He was talking about frame geometry with a prominent coach last week and his perspective on the geometry of the box struck a chord with me, so I wanted to share this with you.

I had been traveling in "stock" frame geometry for decades and the opportunities created by the combination of a mounting system without boundaries and a custom geometry does not exist for me, and therefore to you, until very recently. The time honored principles knee over pedal spindle (KOPS), the method of Lemond, Standover height, saddle height equal to the height of the hip when standing next to the bicycle and heaps of other techniques were developed to help people choose a bike size that work for them.

We have to look a little history because the bicycles were very different in the 1970s and earlier than they are today. The '70 's were a time where road bikes had a geometry very different, with seat angles in the range of 71-72 degrees. Besides these bikes were built in the average size so they had up to 12 sizes for a model! Bikes are now between 3 and 5 sizes so that more people are forced to "fit" a bike that will be less than perfect.

The archetypal road bike in the 70s was the Professional Team of Raleigh, who was arguably one of the best racing bikes and more comfortable ever made. In There are currently two schools of racing as well, a European style that focuses on longer trips and races including the mountains. An American style developed and focus on the Criterium races, shorter races closed course with a lot of laps and sprints. The American bicycle manufacturers began to produce bicycles with angles of 73-74 degrees and the back seat less chair with the logic that the races were shorter and you do not need the comfort for a race of 125 miles if we had given for 50 miles.

This style of racing bike geometry became popular as Americans liked the more aggressive and brokers young people working in bike shops could sell these bikes. Now we're in a time when even the most beautiful bike designed for young drivers professionals, but are bought by successful people over 40. I have seen my position change on the bike since I was able to use my bike setup to experiment. I found that the bars really needed to be higher and the chair had to keep the stern to get the equilibrium points.

I also found that as he grew up (and had some injuries on the way) that my tolerance for more aggressive geometry was no longer possible. People who came to my study tended to be people who had unsuccessfully to get installed in the bike shop, so I had other more difficult cases in the day. I saw more and more people might not feel comfortable on their bikes and values and even had to leave the installation system WobbleNaught respected as the person tied to an existing bike.

Setting up the bike began to show me that when you balance that was really good things started happening. First, the problems of declining chair and disappeared completely for most people. Secondly, the back pain was gone. Third, hand numbness was diminished. Capacity addition people travel long distances and incredible improvement, and greater power efficiency so they were faster. There was only one problem. The positions I discovered that proved to be very close to the driving position were people in the old Raleigh Pro Team! It seems that what is old is new again.

Is an uphill battle to convince manufacturers to build production frame bikes that "major" can be mounted, but unfortunately a handful of manufacturers Expert custom frame that now exists. I have great success in the design of a custom framework based on real data of individual settings and can work with these experts to create a framework that is predictable and ride characteristics will be the agent of the rider, not the reverse.

I get a few people that are the size suitable for a framework of values, but have found that at this level, almost everyone seems to want a custom bike well designed. People seem surprised when they learn that cycling can be comfortable and much nicer than before. The process is simple, get balance on the bike first and put the handlebars in the right place second. The geometry of the bike can be a help or a hindrance to a pilot and fortunately there are solutions that enable anyone to feel comfortable on a bicycle.

KGS Bikes is known around the world as the premiere bicycle fitting studio and boutique. Kevin Saunders, President, has over 25 years experience in bicycle fitting and high-end bicycles. In addition to fitting services, KGS Bikes sells bicycles from Parlee, Serotta, Zinn, Co-Motion and Guru. Visit http://www.kgsbikes.com for more information.

CAPE YORK NORTH QUEENSLAND