The first and most critical step in a Phil Burt bike fit is setting the goal—but what sets us apart is how we uncover it. As a highly experienced physiotherapist, Phil brings a level of clinical listening and diagnostic insight that goes far beyond what most bike fitters offer. This isn’t just a casual chat—it’s a structured, in-depth consultation designed to truly hear and understand your goals or problems, whether performance-driven or pain-related.

Through professional history-taking, we look at you off the bike—your injury background, movement patterns, and underlying musculoskeletal factors that may be influencing your ride. Then we examine you on the bike—how those personal factors interact with your current setup and equipment. This physiotherapy-informed approach allows us to differentiate the root cause of your issue—whether it's biomechanical, equipment-related, or both. It means we don't just make adjustments; we make the right adjustments, guided by a clear clinical rationale and aligned with your unique needs.

By beginning with real listening and expert interpretation, we ensure that everything we do next is purposeful, evidence-based, and personalised—to get you where you want to be.

The off-bike assessment is a vital first step in the BioFit process. It’s where we take a detailed look at you, the rider—using Phil Burt’s extensive physiotherapy expertise to understand how your body moves, and identify any restrictions, imbalances, or limitations that could be affecting your comfort, performance, or injury risk on the bike. This assessment typically includes:

It’s not physically demanding or invasive—and there’s absolutely no judgement involved. The goal is to build a clear clinical picture of what we’re bringing to the bike.

This is also the stage where we identify common asymmetries that can have a big impact on cycling, such as functional leg length differences or pelvic tilt, which often go unnoticed but can lead to discomfort or injury if not addressed. We also assess your anthropometrics—your body’s proportions—such as whether you have relatively longer legs and a shorter torso, or the other way around. These factors are crucial in understanding how to set up your bike to match your body, not force your body to fit the bike. This stage helps us in two key ways:

It gives vital context when analysing your position and movement on the bikeIt often reveals the root cause of issues or informs personalised recommendations, such as targeted stretching, strengthening, or mobility work to help you meet your cycling goals. By understanding the rider first, we ensure every bike fit is tailored, and accurate.

The on-bike assessment is where we analyse how you move in real time on your own bike. Using Phil Burt’s expert coach’s eye—sharpened through years of working with elite athletes—alongside world-class technology, we gather objective data to understand how your current position is really working for you.

We use Retül 3D motion capture to track your joint angles with precision, and saddle pressure mapping to assess how you sit and distribute weight—whether or not you’re experiencing saddle discomfort. This reveals how your body interacts with the bike under load. We also use the Retül system to take near-millimetre-accurate digital measurements of your current bike setup, creating a detailed profile of your position.

Phil then brings all this together—your off-bike assessment, your riding data, and the performance or comfort goals you've set—to form a complete picture. This integrative approach helps identify the root causes of issues and guides the adjustments that will deliver meaningful, lasting improvements.

Once all the subjective and objective data has been gathered, Phil will explain exactly what he believes is happening—and outline a clear path toward achieving your goal. Sometimes this means making small but significant adjustments to key contact points like your saddle, cleats, or handlebar setup.

Thanks to real-time measurement tools still in place, we can immediately see how your body responds—both in how it feels and how it moves. But most bike fits aren’t solved with a single change. Cycling is multifactorial, and real progress often requires a staged approach. That’s why Phil Burt Innovation doesn’t sell products (apart from specialised bespoke solutions) but only when needed —we remain completely independent, focussed only on the changes that are truly in your best interest.

Your fit may follow a structured plan such as:Immediate on-the-day changes to trial and rideFollow-up adjustments based on your feedback—like exploring crank length or saddle widthOngoing support to refine your position as your body adaptsWhile every rider is unique, the process remains consistent—proven, repeatable, and refined over more than a decadeof delivering results at every level of the sport.It’s not just about finding a fit. It’s about following a plan that works—for you.

At Phil Burt Innovation, we take pride in ensuring that every rider leaves their bike fit session with a clear understanding of the route to their goal, based on the personalised assessment. After the session, we follow up with a detailed email that outlines:

The fit plan is at the heart of the process. It’s designed to evolve with you, so you can track progress and provide feedback on how the changes feel. This ongoing communication ensures that any adjustments are working for you, and that we can fine-tune the fit to help you achieve your goals effectively.