So, I’ve read countless times that road bike fit is more important than a “proper” bike. But surely there’s so much you can change, seat post layback / inline, saddle fore/aft, crank length, stem length / angle, spacers, bars etc that as long as the frame is in the right ball park then you can pretty much make it fit. Is there something I’m missing not understanding about how the frame should fit disregarding all the other variables?

Nope. It’s all smoke and mirrors. I’ve bought/built a number of bikes without going through all the measurement malarkey and they’ve all been just fine.

It might make a difference if you are Mark Cavendish. For the rest of us????

As I understand it, fit…

1) is important as you’re in a fairly fixed position a lot of the time

2) refers to the whole bike, not just the frame.

All the variables could be a lot of faff & expensive to play with so getting one that near enough fits to begin with makes sense.

And yes, you could have an enormous frame with a piddly stem, but the handling would suffer a smidge.

I think your right in that as long as you get the frame size in the right ball park, the rest can be adapted to suit what comfortable for you.

That being said, I think its more important that you do adapt the positions of contact points so that you are properly comfortable on the bike. On a roadie, you’re more likely to stay in the same position for long periods grinding out the miles … so if you’re not comfortable / in the reight position to suit you, then it could cause problems the longer the ride goes on.

In the last couple of years, I’ve have to raise the stem/bars up a little bit to ease off straining the back from being bent too far over. I’m only talking about raising the stem about 1cm tops and tiling the bar upwards a little bit , but it made a big difference in the comfort of the bike.

So yes, fit is important, but to me, its fit of the contact points more that fit of the frame.

And yes, you could have an enormous frame with a piddly stem, but the handling would suffer a smidge.

yeah, absolutely, but if truth be told I could probably fit a couple of sizes of frame without being anything like that. I rode a borrowed road bike this summer which was a medium GT. I needed a shorter stem and if I was buying I’d probably buy a smaller size, but by the time I’d fiddled with stuff I don’t think it was a bad fit and I only went ~20mm shorter on the stem and took a couple of spacers out.

Hence, getting the ball park correct frame size and going from there should pretty much see me right.

getting the ball park correct frame size and going from there should pretty much see me right.

but for the cost of a couple of trial stems, seatposts and handlebars you coudl pay for a cyclefit session and get them all the right size to start with?

A lot of the posher road biek shops do a bike fit ‘free’ if you buy the bike from them

Reach is pretty critical though, sure you can change stem length but you only have a small margin to play with before you screw up the handling. You can move the saddle about to but then you’re changing your position over the pedals as well and could end up in a far from optimal position. Also whilst a certain position might feel OK once you start upping the miles you can get little niggles and eventually more chronic injuries, if it is due to your position how do you know what to change to correct it?

I agree it’s a bit overkill for most to have something like a Reutel fit but given what a lot of people spend on bikes the peace of mind alone can make it worthwhile. For a complete novice then a more traditional sit on a turbo whilst someone in an LBS does a basic check is bare minimum I’d say (and should be free as part of the purchase anyway).

And a lit of folk will tell you that even after a “bike fit” they’ve had to adjust stems, seatposts etc. I don’t see the harm in having one done(especially if it’s free), but the idea that it can all be done with rulers and computers is idealistic nonsense and sets an unrealistic ex
pectation.

Edit: as fuzzy says, go into a decent bike shop and ask for advice, sit on something and get some feedback.

A lot of the posher road biek shops

I agree, but also these type of shops will mostly sell the big brand and expensive bikes. So an online purchase and a paid for bike fit session is probably significantly more “on budget”. 😉

I have 4 road bikes for various functions; 2 are 55cm frames, 1 56cm and 1 54cm. As far as I’m concerned all fit like a glove; I’m a high mileage rider who also races so like to think if they didn’t fit I would notice. I have found that serious injuries etc can also change how you feel on a bike and you may need to change a few things on the bike to accomdate recovery. If a pro fitting session makes you feel better or you are a pro, go for it.