
Correct positioning on the bicycle: Metrika

It is a tool designed to analyze your exact position on the saddle, in order to optimize and achieve maximum performance on the bike.
How does Metrika work?

The origin of Metrika
During the last twenty years, several research groups have focused on optimizing the skeletal muscle behaviour of athletes during movement, both in search of maximum athletic performance and in order to minimize the percentage of injury caused by incorrect posture.
Physiology and biomechanics applied to the research for athletic improvements are not the result of the work of a single specialist, but the joint work of several people, where each collaborates in the identification of mechanisms that intervene in the practice of specific activity and in the adaptations that occur in the human body. In a sport such as cycling, in which the body carries out its activity thanks to a decisive mechanical means, the study of biomechanics becomes essential in addition to physiological studies. This matter was taken into account only a few years ago by cyclists and has the purpose of analyzing how the body can transmit its energy to the mechanical medium and overcome resistance to achieve maximum efficiency.
The Metrika project originated from the plurilateral research of two companies, Boeris (bicycle manufacturer) and Velosapiens (software manufacturer).
During the development of the first experimental phase, a cyclo-ergometer was developed, which through the use of hydraulic pistons, allows geometric variations which optimise the bikes layout.
In a second phase of research carried out on a number of professional athletes, various evaluation tests have been added that allow to associate the data provided by the analysis of television images of the Metrika software, the values obtained from tests with electromyograph and soles inserted in the shoes of the athlete and equipped with special load indicators, evaluate the foot support during the thrust.
Through the reading and comparison of this data, today with Metrika, it is possible to establish with a more than good approximation the correct position of the athlete on the bicycle. The preliminary phase is important, but postural analysis is no less important as it is essential for assessing the deviation from the ideal position.