The Perfect Fit: Accessing the RCC Bike Hire Fleet

The world is better explored by bike. Discovering new corners of a foreign city or tackling a legendary mountain pass for the first time, having spent years watching it through a screen. These are lifelong memories every rider deserves to make. Often dampened by the logistics of travelling with said bike.

This is why the Rapha Cycling Club provides a global fleet of world-class Factor bikes, available for hire at our Clubhouses across the world. 18 destinations with plentiful on and off-road routes ready to explore, and an appropriate steed to help you do it.

Accessing this fleet is a core benefit of RCC membership. It allows you to land in a new place and roll out on a machine that is as high-performance as the one you have at home. However, to truly get the most out of your Factor, you must first understand the intricacies of your own fit.

​​Establishing Your Baseline: The 109% Rule

One of the most respected starting points in the industry is the 109% Rule, famously popularised by Greg LeMond’s coach, Cyrille Guimard. This method focuses on the relationship between your inseam and the total distance from the top of your saddle to the pedal axle.

To calculate this, stand against a wall in your socks and measure your inseam from the floor to your crotch. Multiply that measurement by 1.09. The resulting figure is the distance you should set from the top of your saddle to the centre of the pedal axle when the crank arm is at its lowest point, following the line of the seat tube. This ensures that your leg has the necessary extension for power without overreaching at the bottom of the stroke.

The LeMond Method

Alternatively, you can use the LeMond Method to determine your saddle height from the centre of the bottom bracket. Take your inseam measurement in centimetres and multiply it by 0.883. This gives you the distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle, measured along the seat tube.

This method is particularly useful for establishing a consistent height across different bikes, as it ignores the variables of crank length and pedal stack height. It is the measurement we often start with when setting up a Factor hire bike at an RCC Clubhouse.

Once these measurements are set, you can perform a quick static check. Sit on the bike and place your heel on the pedal. At the very bottom of the stroke, your leg should be completely straight. When you then move your foot into the correct riding position with the ball of your foot over the pedal axle, this will naturally create the slight, five to ten degree bend in the knee that experts recommend.

If your hips rock from side to side as you pedal, the saddle is too high. If you feel a dull ache at the front of the knee, it is likely too low. These formulas provide the architecture, but your own experience on the road should provide the final fine-tuning.

The size chart gets you close, but the feel of the ride is determined by two critical measurements: Stack and Reach.

Stack: This is the vertical distance from the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube. A bike with a higher stack provides a more upright endurance position, which is ideal for long days of exploration. A lower stack puts you in a flatter, more aggressive stance for racing and speed.

Reach: This is the horizontal distance from the bottom bracket to the bars. A longer reach stretches your body out, which is stable at high speeds but requires more core strength. A shorter reach pulls the bars closer, offering more control and reduced tension in the shoulders.