TestRides: An iPhone App For Making Sure a Bike Fits
The most important thing about getting a new bike is making sure it fits right. It’s all the difference between pleasure and pain — and very possibly a pair of blown knees.
The Test Rides iPhone app is a specialized but handy “virtual bike fitting room” that measures you up for a new bike. It looks handy for figuring out whether that beautiful bike on Craigslist will actually fit you.
First you take a picture of yourself from the side — you’ll probably need help. You then mark your joints on the picture: knees, elbows and ankles. The App calculates your body size.
Then you input the dimensions of the bike you want to buy – the top tube, bottom bracket, crank length, etc — and the App tells you whether the bike is a good fit or not. This part is a bit of work. Many used bike listings do not include all the measurments, and even the amount of info online about new bikes is inconsistent. While a lot of manufacturers have all the data, some do not.
Still, if you’re about to buy a new bike and have most of the measurements, spending $5 on this app seems like a good precaution to make sure it fits right.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: 
