DMAIR

Six Sigma was the big thing in the Automotive and Manufacturing Industries in the 1990’s and 2000’s and is still the gold-standard problem-solving toolset. Essentially it is a methodology used to resolve complex problems and improve product quality. It's largely transferrable to the Bike Fitting world because it provides an excellent set of logical steps to follow, know as DMAIC. I have simplified it to be more fit for purpose; one example being that as the C (Control) stage is not relevant for the Bike Fitting session itself, I've changed DMAIC to DMAIR.

D

Define

Define the Problem. In this case: "Why do you want a Bike Fit?"

M

Measure

Gather Data via Question, Observation and Measurement.

A

Analyse

Correlate Measurements to Goals to determine the Problem Root Cause.

I

Improve

Generate and Evaluate Solutions. Implement the Optimized Solution.

R

Record

Record the Optimized Solution.

You may be wondering why we've changed the C (for Control) to an R (for Record). The reason is that the DMAIC methodology has been developed primarily for the manufacturing industry, where the exact same part is required every time, no matter what.

However, any Bike Fit is only completely relevant at the time and place it is being conducted so we don’t want to control that position forever because other factors will change, e.g. the weather, your flexibility, strength etc. and these may require minor tweaks to your Bike Fit to suit*. Therefore the position optimized in you Bike Fit session is known as ‘The Centre of Your Bike Fit Window’.

* for example during winter when your flexibility and strength are lower, the temperature is colder and you may be wearing thicker shorts, you may benefit from lowering your saddle 5mm or so, or raising your bars by a similar amount. See my Blog How to get the best Winter Bike Fit to learn more.