sizing a friend

DanSMeyers said:

Doing my bit to help ring in the new year, I volunteered last night to help better fit a friend
to her hybrid bike. She was complaining about tingling in her hands. I'm familiar with road bike
fitting but am not sure how to apply that knowledge specifically to getting her stem legnth set
correctly (she's got flat bars with some sort of bar ends.) What guidlines should I use to get
her more comfortable on the bike, and is my guess about stem legnth correct to aleviate the
tingling hands?

Dan

Could also be the angle of the brake levers (normally pointing down at 45 degrees is the
starting point).

For stem length I put my elbow on the nose of the saddle (after setting the saddle height and
setback) and I like to see about an inch clearance between the tip of my middle finger and the bars.
This is an old rule of thumb which works for me, although it's not exactly scientific.

"DanSMeyers" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Doing my bit to help ring in the new year, I volunteered last night to

help

Quoted message said:

better fit a friend to her hybrid bike. She was complaining about

tingling in

Quoted message said:

her hands. I'm familiar with road bike fitting but am not sure how to

apply

Quoted message said:

that knowledge specifically to getting her stem legnth set correctly

(she's got

Quoted message said:

flat bars with some sort of bar ends.) What guidlines should I use to

get her

Quoted message said:

more comfortable on the bike, and is my guess about stem legnth

correct to

Quoted message said:

aleviate the tingling hands?

Sounds like she is too stretched out or too low on the front. Start with a zero expenditure solution
first. This could be as simple as moving the seat forward on the rails and/or raising the height of
the handlebars in an attempt to reduce pressure on the hands. If this fails then you can spend money
on a shorter/higher stem.

Phil Holman

(DanSMeyers) said:

Doing my bit to help ring in the new year, I volunteered last night to help better fit a friend
to her hybrid bike. She was complaining about tingling in her hands. I'm familiar with road bike
fitting but am not sure how to apply that knowledge specifically to getting her stem legnth set
correctly (she's got flat bars with some sort of bar ends.) What guidlines should I use to get
her more comfortable on the bike, and is my guess about stem legnth correct to aleviate the
tingling hands?

First thing, get her to ride with no gloves or very loose gloves. If she's using arm warmers or a
jersey with tight full arms, ride without them.

Have her ride with hands open. No clenching the bar.

If none of the above makes a difference, then you can follow other sage advice that will come with
this thread. Foam rubber over where she grips would likely work.

DanSMeyers said:

Doing my bit to help ring in the new year, I volunteered last night to help better fit a friend
to her hybrid bike. She was complaining about tingling in her hands. I'm familiar with road bike
fitting but am not sure how to apply that knowledge specifically to getting her stem legnth set
correctly (she's got flat bars with some sort of bar ends.) What guidlines should I use to get
her more comfortable on the bike, and is my guess about stem legnth correct to aleviate the
tingling hands?

Raise the bars.

I assume this bike will be used for errands and short rides. Women, especially, often need higher
handlebar position, not only for the obvious hand pressure and low speed handling issues, but
raising the bars will tip her pelvis back on the seat. That obviates the next complaint, which would
otherwise be pressure in the middle part of the saddle
- ouch.

Try to get the bars at or a couple inches above the saddle.
Then you can look at distance from seatpost to bars, with
an eye to gaining a relaxed position for her back and arms.

So frequently people drop ultra-short (40, 50, 60) stems on women's bikes without noticing height is
the larger problem. It's just as uncomfortable to be scrunched with a low short stem

During the past year I've taken to shooting digital photos of the rider in a trainer. That lets the
rider and me look together at the riding position. Few people with discomfort have ever seen
themselves on the bike in profile ( actually, few riders have at all). She may be able to tell you
exactly where the bars should be if she could see herself - her back and neck angles, her arm
extension, her position over the pedals, etc
--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

In article <[email hidden]>,

Phil Holman said:

"DanSMeyers" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20040101114516.11650.00001191@mb-
m25.news.cs.com...

Quoted message said:

Doing my bit to help ring in the new year, I volunteered last night to

help

Quoted message said:

better fit a friend to her hybrid bike. She was complaining about

tingling in

Quoted message said:

her hands. I'm familiar with road bike fitting but am not sure how to

apply

Quoted message said:

that knowledge specifically to getting her stem legnth set correctly

(she's got

Quoted message said:

flat bars with some sort of bar ends.) What guidlines should I use to

get her

Quoted message said:

more comfortable on the bike, and is my guess about stem legnth

correct to

Quoted message said:

aleviate the tingling hands?

Sounds like she is too stretched out or too low on the front. Start with a zero expenditure
solution first. This could be as simple as moving the seat forward on the rails and/or raising the
height of the handlebars in an attempt to reduce pressure on the hands. If this fails then you can
spend money on a shorter/higher stem.

Moving the seat forward could be the wrong thing to do.

Not only does it put the rider in an incorrect position vs. the pedals, but it often puts more
weight on the hands. If the rider's CG is too far forward of the pedals, she can't balance her
weight on the pedals and must put more weight on her hands.

See the diagrams in Keith Bontrager's "The Myth of KOPS" at sheldonbrown.comkops.htmlOpen ↗

I'd first make sure that her seat is at the right height, then make sure that it's back far enough
(KOPS being a starting point). Then mess with the stem.

Also, tingling hands can be from gloves that are a little too tight or not padded correctly. I went
through this with my wife a couple months back and it turned out that her gloves were a bit too
tight and padded mostly in the heel of the hand-- right for flat bars but not drop bars. When I went
glove shopping with her I looked at all the gloves and discovered that some appear to be made for
flat bars and some for drop bars. Your friend's gloves might be padded for drop bars.

Also, she should be moving her hands around. Riding for a long time in one positon will cause
problems like tingling.

Eric

sounds like a good place to start...thanks.

Dan

thanks for the detailed response. I'll be fitting her in the next couple of days.

Dan