As I work with the aerodynamic fitting system AiRO, a consistent result is emerging: For improved aerodynamics on bikes with drop bars, raising the bar yields the result we are looking for. That’s right. Raising. When the rider’s elbows bend 90 degrees, their forearms disappear to the wind.
But there’s a problem I’m encountering: Very often, the only way I can raise the bar is to flip the stem upside down. And should the bike have an integrated bar/stem and no spacers above the stem, well good luck changing your position.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I want to be able to put riders in their ideal position, just so they can feel what that’s like. I suspect a great many people will be shocked by how good that will feel.
Thanks to a shop in the East Bay, I was able to pick up a used Waterford Fitmaster. Like the Serotta Size Cycle, the Waterford Fitmaster enabled a fitter to establish a frame’s characteristic dimensions, long before anyone coped a single tube.
With the Fitmaster, a fitter can establish head tube angle, seat tube angle, seat tube length and top tube length. The stem and cranks are adjustable as well. And while it was designed before the dimensions “stack” and “reach” were invented, it is very easy to establish those numbers with a Fitmaster. And that’s when you start to get a sense of how long head tubes need to become.
I plan to travel with this thing to fittings, as the basis of my business is house calls. I’ve got room in my Odyssey and getting it in there won’t pose much of a problem because I just put it on wheels. There was just one small problem: It has had a lean to it, a tilt a la the leaning Tower of Pisa.
Adding the casters was more of an adventure that I anticipated. I had to cut down the bolts for the two right-side wheels in order to screw them far enough in that I can then correct the lean with casters with full-length bolts. I made the changes and ended up with a balanced device that will be easy to transport.