Fit Well, Ride Well, Hatchwell
The Bike Tailor x Louis Hatchwell at VIA Atelier
This year (2023) The Bike Tailor’s Stephen Roche is more than delighted to work regularly with the absolute legend that is Louis Hatchwell at VIA Atelier in London’s King’s Cross, helping make adjustments to his position so he can enjoy a better ride.
Who is Louis Hatchwell? Read on, my friend…
The Man, the… Beast
Ever wondered what a skier looks like on a bike? Wonder no more! Louis Hatchwell is one of those annoying people who can do loads of different things very well, and seemingly with ease. But while Louis does have natural ability and absolutely buckets full of passion, his key to succeeding at anything is doing bloody hard work – and that’s exactly what this skier-turned-cyclist has done on his bike.
In short, Louis is a mentor and coach, striving for success through sport. His TikTok page has +145k followers and his Instagram page “Beast on a Bike” has +47k followers. It’s no accident that hundreds of thousands of people want to learn from this guy – amongst many other things, he competed in the Telemark Skiing World Cup as GB Team Captain no less, for 6 years and came 9th in the 2019 World Championship Parallel Sprint.
Bike Fits for a Sporting Polymath
Early in February 2023, Louis arranged to see Stephen at VIA to begin the process of optimising his cycling position.
One of the issues Stephen worked on with Louis was foot placement. Louis’ feet are (in his words) damn flat and pronate slightly, which means they tend to collapse inward. To adjust this, Stephen started with simple shims for minimal forefoot support, moving onto insoles to support the arches. Achieving the best foot position not only makes for a happy tootsie but has also positively impacted Louis’ knee tracking, hip and upper body stability – resulting in more comfort and injury resilience.
You can see Louis’ video about how Stephen helped get his feet into the best position here.
Want to ‘Accidentally’ Bump into Louis or Book Stephen for Your Next Bike Fit?
You can do that by making an appointment at The Bike Tailor’s London surgery, which takes place every Thursday and Friday at VIA Atelier, one of the coolest cycling showrooms in London.
Find out more about this lovely place and how to make an appointment:
Based Outside London?
No worries, Stephen’s main base is just outside Brighton, at the gorgeous Stanmer Park House. Make an appointment there by clicking the button below.
Make a Brighton Bike Fit Appointment
And if you’re not in London…
…Hey, that’s great too – you can book a bike fitting by visiting this page.