At Tim Foley Physical Therapy, we really like to ride our bikes and we want you to enjoy riding your bike too. As part of that goal we provide bicycle fitting services at our clinic. Cassie Nobbs is one of our PTs and does our bike fitting. She can assess your positioning on the bike and make adjustments to your existing bike to maximize performance and to minimize discomfort.

As a fully trained physical therapist and cyclist, she can also make recommendations on adjustments to the bike that can allow you to ride your bike safely and comfortably even if you have physical limitations from surgery or injury. Neck pain, hand numbness, back pain and knee problems while riding often can be related to bike fit.

Here are some frequently asked questions about bike fitting:

Q. Why should I get a bike fit? While we do bike fitting for people who have physical issues, you don’t necessarily have to be injured or sore to benefit from a bike fit assessment. Really, anybody who’s never had a bike fit and rides more than a few miles a week should be professionally fit. It’s sort of a long-term health investment to make sure you don’t get injured and it improves riding performance.

Q. How long does a fitting take? Usually about one hour. It can be a little shorter if only a few adjustments are needed but can be longer when the situation is more complicated such as when a rider has a difference in leg length from one side to the other.

Q. Do you only fit road bikes? No. We can do fittings on mountain bikes, hybrids, commuters, cross bikes… pretty much anything. We haven’t done a recumbent fitting but are willing to try if the need arises.

Q. I want to buy a new bike. Can you help me choose a bike that is a good fit for me? Probably, if you have never owned a bike before, this is difficult to do because we don’t have the equipment to start from scratch. If you already have a bike, we can use that bike to do the fitting and figure out how we want to change the bike geometry to make your new bike work better for you. Then we can give you the numbers and away you go shopping.

Q. How much does a bike fitting cost? That depends. If you are paying privately the out of pocket the cost is usually $120 but we reserve the right to charge more if the fitting is complicated and requires more than one hour of the therapist’s time. In more than 80% of cases a one hour fitting is sufficient. Some insurance companies will pay for your bike fitting if it is done by a Physical Therapist and you have physical therapy coverage. You will likely need to get a referral to physical therapy from your doctor to meet the insurance requirements for coverage.

Please call the clinic at 541.386.9735 for further details. If you have any other questions or would like to book and appointment for a fitting, please call us. Happy riding!