4 UPGRADES TO IMPROVE COMFORT ON YOUR ROAD BIKE

A few key changes to your bike set up and some component changes can make the world of difference to comfort. Have a look at our top areas to improve road bike comfort.

If you've ever watched the cobbled classics in the spring, you'll be able to appreciate how important comfort is to the pros. When your riding 150+ miles on rough roads, comfort is imperative. However, every rider can benefit from a more comfortable set up, no matter how tough the terrain, and these key upgrades could help you ride longer and ride faster.

Bar Tape

As one of the crucial touch points of your bike, making your bars comfortable to hold is paramount. For the cobbled Classics, pros will often double wrap their bars, using two full rolls of tape. This is a great method of making a reduction in vibrations, and many riders use this set up all year round for all roads. However, there are a couple of downsides. Firstly, the second roll of tape adds significantly to the diameter of the handlebars which could be an issue if you have smaller hands. Secondly, it means more expense in buying a second roll of tape.

Other tape solutions include thicker, or gel-filled, tape. With the addition of different materials, from standard cork through to stickier compounds for grip and smoother materials for comfort, there are numerous choices. Here are our favourites.

Saddles

Perhaps even more obviously than handlebars, a saddle is vital to ensuring comfort whether you're riding 5 miles or 95 miles. Different shapes of saddle suit different people, depending on a number of factors like your flexibility, the bike it is going on, how athletic you wish to perform, etc. Those with greater flexibility who want a more aggressive, racy position normally suit a flat, long saddle. Conversely, the more upright you ride, a rounder saddle can offer more support.

Supporting your sit bones properly is the name of the game. To that end, many saddles come in different widths, in addition to different shapes. Our staff are trained to help you get an optimum fit and can help you choose the correct style and width for your body and the type of riding you do. Furthermore, some of our brands offer an unconditional comfort guarantee. This means you can be measured for a saddle, purchase and fit to your bike, try it for up to 30 days and return it if it doesn't suit you. Comfort is everything, and worth getting right.

Have a look at some saddles from our range, or pop in store for advice and fitting by our experienced staff.

Shorts

Shorts really go hand in hand with saddles. Well fitting shorts are an absolute joy to wear - comfy, stretchy, you don't even know you're wearing them. However, there is a wide gulf when you can buy a pair at £30 and pair at £200. So what's the difference?

A balance of materials, design, workmanship and features mean there is a vast gulf in the quality of shorts. For road cycling, our first choice is always bibshorts. The bib part means you don't have any tight waistband digging in around your middle when leant over in the saddle, which improves comfort immensely. Furthermore, having a layer of material covering your back keeps your kidney area a little warmer, and means your jersey won't ride up past your waist band.

Next up is the quality of the pad, or chamois. While it might seem like a lump of foam, better chamois have cuts and grooves to enable a better range of movement. This reduces friction and improves comfort. Other considerations include leg grippers - better quality shorts have wider leg bands so as not to dig in - and materials - some garments are designed to have stretchy material where you need it, and tougher material elsewhere which gives more support to your muscles, much like compression clothing.

As always, fit is personal, so pop in to your local store to see and try the full range. Here are some of our favourites.

Shoes

Feet are the next part of the contact point equation. typically, if you ride a road bike, you will using clipless style pedals, which meas your feet will be doing many thousands of revolutions every ride in almost exactly the same position. A bad setup here can cause all sorts of problems with knees, ankles and hips, which is why it's good to have a professional help you with setup and explain how moving the cleat can make a difference.

Shoes themselves are a balance between stiffness, support and weight. Unlike running shoes, a stiff sole is required to pass power through the pedal rather than waste it bending the shoe. Supporting your foot properly can help keep your ankle, knee and hip in good alignment, so considering replacement insoles is a good idea when buying any cycling shoe. Finally, weight. Cyclists have an obsession with keeping weight down - why would you want to lug around more than you need? Finding the right balance can be tricky, but as always, our staff are on hand to help should you pop into one of our stores.

Here are three picks from our current range which offer great a great balance of comfort and performance.

The Final Word

Comfort can help you ride faster, ride further, and ride happier. If you are stuggling to find your groove and not sure how to improve the fit on your bike, pop in to one of our stores for expert advice.