Compact Cranks & Wide Range Cassettes We are biased by our hilly area, but the enhancement that having adequate gearing on your bike offers is hard to overstate. A 53/39 crankset with a 12-25 was considered “low” gearing around twenty years ago. Today, 1:1 is a common starting point for paved road gearing in hilly…
We recently released our list of the top road and triathlon bike innovations that have come out since the inception of Fit Werx in 2001. Smart indoor bike trainers is definitely on this list. While the first readily available smart trainers came out in the ‘80’s, computer technology has come a long way since. With…
As Fit Werx heads into its 22nd year of providing rider first bike fittings and rider matched bike sales, it seems like an apt time to take a trip down the memory lane of cycling technology. Since our inception, a lot has changed in terms of the products and services we offer. In a number…
A Pandemic Accelerated Divide The pandemic has accelerated a divide that has been developing for years now in the bike industry. Many of the biggest bike companies are aggressively pursuing factory owned stores and more online sales over independent bike dealer representation. In some cases this will mean a new “Trek Store” may move into your neighborhood. …
The front derailleur has long been the bane of the mechanical components of a bicycle. While some perfectly set-up front derailleurs, like Shimano’s Di2, are immense improvements over what front derailleurs used to be, there is no escaping that the front derailleur is a rather primitive component by necessity. There remains room for improvement in…
Happy Thanksgiving! Fit Werx 2 in Peabody, MA will be closed from 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 24th until Tuesday, November 30th at 9:00 a.m. We will also be closed on Saturday, December 4th. Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with clients/friends like you. Best Wishes,…
Ride Throughout the World from Home With the time change and colder temperatures, trainer time is here for many of us. While the CompuTrainer arguably started the smart trainer revolution decades ago, the current crop of options is like comparing a video game on the original Atari to a X Box Series X. The courses…
Background and Old Position: Up until 2017, I spent many years testing and fine tuning my aero position. I was pursuing record; records where set-up details matter a lot. I documented a lot of this in prior posts. However, I stopped riding the position I had put so much time into refining a few years…
I am admittedly late to the virtual riding/training experience. This being said, I’ve used CompuTrainer products (the original “smart” trainer) at work for decades and I’ve worked with different smart trainers from TACX, Wahoo and Saris/Cycleops through the years. However, until last winter, I did not ride a smart trainer consistently and had not experienced…
I hadn’t been on a velodrome in 4 years. I hadn’t raced in nearly as long as taking some time off turned out longer and while it’s a story for another day it’s been a long 2 years working to return to form. Here I was at masters track nationals in Trexlertown Pennsylvania again about…
While today’s gravel bikes see a range of component and gearing options, ranging from compact road to subcompact wide gravel, this was not always so. Just a few years ago, gravel road bikes all included a “compact” 50/34 crankset that was the same crankset as a dedicated pavement road bike had. In 2017 Praxis Works…
The latest crop of gravel specific road drivetrains offer lower gearing than a typical road bike. Groups like Shimano GRX, SRAM Force AXS Wide and Campagnolo Ekar are designed to help you deal with steep dirt roads with loose surfaces as best as possible through wide range gearing. In the case of 2x gravel groups,…