Why a Bike Fit Matters When Buying A Gravel Bike

Gravel riding is inherently harsh. Vibrations from flint, dirt tracks, and technical singletrack wear down your body much faster than smooth tarmac. Many riders spend thousands on premium frame materials but choose a stock frame size based purely on a generic height chart, leading to lower back pain, numb hands, or knee strain. For a forever-bike material like titanium, a professional bike fit really helps to ensure all-day comfort on the bike.

Reilly Cleat Alignment and Bike Fit Service
Reilly offer a free, comprehensive cleat alignment and  bike fit to all customers.  This takes place at Reilly HQ in Westerham, Kent by an IBFI accredited bike fitter.  After the fit, customers can demo as many bikes as they like on the roads and trails around the workshop.

A gravel bike sizing guide simply matches a rider's height to a static frame geometry chart.  If you compare bike sizing to a professional bike fit you will find it is much more dynamic.  A professional bike fit considers, amongst other things, the rider, how they ride, why they ride, their flexibility and riding style.

Two people who are 5’10” can have completely different inseams, torso lengths, and core strength. With an off-the-peg bike your body adapts to the machine.  With a bespoke build, the machine adapt to your body.

Why is a Gravel Fit Important ?
Shifting terrain requires a weight distribution that keeps the tyres planted without sacrificing responsive handling. While titanium naturally dampens vibration, a poor saddle position or incorrect handlebar reach will still concentrate impact on your wrists and lower back.  On a multi-day bikepacking trip or all-day Audax, a millimetre of misalignment translates to discomfort and fatigue over 100 miles.  Reilly's range of Titanium gravel bikes and titanium frames  are engineered to ensure all-day comfort. 

We Start With The Feet
It is a simple thing but cleat aligment is essential, incorrect cleat aligment forces your body to adapt to an unnatural motion which can rapidly lead to pain and wasted energy.

For a titanium build where comfort is a goal, setting up your cleats correctly is just as vital as getting your saddle height right. It protects your knees from injury. Your knee is essentially a hinge joint meant to move forward and backward in a straight line. If your cleat is rotated too far inward or outward, it forces your foot into an unnatural angle. This twists your tibia (shinbone) and can puts immense lateral stress on your knee ligaments and patellar tendon.

Cleat alignment dictates exactly where the pressure is distributed across the bottom of your foot. If the cleat is too far forward (under the toes), it places massive strain on your calf muscles and Achilles tendon, often causing a burning sensation under the ball of the foot.  Shifting the cleat left or right adjusts your "stance width"

To ride efficiently, the force from your quadriceps and glutes needs to travel in a perfectly straight, vertical line down through your knee, into the ball of your foot, and directly into the pedal. If your cleat alignment causes your knees to bow outward or collapse inward while pedalling, you are losing valuable wattage into sideways movement rather than pushing the bike forward. On a gravel bike, you aren't just sitting statically; you are constantly shifting your weight, climbing steep loose gradients, and descending technical trails. Correct cleat alignment ensures that when you need to drop your heels for stability or quickly unclip during a slide, your foot behaves predictably and safely.

To conclude, if you are considering a Reilly gravel bike or frameset  why not book a Bike Fit.  Complete form here  

If you cannot make it to Reilly HQ in Kent, the bike fitters can have a detailed telephone conversation to assetain how you would fit on our bikes.  They can also examine existing bike fit data and apply it to all Reilly Bikes

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