Welcome to True Facts, Analog Cycles' collection of bike knowledge, practical advice, strong opinions, and occasionally questionable jokes. From bike fitting and handlebars to tubeless tires and component selection, here's what we've learned from years of riding, wrenching, and figuring things out the hard way.
Forget normal bike fitting. Performance is a buzz word that sweeps real world concerns under the rug. Speed comes first in performance based fitting, which means a numb crotch is second fiddle to how 'fast' you are. That's like saying you have a car that's super fast, but the seat hurts your back after 2 minutes of driving.
Read the guide →Check out the videos and diagrams for how to measure your PBH accurately and quickly. Measure 3 times, and give us all 3 measurements. If you get an outlier, toss it, and start over. IE if you get 80 cm, 79 cm and 74 cm, toss that 74 like day old paw-paw!
Measure your PBH →Saddle-to-floor and handlebar-to-floor measurements help us figure out how your current touch points relate to each other. If your handlebars are 2 inches lower than your saddle, for instance, and you're experiencing hand pain, we know what actions to take based on these numbers, and a few other questions we'll ask you.
Read the measuring guide →Everyone ought to know a ballpark figure of their frame size. That way if Ralph, the bike sales guy, tries to sell you a 47cm, and you need a 58 or 56 then you can try'n guide them toward the size you actually need, or walk out. This happens a bunch, way more than the bike industry would like to admit.
Find your frame size →The reality is, the saddle is the part of the bike with which we share our most intimate contact, and it's worth getting right. While it may not be cheap, the upside is that many of the most useful saddles are also the best looking. Further, like anything that's going to be touching your privates, it's worth shelling out for.
Read about saddles →Zero offset seatposts are a waste of nice aluminum. Zero offset posts were popularized when folks started to CNC machine seatposts in the 1990's, when machining bike parts was all the rage. Machining a seatpost with offset is harder to do, and it makes it heavier. The whole thing in the 90's was low weight CNC'd stuff, so obviously heavier was bad…
Read about seatposts →Pedals are underrated as contact points. We reckon they're at least as import as handlebars, grips or tape, and the saddle. Most new bikes nowadays don't even come with pedals, because so many people are 'clipping in', and when they do, they're corny plastic pedals. They're disposable, small, and offer no traction. They're junk.
Read about pedals →Riding in a position that helps conserve power is whatcha want. And that means going a bit slower, but riding longer, with less or no pain. Bikes shouldn't feel like couches, but they shouldn't feel like inquisition torture devices either.
Read about handlebar height →Here's an experiment. Stand over your bike, feet on either side, like you're sitting at a really long stop light. Drop your hands to your sides, just relax them. Now, look down at the angle of your wrists. Now look at your bars. Where on your handlebar is that angle matched? If you have a bad handlebar, it's not matched anywhere...
Read about handlebar fit →Flat bars are the ergonomic equivalent of wearing high heels on a hike. Flat bars were born outta motor cross, where riders needed a honkin' wide lever (the handlebar) to keep the heavy front wheel from flopping around in technical, loose terrain. All while riding at a much higher speed, on a much heavier vehicle than a bike. Early mountain bikes used motorcycle or moped handlebars and brake levers, not because they were the best thing to use, but because they were the only kind available.
Read about flat bars →Drop bars have a lot more going on than a typical flat bar. Flat bars have rise, back sweep and upsweep, and aside from clamp diameter, that's about it. Drop bars are made up of a series of bends that, when you don't know the terminology or have access to various technical specs, make it confusing to tell one bar from the next.
Understand drop bar geometry →Handlebars are a prime example of where we often overlook great designs in favor of what can only be described as a plethora of crappy designs. Almost every road bar currently made is lacking in some way or another, and the same is true for mountain bars. The height of the bars is awful too, but that's explored in another article...
Read the ode →Wrapping cloth bar tape can be a little tricky. Here's our guide on how to do it right!
Learn to wrap bar tape →We've learned a thing or two about tubeless set-up over the years. There are a lot of other guides out there, but we reckon none as cheeky as ours! And you just might pick up a trick that'll keep your toob-bliss ease-E.
Set up tubeless tires →Components are of course, subjective and a can of stinkin' worms. In this tubeless section, we'll talk about what we here at Analog know, use and trust. It's a semi short list, but it's proven to work well. It's important to talk to your wheel builder (hey that should be us!) before you build anything up. Get the scoop on tubeless tires, rims, sealant, rim tape, and valves.
Choose tubeless components →Besides ride quality, our favorite aspect of tubeless tires is how you repair them. As a guy who has been working on bikes in shops for 22 years, I've fixed a few thousand flat tires. It's never fun to fix a flat, even in a shop environment. It's sometimes downright awful to fix one in the field.
Maintain and repair tubeless tires →Low trail geometry is all the rage today, like Hammer pants were in 1990. And just like Hammer pants, low trail promises style, a new found agility, and a fresh way to interact with an old standard. As MC Hammer now floods twitter with inspirational sayings that no one will remember as soon as they blink, so too will low trail forks be re-consigned to the rubbish bin of history, littering the used bike world with poor-handling 'artisan' bikes for years to come. If they made them outta carbon, at least they could be melted down and turned into iPhone covers.
Read about low trail geometry →Our guide to help you get the right adapter because disc brake adapters are a black hole of weird standards. Let's stick to the 3 most popular ones so we don't go crazy and reach for the Mezcal. I.S., aka International Standard is for better or worse, the current standard…
Understand disc brake adapters →There are lots of new chain lubes on the market. Velo News, Friction Facts, and others have validated a rush to develop chain lubes that have no practical use. Many of these claim a degree of practicality, but there is no practicality in a system where you have to take the drivetrain off to clean it completely before re-lubing.
Read about chain lube →