How To Set Up Your First Road Bike: Beginner Series Ep. 2

In this episode, Manon goes through everything you need to know about setting up your first bike so you can ride comfortably! 🚴 Do you want to start cycling? Then welcome to our new beginner series! In these 5 videos, we will help you: find your first bike, set it up, maintain it, know what to wear, build confidence on the road, and find people to ride with. 🚴

0:00 - Intro
0:56 - Pedals
1:37 - Handlebars
5:32 - Saddle height
7:20 - The right saddle
8:39 - Tyre pressure

Useful Links:

What’s your best advice for new cyclists? 🤔 Let them know in the comment section below! 💬

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Weather (Instrumental Version) - Pandaraps
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Shitty Train (Instrumental Version) - Of Men And Wolves
Surfer Kids - Elliot Holmes
Voice Clip Male 119 - SFX Producer

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📸 Photos - © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sprint Cycling Agency

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[gcn]

What’s your best advice for new cyclists? 🤔

[MartinBBB]

Probably worth mentioning to novices that pedals have left and right- hand threads depending on which side you're working on.

[laconfreriedesimbeciles]

For the beginners, when you are tightening your stem screws, don't forget to tighten them crosswise.

[DarkHawk]

Don't forget to put some grease on the pedal threads to help prevent corrosion.

[cherriagana]

Best advice I would give myself back in the days is that a bikefit is really worth the money.
Little things kept adding up causing neck/knee and ITB problems: Bikefitter adjusted the angle of my SPD cleats on both planes, fixed my arch support, made small adjustments to my bar and extended my reach on the peddals.

Now I'm not only riding fully painfree but also allot faster for longer!

[shauncasey]

I ordered my Scott road bike online from their website. It was then sent to a dealer near me and assembled there by the pros. All i had to do was go pick it up. The bike shop owner fitted me to the bike, explained everything to me about the bike, even took a short ride with me to help me get the feel of it and answer any questions i had before i left. Also, he offered a free break in tune up after i put 50 miles on it. I'm all for hands on and learning new things, but that really made for a great experience. Fast and easy out the door riding it as soon as i got home.

[johnstrac]

I would always advise to use a torque wrench on anything involving carbon fibre, be it bars seatpost etc. That cracking noise would be terminal.

[daveeeed]

Fore and aft saddle position makes a difference. Also angle. I have a slight rise in the saddle. Helps with stability

[bengt_axle]

1) As numerous commenters note, left (NDS) pedal is reverse threaded. Turn (rotate) the pedal axle towards the FRONT of the bike to INSTALL; towards the back wheel to remove. Grease the threads and do not over tighten.

2) By far the most tricky saddle positioning is set back. It has nothing to do with how far away the bars are, but rather how well your weight is balanced. The proper setback will allow your palms to just float on the bars when pedaling moderately hard while seated. Once you've got the setback right, then choose the stem length. Hopefully, your frame size is correct and a stem between 70-120 mm will put the bars in the right place. For this reason, it may be worthwhile to do a bike fit before buying a bike, and let the fitter suggest which model and size to buy.

3) Don't cut the steerer before giving yourself 1000km of riding for your body to adapt and feel perfectly natural. You can always add or remove spacers or invert the stem, but once the steerer is cut, you have less range of adjustment in handlebar height.

[chriscc]

Stem bolts should be tightened up evenly. If you whack one bolt up too tight while the others are too loose you will damage the bars.
Bring them up to torque a bit at a time crossing the bars every time you change bolts in a kind of a bowtie pattern. I go TOP LEFT - BOTTOM RIGHT - TOP RIGHT - BOTTOM LEFT - (back to) TOP LEFT and repeat. Keep an eye on the gap between the face plate and the stem it should remain roughly even while tightening and be even when you are done.

[davidhenry]

Best advice for a new cyclist. Get on your bike and ride as often as possible, even if it's a short ride. Also, try to find other people to ride with. There is safety in numbers (on the road) and the encouragement of friends keeps you going.

[mancello]

Tighten stem faceplate bolts in a cross pattern.

[marctestarossa]

I just got my first road bike after several years of not being able to ride at all <3 So it's not completely new to me, but I will definitely bring the tools to change the saddle position and the height and rotation of the handlebar with me wherever I go for the next couple of weeks, because you just have to figure it out, there's no easy shortcut like measure this or that and set it and it will fit. It simply won't. Except maybe the width of the handlebar. And I just got my first pair of mountain bike flat pedals and they are awesome! Would absolutely recommend for any beginner, because they are big, hard to miss, you can step on them no matter the orientation and the stainless steel pins make it nearly impossible to slip off those pedals no matter the weather, it's like they're almost glued to your foot, just great.

And another important advice is: Riding a bike, even a racing oriented road bike, doesn't have to be uncomfortable! That's what I thought for years when I had my last road bike 10 years ago and it's just stupid and not true. Sure, you're not chilling out in your favorite arm-chair and the posture on a road bike definitely is something you need to get used to, but it doesn't have to feel awful and in fact it rather mustn't. If you continue to feel absolutely horrible sitting on your bike, there's something wrong. Keep tweaking the setup and if you just can't get it into a position that is maintainable for longer than 10 without being painful, ask somebody to help like your local bike shop, even if you bought the bike somewhere else, they will like to help you there for sure and if they don't, go to the next shop, you will eventually end up with someone who can help you with the setup. Just don't forget to be kind and patient yourself and consider giving a small tip for their effort. <3

[emmabird]

Hi Manon. You missed a bit. When tightening the 4 bolts on the handlebar clamp, you should finger tight first then diagonal tightening.
? that seat post bolt on your bike is into carbon. Adjust it on the road with a multi tool, use a torque wrench? There ae mixed messages there.
saddles? Try one bring it back etc. That is not the policy in all bike shops. You should make that clear.
Pedals, not all are allen key fixing, I've had several that need a narrow spanner. Also its worth mentioning (for the beginner) RH thread on the right and LH thread on thr left.

[Kakirax]

My big tip for a beginner is to invest in a good bike fit from a reputable person! I purchased a road bike based and tried to set it up myself, but this resulted in lots of aches and pains. After I got a bike fit (luckily the bike I bought was a good size for me), it got dialed in based on my body and now it's surprisingly comfortable. Not to mention if you are an adult, a single bike fit will give you the knowledge on what bike measurements are good for you for life!

[packepuck]

I'm quite new to road bikes and I found the most difficult parameters to set up to be the angle and the longitudinal position of seat. I think it took a couple of months before I settled...

[jennifercash]

remember to straighten your saddle up to the frame if you have a tubular saddle post rather than a non-round one like the one Manon had here! Similarly when adjusting handlbars/stack, make sure it all goes back to square so you don't feel like you are permanently riding round corners or sitting wonky

[SweetappleC]

Good stuff. I am 'playing' with tyre pressure at the moment, and Manon's view is an easy way to understand a tricky topic. On saddles, setting them up flat (use a spirit level) is important too.

[jeffogar]

Throw some grease on those pedals before threading them on - nothing worse than trying to free them up when they’re seized. I did it once and vowed never ever again after my knuckles healed up.

[Aeysir]

Bought a Ragley Trig this week from Chain Reaction and it turned up with a spare multitool, a pedal spanner and a cheap set of pedals. Pretty useful 🙂