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Comment for James: why is it currently all about crank length reduction?

Could not find any evidence of pedal extenders failing (other than the ones specialized recalled some time ago). The cheaper alternatives on aliexpress have 1000+ reviews with no negative comments. Other items that did fail in such cases (like cranks) have terrible reviews on aliexpress with pictures from the broken cranks. So far, I haven't had any issues with them nor seem to have others. Would be happy to receive pictures/evidences from cracked pedal extenders so I avoid a real risk! For now, they are a very cheap solution to my wider stance.

Pedal extenders from Bikefit (stainless) and Jtek Qplus (cromoly) are both fine - they are made properly and have more than enough meat to be safe. They do cost £45 a set for the Bikefit ones though. I personally have 10s of thousands of miles on them with no issues and also no knee issues which I did have before moving to them - being a taller bigger person my stance is wide and I have bow legs too. I can't tell you about the bearing life being affected as I have yet to have any issues with my shimano pedals after the aformentioned 10's of thousands of miles. The issue is with all the cheap Amazon/ebay/temu/ali ones, especially the ones with an 8mm hole through them. they are deffo not up to the job.

I broke my lower leg and the hospital put a titanium pin in it. In the past I had done a bike fit. Should I do this again when I'm able to ride again? Or should I do it only when I have issues with my leg?

the borat reference!!!!!!

What would be the main things to look out for for someone looking to make the switch from a road bike with clip on extensions to a full TT/Triathlon bike?

So I have a choice between using a 100mm stem at +6 degrees (upside down) vs a 90mm stem at -6 degrees but with spacers underneath. Essentially my torso end up at the same angle but the hand's position are different. In the first combination the hands is more forward but higher, the second one is closer but lower. How do I know which one to choose?

If you had a green lobster, would you put it in a tree?

The thing about bike fit on a MTB is that it has to take into consideration with the terrain you are riding. You are not just sitting on the saddle riding about.

Best things for my feet was Lake Shoes/G8 combo. Saw James' video on foot pain on Francis Cade's channel.

Ive used pedal extenders for a few years now on my gravel bike, mainly to reduce the tyre buzzing on my shoe in slow turns. Not sure how much it reduces the life of the pedal bearings, but shimano 520 spd are cheap as chips anyway.

cI have a new RockyMountaint Instict c70 29er MTB and would love a bike fit. Having many issues with comfort setup

I’m finally going to flick my Speedplay pedals after 4 years due to poor cleat lifespan/maintenance issues and possible associated saddle discomfort. Do you prefer Look Keo or Shimano pedals? Thanks & Merry Christmas.

More adept at tolerating pressure from the saddle? Is that jargon for saying you’ll have done sufficient nerve and soft tissue damage that you won’t feel the pain so much…. Well, that’s roughly my experience. And no, I don’t get on with Selle Italia SLR Boost despite being in the bike-fitter approved position….

Does a racer need to live with toe overlap?

Know of any vintage frames known for a tall seat tube / head tube compared to top tube (ex: 53tt, 18-20 ht)?

This is doing my head in. Just bought my daughter a gravel bike (giant revolt size s). Comes with a ludicrous 42cm handlebar. She is 37cm across the shoulders (measured using your fantastic video with the skeleton). Have only been able to find a 40cm gravel bar for her. Any suggestions. Coming to uk in April and will be trying to book in for a fit while there. Love your channel

i love my ztto green alu flat pedals , on my gravel bike from aliexepress 900 us and fits great

Great video, but you could put some time stamps in for each question next time? Thanks!

“My arse has taken a pounding over the years” 🤭🤭🤭

Hey we need a tour of James's bike shop that would be great.

Question, what Lake show would you recommend for a 308mm foot?

I feel like the same here as in unversity, as I watch more and more videos about bikefitting. I know more and more but I have more and more questions and it feels like I don't know more and more things lol. 1 thing that I don't really understand: if I buy a smaller bike than the recommended one, the stack will be also a smaller number, hence it will be more aggressive, isn't it? Looking at the geometries a smaller bike tipically has a couple of mm smaller reach but (sometimes) 2-3 cm lower stack height as well. Great content btw.

Smaller bikes have shorter crank arms, what can be advantage.

Riding clipless in cold weather is no problem regarding soft soles. Try the 2 kg+ Canadian Sorel Caribou that the manufacturer claims is good to -40 C and me with cold toes and arctic thick merino wool socks can tolerate -22 C. YMMV

Oops there is another application to clipless pedals than James alluded to namely ultra long distances and around the world riders. I have seen this advice from a woman who rode around the world. She recommended clipless against knee niggles on multi day or month rides. As a knee injury suffering older rider I can reconnend a wide Q factor clipped in or out.

Nice stuff as always! I also have a question, I'm feeling really comfortable on my road bike never had any knee issues and I ride a lot. But whenever I put the bike on the trainer to beef myself up over the winter, I end up hurting my knees. I noticed last time that I probably had my front wheel around 5-10mm-s lower compared to when I'm on the road. Could this be the cause of my hurt knees, or am I trying to push way too big watts on the trainer? (I haven't had a power meter on my bike until this December, so I only know my numbers from these indoor sessions) Thanks in advance!

Not sure if I'm alone here, but I understood the height is irrelevant comment as one considering the length of the torso. I thought it meant to measure the inseam and then from hip through the torso all the way to the tip of the fingers on the extended arm. The length of the neck and head being irrelevant. Not just measuring the extended arm.

The King of Bikefitting! ❤️

Sorry James I like my speedplay pedals after many years on look I found bearings wore out and the plates didn't last long

😂my ass has take a pounding over the years. love it we all stop maturing at 13 😂❤❤

Is this post-Thailand ?

I think there are similarities between bike fitting and nutrition. Depends on the type of cycling you enjoy and the duration. With nutrition, not required for less than 90 minutes. My experience of fitting, had two, is that for casual, moderate cycling for about 90 minutes, where performance is secondary a bike fit is not required. For me, getting the saddle position correct is key. If that is correct I'm comfortable. In fact, the bike fits confused things, there was a 35mm difference in the recommended height. Simple measurement with a goniometer put me in the middle, that is what I use. Always ride flats, DMR Flat 4, didn't like clipless. In fact, the most recent bike fitter recommended against them on my heavy touring e-bike given the weight and need to get a foot down quickly. My other bike is a bespoke frameset built locally. Use the same saddle position on that, works well. As for other parts of the body, I apply the no pain or strain rule. Get comfortable and ride tweeking as required. Steve Hogg website is useful! Horses for courses. A big issue with cycling is the perceived need to comply with certain standards or you are not a true cyclist. Opens a lot of rabbit holes to go down and spend shed-loads of money. Do what works for you!

I enjoy your bike fit episodes but………..i have observed your upper body bobs up n down very noticeably whilst pedalling, James. Why is this?

I would appreciate the MTB fit video a lot. Question for next time: Is there significant variation in the femur to shin ratio between people? How does that influence bike fit? Is that something that‘s worth measuring?

He's not allowed to wear spandex, he hasn't earned it

Not sure why but thought you were sitting inside a 7/11 🍹

On my mtb I have determined my stem length and stem height based on how much weight and traction I can get onto my front wheel. Any shorter or higher and I find my front wheel washing out on turns and loose terrain. It's in a good place right now in terms of weight balance and handling. However my rhomboid and trapezius get horribly overworked if I have to spend any considerable amount of pedaling. Is handlebar width/rise/sweep the answer to my problems? And how do I go about finding the solution? Would love to go in for a fit but I'm on the other side of the world! I hope you can make a video on this topic. RUclips has too many videos on saddle height!

Not saying your wrong....but! I needed pedal extenders on my gravel bike. Living down here in little old New Zealand, the only option open to me was buying titanium pedal extenders from ebay. I purchased Risk brand ones. Iv been running them for over six months, with no issues what so ever, and I'm a 95kg fella, and iv taken a few jumps and MTB trails that you shouldn't be talking a gravel bike down.... We do really have to get over the idea that everything made in China is cheap junk.

With regards to the "if in doubt size down" rule... I'm a tall guy, 194 cm with a 93 cm inseam. I often get recommended 60 to 62 cm frames by the manufacturers online fit system, but from previous experience I find those sizes just over stretch me. I recently took the advice of "when in doubt size down" and bought a 58 cm frame and it fits fantastically well.. However, my problem then becomes the length of the seatpost, I find myself always needing to buy 400 mm seatpost in order to ensure there is enough seat post in the bike. Is there a way around this, as in, what should I be looking at when buying a new frame in order to ensure I don't have then go searching for aftermarket seatposts? The reason I ask this is because some bikes (the supersix evo) have proprietary seatposts and despite fitting the bike well I struggle then to find a long enough seatpost.

Could you introduce some of your colleagues? I wonder, due to your social media and youtube presence, if you get more requests than they do.

Love the channel James! Question: If you don't condone the use of those 16mm/20mm pedal extenders from aliexpress, what would you recommend to help with increasing the stance width aside from pedal washers? Currently running spd from mtbs and now using on road, when i started i had severe knee pain in the inside of my right knee, but after using the 16mm pedal extenders, it went away. I kinda want to not rely on the pedal extender for safety reasons

This is yet another nice comment: Nice video!

I have used speedplay, they introduce massive amounts of instability. reverted back to shimano after 3 years of use because I was a fan of non centring float

Would like to see a video on correct posture and how riding styles, speed, etc. correlate.

I've never really thought about MTB fit. I've ridden some pretty crazy MTB builds and never had issues, but then most MTB rides are a lot more dynamic than road i.e. you're out of the saddles, hovering, leaning, jumping...the only time you are really sitting down in one spot for an extended period of time is during climbs.

How safe are pedal washers really? You recommend them all the time but I can't bring myself to try them because reducing thread engagement by about 25% seems risky.

Hello James. I'm from Malaysia. Your channel has been very inspiring for me in my cycling journey. My question is, what are your views on using AI technology for bike fitting in the future? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using such technology?

Dr. James, I’m a mechanic at a bike shop in New Jersey and I recently purchased my first ever road bike, a Trek Emonda ALR 5. My boss, the shops owner and resident bike fitter, is adamant about the fact that should be riding a 56cm Emonda, so that’s what I bought. I’m not going to lie, it feels long AF. I come from an MTB/commuting riding background and I’m really not very experienced with road bikes and how they’re supposed to feel. I’ve test ridden hundreds of bikes after assembling them and I was 95% convinced that when I bought a road bike it would be something with similar geometry to a 54cm Cervelo Soloist or Trek Emonda but “my” bike fitter convinced me otherwise. I know the following info won’t compare to an in person fitting but given what I’ve learned from you and Francis Cade, I think I bought a bike that’s too big for me. I’m 5’10” 30”inseam. I’m built much more stockily and inflexible compared to riders like you and Francis but I still feel like the 56cm is too long of a bike for me. Please help me understand why I’m either right or wrong about my intuition. Thanks keep up the great work 🙏

Flat pedals are my go to for winter riding. I suffer severely from the cold and when the temperature is -10 to -20, I switch to a heavy winter boot that I also wear for shoveling snow. Canadian winters make cycling shoe covers or winter cycling shoes completely useless.