools exactly how bad your eyesight is.
The optician will give you a paper with pluses and/or minuses and a whole bunch of numbers based on what your eyesight is like.
You go to a shop where you choose the frame that suits your style (and your wallet).
The shop merchant will take the optician’s measurements and order the right glass pieces for your frame.
The shop merchant will mount the glass pieces into the frame and send you a message to go get your pair of glasses.
You go back to the shop, try the glasses on, do some minor adjustments to place the glasses perfectly onto your nose and ears. And away you go, you can now enjoy the world in all its glory.
Now I have one question for you: “Why is this not the same process when buying a bike?” Just replace “optician” with “bike fitter” and “shop merchant” with “bike mechanic” and there you go, a perfect customer journey where everyone goes home happy and can enjoy riding.
The ideal journey
So very similar to the journey of buying a pair of glasses, your journey when buying a bike should start with someone who get’s to know your body and its limits. In cycling this is a bike fitter, this person will be able to position the cleats of your shoes perfectly and you can do a bikefit on a fit bike. This is basically a bike that can be adjusted into any position you can imagine. The bike fitter will not be limited by the frame you present him with (which could be a wrong size for you).
The measurement on the fit bike gives you the confidence that your cleats are set up perfectly and that you choose the right frame size later on (this is very important!). In addition to that you can already get some recommendations for the right accessoires, think about handlebars, saddle, clothing, …
Now when you go out to buy a bike, you know what you are looking for. You will need a bike with Stack and Reach X and Y where you can have a Saddle Height of something and a setback of something. Your handlebars need a width of 40 for example and you need the saddle from the fitting, so maybe a Selle Italia with a width of 138 is ideal for you.
When you get your bike, which can take a long time nowadays due to the limited supply and the Covid situation. You go back to the bikefitter and you do some final adjustments and then you are ready to roll! In the perfect position, based on your capabilities and you will minimise the risk of injuries like this. Just don’t forget that your body changes and that you should visit the bike fitter for a refit regularly ;-)
Benefits
There are so many benefits going this route, allow me to split them up into bike fitter and consumer benefits:
Consumer benefits
You are 100% sure that you are riding in the right position
You are buying the right frame size!
You are not needlessly spending money on accessoires that don’t fit you
And most importantly, you are getting the right bike. A super aero bike where you have a big drop between your saddle and handlebars is not a good thing to buy when you are middle aged and lacking any kind of flexibility.
Bike fitter benefits
You establish a client-fitter relationship early in the process
You will have more interactions with the same client
You are not limited by the rider who has bought the wrong frame size
The bike fitting price is seen as “cheaper” as it includes buying advice
There is a bigger chance the client will come back for follow-ups
Let me know what you think of this approach!
And if you enjoyed the read, subscribe or share!
See you next time, Ride On!