Friday 5 March 2010

Suits you Sir!



I went and had a full bike measure up today, you can read more about it here. Basically, it's a scanner combined with a piece of software, which - having done all the clever things it should do - suggests the most optimised set up for your bike based on your body shape.

Everything from seat tip to bar, seat to crank, seat height etc. I learned that I had pretty much got the set-up on my bike OK, however my key learning was that my seat was too far back, by about 3cm. As a result, my downward force was not as effective as it could be, now resolved!

Having done all the measuring of your vital statistics. it then means that you can select a bike which fits you more closely based upon the type of riding you do (Sportives/TT/Road). Of the couple of bikes I'm looking at, I was able to determine that both would fit OK and what sort of spacers I would need on the bars etc etc. It was worth the £50 investment as it's something you can use for all the bikes you ride.
Later in the morning, I stopped by frame manufacturer Terry Dolan's place. After exchanging a couple of e-mails with him, he said it would be OK to visit his office and look at one of the frames of the bike I'm considering, the Dolan Hercules SE. It was a pleasure to meet the man who has made frames for so many champions including Chris Boardman, Sir Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins. Unassuming, full of charisma and clearly a craftsman, he just took one look at me and pretty much confirmed the frame size, the spacers and seat height, just on sight. Now that's what you want!
Nipping back home, after taking the dog for a walk, I bumped into neighbour Gary just setting our on his way for a quick 20 miler. After a Superman quick change, I joined him for a nip round the block (so to speak). It turned out to be a bit of treck in the end, firstly, Gary's chain broke so he did a running repair. Secondly, the wind really picked up in the second half of the the ride, which made the back half harder than normal. We managed to get 21 miles done at about 15mph average.

Been an interesting day all in all. The bike choice is now narrowed down to the Dolan or the, Cannondale Synapse. I now know that they will both fit, it's just down to a question of preference I guess.

3 comments:

  1. I would choose the Dolan.... looks good, British and has class

    ReplyDelete
  2. As the above post is anonymous, I'll guess that it's Terry Dolan just making sure he's going to get the business (joke).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would go for the Cannondale, however they do an Aluminium version (Caad9) which I would check out, the craftmanship is superb and I would spend the money saved on Ultegra or better wheels.

    ReplyDelete