Welcome to “Perfectly Fit,” our newsletter which is designed to help you get the most out of an active, cycling lifestyle. I have a team of pros from all over the world that will help me provide you with great info and a place for you to find out what you want to know. Your feedback is so important and we will make a place for you to be heard.

As many of you know, I am a professional photographer as well as bicycle designer. I did an advertising campaign a couple of years ago that involved beautiful women athletes and KGS custom bicycles. It was a huge success and many athletes now seek me out to photograph them for their private portfolio, website, spouse or just because it is a good idea.. I am always thrilled to photograph you and if ever near my studio in San Antonio I extend a warm welcome and you have a resource that you may not have considered before!

In our main article today I talk about something that has been troubling me for years, how one can increase the chance of injury with a “close but no cigar” bike fit. It is driving the way I approach the differences between a “fit” and a true positioning experience that I provide.

Our BikeTech Help Desk has two questions. The first discusses the options for people with mountain bikes and mountain bike tandems who want to ride them on the road. The second provides solutions to the difficulty of airing up tires with valve extensions.

Don’t forget to visit our blog as new stuff is posted there almost daily. It is easy to subscribe to the blog so you can get updates sent to you.

Thanks again for letting me share with you a little about cycling. I respect your time and will strive to continue to make it worth it.

These days I am hard at work designing bikes for triathletes who are ready to get their bikes for the off season. This time of year I am staying close to home because people are making the trek to San Antonio. Every positioning session is an event and one which you will find most valuable. Don’t forget lead times in these custom bikes. With six to eight week deliveries, you need to factor that into your purchase plans so your season can be best utilized for success.

Comments

I wrote about my experience with Mark and Julie Crosno last issue and then wrote in the blog about Julie’s results at the Ironman 70.3 World’s. Here is a letter they wrote me today and I just had time to put it in the Ezine to share with you.

Dear Kevin,

I wanted to take a moment and thank you on behalf of my wife Julie Mosier Crosno and me. As you have heard, Julie just beat her personal Record at this year’s 70.3 Ironman World Championships in Clearwater Florida. Julie beat her old PR by 11 minutes and finished in 4:42. She also had one of her strongest ride legs in a championship event averaging 24 mph for 56 miles.

One of Julie’s first comments after her race was we have to call Kevin and let him know how great the bike felt. You know me well and very rarely do I give much credit to anyone beyond the athlete for their great results. However, in this case, you deserve a big shout out!

Your care and fit of Julie on her bike has to be the exception to my rule.

Not to mention your emergency trip from San Antonio to Kingwood a week before the World’s where you discovered her seat height had changed due to a mechanical issue, your original “major” change a year ago to her bike fit has had a tremendous impact on converting Julie’s incredible strength and work ethic and helped convert that into increased speed!!

Please let Julie or I know if there is anything we can do to help you do for others what you have done so well for Julie (and me).

Thank you,

Mark and Julie

Feature Article – Close is Not Good Enough

I recently did a positioning for a new client who had gone through a rough patch with his bicycles. He had purchased two bikes and had gotten four fittings with other folks prior to visiting me. After finding his position, I knew there was no way he was going to get that bike to fit him perfectly and had to tell him to get a new frame, which he was reluctant to do. He wanted to take my positioning data and give it, plus the logic as to how I found it, to my competitors and get them to try and fit the bike to him. I had to decline, and didn’t charge him for the session as this wasn’t discussed in advance.

I also received a call from a guy who had just purchased a new Cervelo triathlon bike and wanted me to fit him to it. I had to tell him that I couldn’t guarantee that I could get him exactly where his body needed the bike to be for his position and as such he hung up disappointed.

I mention these two cases because many people have asked me why I don’t just offer production bikes like the competition, especially in the tough economic times we have all experienced. My competitors (the ones who have survived) have almost all sold out and began offering much less expensive production bikes to make ends meet. I chose not to do that for a couple of reasons:

1. All the fitting systems I know of (other than the KGS system) are capable of fitting people on production or custom bikes. They have been designed to work with the geometry that is being produced by the production bicycle manufacturers.
2. This is a fatal flaw in the system, in my opinion. Finding the real balance point of an individual and building a frame for that point guarantees a good position every time. Said another way, the things I discovered about bicycle positioning exclude me from being able to offer production bikes because there are then compromises in the fit that cause the saddle, hand, back and neck problems which are so common to cyclists.
3. I simply can’t sell what I wouldn’t ride myself. I know this limits me as a retailer, but when people call me up and ask for an opinion, I want to be able to truthfully say I like one thing and not another and give a good reason for it.

I have also been troubled by people getting fittings, having a short term increase in power, then getting injured or having the issues come back with a vengeance. I believe that I have figured out what is going on here and this is the real point of this article and of why I am doing the things mentioned above which fly in the face of traditional retail merchandising.

There is continual increase in power and comfort as one approaches the perfect position on a bike. This is what causes many to say, “Just get it close” and then opt to ride their current bike, knowing it still doesn’t fit. I think the issue here is the same one that causes so many injuries in the weight room for adults. Muscles get strong faster than connective tissue. With this in mind, the increase in power one gets by improving the position is the same as an instant increase in strength. The problem is, misaligned is misaligned, so if you are close, you do get more power, but you increase the chance for injury or fatigue until the position is perfect. The joints as well as the origins and insertions of the muscles are now at risk.

What is perfect? We find that one or two millimeters away from perfect positioning is very noticeable. When I went to Houston to recalibrate Julie Mosier Crosno’s bike, I only raised the saddle 6 mm, but it was the difference between pain in her knee and hamstring and having no pain.

I have always told people that they are the important part of the equation, and the bike is the less important part. Therefore, if there is a mismatch, cutting one’s losses and getting the right bike (or even just the right frame) can make huge differences, while just toughing it out until the old bike wears out can have significant impact on not only the enjoyment of cycling but in the risk of injury.

At the end of the day, I realize that most people simply aren’t in a position to redefine their cycling with a custom bike, or simply don’t care. Since I can’t save the entire world, just help a few people, one at a time, it’s ok. I am thankful for those who do go the extra mile to improve their cycling and trust me to help them get there.

Until next time,

Kevin

President

KGS Bikes

BikeTech Help Desk