Some people misunderstand the phrase "bike fit"; I must admit, I did at first. I assumed that it was a level of physical suitability, like the dreaded "beach body", whereby you were deemed healthy enough not to die on a ten mile ride.

It took me quite a while to get that "bike fit", despite not being the most dodgiest of salad dodgers and being quite good at martial arts. But the style of karate I was doing didn't make my back, my wrists, my neck, my feet and yes, my bum, hurt as much as two hours in the saddle.

When I got my first "real" road bike back in 2010, I sneered at the idea of a bike fit, thinking it a luxury I could do without. I could just set myself up on my new steed the same way I had always done, by feel and eye, so long as I stood by some rules of thumb, probably misread out of an old copy of my Cycling Proficiency Handbook back in the 1970s (I never actually had to pass, my mum bought me a bike with the badge already on it).

So crippled was I by this Heath Robinson approach that after my first trip up Box Hill, I nearly abandoned cycling in the beer garden and called for a taxi. My cycle buddy was so disturbed at my impingement that he offered to pay for a bike fit asap, so the next week I found myself strapped to a turbo trainer in a dark and dingy back room of a cycle shop in Leatherhead with someone professionally measuring all my angles and bends. It seemed an unnecessarily long-winded affair, with lots of stops and starts and fiddling with bolts and screws, heights and lengths.

The resulting set up felt impossibly wrong, but as the one that felt right did no good whatsoever, I was willing to give it a try. My next ride was relatively pain free, and continued to be for the next few years, until I changed bikes and tried to translate those measurements to a different machine and, by then, a different engine.

Having "put up" with some discomfort for quite a while, I was tempted by the offer of a GURU Bike Fit up at Cycle Division in South Normanton, just off junction 29 of the M1. The GURU set up was very different to my previous bike fit experience. For a start it is based around a remotely adjustable frame, rather than "your bike", with a choice of saddles, pedals and crank lengths.

It was one of the easier bucking bronco rides Andy had experienced.
It was one of the easier bucking bronco rides Andy had experienced.

Dan Storey, one of two bike fit specialists working at Cycle Division, got me set up and relatively comfortable on the rig and then, starting at the saddle end, began the process of dynamically manoeuvring the geometry so that it felt the most natural and productive while I was still in motion. Meanwhile, he kept an eye on my positioning to see if I was unconsciously over-compensating for the adjustments, and was careful to make sure that the macro changes being made didn't affect my overall body position.

The GURU Bike Fit system uses a test rig that can be automatically adjusted in use to obtain optimal position.
The GURU Bike Fit system uses a test rig that can be automatically adjusted in use to obtain optimal position.
The data are captured in the GURU system.
The data are captured in the GURU system.
   

Once we'd got what we thought was the optimum fit by changing the settings by millimetres either way, sounding like an old-fashioned optician ("How about now? And now? Better or worse?") the final four (yes, only four!) results were fed into some clever software and a list of compatible bikes was produced that were the best fit for my, strangely average, body. Each bike had suggestions about what size frame would suit best, along with custom adjustments to apply in each situation (such as stem length and angle).

It's still prettier than a Look 795.
It's still prettier than a Look 795.
   

As one of the bikes recommended was my own Giant Defy, I felt I could use the info provided to make my riding more efficient. All in all, the GURU Bike Fit was a fantastic experience. Surprising short, but very intense - yet never arduous or uncomfortable. Throughout the fit, I could concentrate on maintaining my pedalling and position while Dan made minor adjustments and constantly checked back to see if they were improving matters.

Proof of the pudding, and all that. Four days later I found myself at the bottom of Box Hill, site of my first ruinous unfit, unfitted adventure, at the start of nine ascents (you can read why here). I'd taken the measurements from my dossier, and adjusted my saddle height and setback and distance and drop from saddle to bars accordingly.

The difference initially was barely noticeable, apart from the drop and tilt of my saddle which I had set too high, causing it to press on the wrong part of my contact point (the source of worrying numbness for some time). The nine climbs seemed effortless (some say this is because Box Hill is not that much of a hill...) but later on that night while relaxing with some fermented vegetable recovery drinks, I felt that my core had been engaged more and I had less fatigue in my wrists and fingers. After three days on the North York Moors last year, I lost the feeling in my little- and ring-fingers for the best part of a week.

I will be trying out the GURU measurements on my other bike to see if they can be successfully transliterated to a non-standard build, but I'm guessing the four basic measurements should cover a multitude of (my) sins. I may not be as fit as some, but at least, for now, I fit my bike - thanks to the GURU experience. Thoroughly recommended...

The GURU Bike Fit is currently available priced £60 (usually £150) at Cycle Division.

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