diff --git a/pgvector/bit.py b/pgvector/bit.py
index 26a9d8d..cecd180 100644
--- a/pgvector/bit.py
+++ b/pgvector/bit.py
@@ -62,9 +62,12 @@ def from_binary(cls, value):
 
     @classmethod
     def _to_db(cls, value):
+        if value is None:
+            return value 
+        
         if not isinstance(value, cls):
-            raise ValueError('expected bit')
-
+            value = cls(value)
+        
         return value.to_text()
 
     @classmethod
@@ -73,3 +76,9 @@ def _to_db_binary(cls, value):
             raise ValueError('expected bit')
 
         return value.to_binary()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _from_db(cls, value):
+        if value is None or isinstance(value, cls): 
+            return value
+        return cls.from_text(value)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pgvector/sqlalchemy/bit.py b/pgvector/sqlalchemy/bit.py
index 0f83f3c..338e1b6 100644
--- a/pgvector/sqlalchemy/bit.py
+++ b/pgvector/sqlalchemy/bit.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
+import asyncpg
+from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql.asyncpg import PGDialect_asyncpg
 from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql.base import ischema_names
 from sqlalchemy.types import UserDefinedType, Float
-
+from .. import Bit
 
 class BIT(UserDefinedType):
     cache_ok = True
@@ -14,6 +16,23 @@ def get_col_spec(self, **kw):
             return 'BIT'
         return 'BIT(%d)' % self.length
 
+    def bind_processor(self, dialect):
+        def process(value):
+            value = Bit._to_db(value)
+            if value and isinstance(dialect, PGDialect_asyncpg): 
+                return asyncpg.BitString(value)
+            return value
+        return process
+    
+    def result_processor(self, dialect, coltype):
+        def process(value): 
+            if value is None: return None
+            else: 
+                if isinstance(dialect, PGDialect_asyncpg): 
+                    return value.as_string()
+            return Bit._from_db(value).to_text() 
+        return process
+
     class comparator_factory(UserDefinedType.Comparator):
         def hamming_distance(self, other):
             return self.op('<~>', return_type=Float)(other)
diff --git a/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py b/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
index 5aec977..286bf66 100644
--- a/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
@@ -591,7 +591,7 @@ async def test_bit(self, engine):
 
         async with async_session() as session:
             async with session.begin():
-                embedding = asyncpg.BitString('101') if engine == asyncpg_engine else '101'
+                embedding = '101'
                 session.add(Item(id=1, binary_embedding=embedding))
                 item = await session.get(Item, 1)
                 assert item.binary_embedding == embedding