The Most Important Tool I Own...

This is it, the most important tool I own. It's a fully adjustable bicycle "mannequin" that allows me to mimic pretty much any conventional bike on the market and a good number of unconventional ones. I've said it before, I'll say it again, fit is paramount in getting a bike that makes you happy. This is the biggest reason why I've chosen to sell bikes that get built from a frameset up, because everyone is different. If you go to the shop's web page (www.bicyclesvancouver.com) and read the part on "custom fitting" you'll get an idea of what I'm alluding to here.

This fit bike is not like most in that when combined with the Salsa Size-o-matic stem and the Purely Custom cranks I can truly fine tune a fit to suit most every rider. The Salsa stem will adjust from 55 to 155mm and can simulate any stem rise from -20 to +40 degrees. This stem will also quickly come off the bicycle mannequin and mount up to your own bike should you want to quickly adjust your own front end to find an optimum position without buying half a dozen stems to try and figure it out the hard way.

The cranks adjust from 155 to 185mm which is pretty much beyond what's readily available anyway. It makes sense that when pedaling a mocked up position that the cranks are the same length as what you're used to or plan to use.




Both the seat tube and the top tube are fully adjustable, as is the head tube, but most importantly the seat tube angle is adjustable as well. As the seat tube angle changes it will affect the effective top tube by up to a cm for every degree of seat tube angle change. It's not an insignificant feature of this bike that the seat tube angle is adjustable.

All this and you can sit on the bike and pedal it too to get an idea of how a bike may or may not fit you. Even if you don't buy a bike from me I will happily help you figure out what size of bike you might want. The fee for a professional fitting is pretty small relative to buying a bike that doesn't fit properly and there is no charge for a fitting if you buy a bike from bicycles. In fact, if you want to invest in a fitting but not purchase a bicycle right away I will credit you the full cost of the fitting towards any frame or bicycle you buy from bicycles within 6 months.

This is truly the most important tool in the shop.