This (new?) trend of people paying for bike fitting services

Go for a long ride and take some tools with you (couple of Allen keys).

On a 50 mile ride, I adjusted the following (by the side of the road) to create a good fit…

1. Saddle height
2. Saddle fore/aft position
3. Stem height (stem spacers)
4. Cleat position
5. Bar angle
6. Stem length (I had two cheap stems with me – one 10mm shorter than stock, the other 10mm longer)

Like millions of other people on this planet, I don’t need lasers or videos to show me what’s comfy on a bike.

Go for a long ride and take some tools with you (couple of Allen keys).

It’s all well and good for you.

However, if you’re new to cycling and new to common sense, the chances are you won’t be fit enough to cycle 50 miles or use a set of allen keys.

how big her tits are and how low the stem can go

I take it back, the bloke doing the bike fitting is a genius!!

Go for a long ride and take some tools with you (couple of Allen keys).

But how do you manage to achieve the correct torque on all those bolts with just an allen key? 😉

Following advice from my LBS, I moved by right cleat back by less than 5mm, and my persistent knee pain disappeared.

In any case, the cost is trivial in the big scheme of things. My LBS will measure you up, adjust all of your bikes as needed, and give you a print out so you have a set of measurements for any new bikes in the future. I’d say £80 for that is a complete bargain, given the money people will spend on utterly pointless trinkets that do nothing for comfort or speed.

Tongue in cheek, I referred to them as “MAMIL tax” on another forum and people who had paid for it got uppitty but in all seriousness, I dont see it as any different from a proper suit fitting, sure you can go to Moss Bros and buy something that fits well enough to not amke you look like a fool or you go to a tailor and get it done properly. The fundamental difference is wearing a badly fitted suit will not give you back ache, neck ache, knee problems, hip pains etc etc…

Soon the average cyclist with money to burn and no more shiny things to purchase will learn about Vo2 tests, the professional bike fitting session will seem very ordinary in comaprison…. 😉

Like millions of other people on this planet, I don’t need lasers or videos to show me what’s comfy on a bike.

Very much doubt that people going for a bike fit are just looking to be comfy on a bike. I’d guess it’d be for a better position for their chosen niche of cycling, or a position that helps resolve or even prevent injury, within that very broad spectrum of comfortable. Or maybe that was the case and now it’s just a fad.

So what’s the attitude on here towards wind tunnel testing? 🙂

I’d say £80 for that is a complete bargain, given the money people will spend on utterly pointless trinkets that do nothing for comfort or speed.

nail on the head. the same kind of people who buy expensive stems etc but neglect the essentials like contact points (gloves/shoes/shorts/saddle) or buy the cheapest tyres they can find when good tyres do so much for the ride quality.

I was getting pains in my left knee the day after long rides and sometimes waking up in the middle of the night and having to stretch my leg out.

I had a half fit done about 3 years ago and it was obvious to them that my left knee was bending inwards to the top tube under load. Tthey added some of the Specialized wedges in my shoes (3 in the left and 1 in the right) to get my knees tracking straight and hey presto no pain since.

I’d recommend that 1000000000000%

They also did a quick check of seat height and position measuring all my angles etc, which got me most of the way there but I have tweaked it around since based on feel. That part I’d say isn’t necessary really.

Tthey added some of the Specialized wedges in my shoes (3 in the left and 1 in the right) to get my knees tracking straight and hey presto no pain since.

You can do that yourself though. It’s also better to add the wedges under your cleats rather than use the ones under your insoles.

You are suggesting an STW group ride, no? 😉

Why not just pay somebody to do it? They will be better qualified than somebody who read lots of spurious advice from the Internet, and its easier for them to see you pedalling and your cleat set-up.

Why will they be better qualified? There are umpteen different fit methods and bits of kit out there, which one is right? The person doing the fit likely had one or two training sessions on how to use the equipment and has now been left to get on with it.

One mistake from them and your fit could be miles out but you’ll go with it “cos the professionals said so”

Google “bike fit” and you get thousands of hits all with slightly different methods of getting saddle height set – then factor in the thousands of different ways that people want to ride bikes (plus their ability/flexibility/strength etc) and the makes/models of bikes available and the geometry variations and I’m not 100% convinced that a fitting service is any better than trial and error. Which method is right?

Where it does come into its own though is in the ability to try out loads of different stem lengths, bar widths, saddles etc without having to pay money for any of them!

You are suggesting an STW group ride, no?

😆

if you are new to the sport you won’t be used to sitting in a proper road bike position (whatever that is) and over time, what is comfortable on a bike will change. the risk with this is that you might end up spending money on 3/4 bike fits as you get used to the position.

I might just be lucky, but I bought a second hand road bike about 4 years ago and haven’t adjusted it at all compared to the guy I bought it off apart from dropping then raising the saddle a bit.

I can do 7/8 hour rides on it and not feel any discomfort… apart from slightly tired arms. do I need a bike fit??

There is fit and fit…
Riding my dutch roadster into town fit – saddle about right height
Riding my mtb – saddle and bars about right
Racing my road bike for an hour on the drops – exact fit required.

I paid for a Bike Fit fitting a few years ago. I’m median proportions in all dimensions except shoulder width, according to their database. I still use the data for frame selection (ETT of 55.5cm, 11cm stem). I didn’t buy a bike from the shop, but they wuld have refunded the cost if I had.

I had another fit when I bought my recent road bike, but didn’t agree with the saddle height recommendation – and it has an ISP so needs cutting, but everything else was spot on, including reach.

I’ve posted on fitting already, set the saddle height and fore and aft, then worry about bars. It’s pretty easy to achieve a good starting position for most people. A fit for cleat angle, wedges etc may be useful, but I just put an extra washer under the inside cleat bolt instead.

Racing my road bike for an hour on the drops

😯

You can use your drop bars for an hour????

See posts passim regarding fit and bar drop. Yes I can. Shorter reach and a shorter drop… I’m not fantastically aero but saddle to drop is about 8.5″ (21cm).

You can use your drop bars for an hour????

why not? i would quite happily spend that long in the drops (though in reality i would change back and forth between the hoods/drops) but then i’m reasonably flexible, dont have a beer gut and had a bike fit 🙄

thats unheard of

why not? i would quite happily spend that long in the drops (though in reality i would change back and forth between the hoods/drops) but then i’m reasonably flexible, dont have a beer gut and had a bike fit

Nah, it’s cos your bars are way too high. 😉

thats unheard of

Not if you read my previous posts 😉 . Most likely, failure to use drops is because a stem is too long. May also be too low, but long is my first bet.

Mind you, I just lowered the bars another 0.75cm for this evening’s race, so all bets are off!

When I was a complete novice moving from a BSO to a ‘proper’ drop bar road racer, I went and got professionally measured for £25 at a shop using this system bikefitting. Used the output to guide me on what size bike to buy and as a starting set up for riding. I didn’t want to drop three weeks wages on a bike when I had really limited experience and test rides where limited to riding round the block at the bike shop. Been riding that ever since, in the last 9 years I’ve just reduced the stem length as I’ve got older and more inflexible.

I don’t see what the problem is – if someone wants to spend £80 getting a professional opinion of their riding position then its their choice, same as if they decided to buy a new saddle for £80 or a new seatpost, etc.

Yes you can try to work it out yourself, but not everyone has different stem lengths, top tube lengths and seat tube angles, etc.

If you find that you have an ache in the small of you back, your knee, or you left eyebrow, its not always an intuitive step to work out that your seat is slightly too far forward or your stem is 10mm too long.

If you’ve asked around and no-one else can help out then sometimes carrying out a mechanical assessment of you on your bike is the only way.

And no, I haven’t had one, I much prefer to keep tinkering with the set up of my bike every year…. 😕

I’m generally a cynic about such things, and I’ve not yet paid for a fitting…

But having faffed about recently (still faffing TBH) with my Road bike to get it to fit better and work more efficiently, having actually taken some proper measurements to try and figure out what I need to adjust, and started reading far too much on the topic, I can certainly now appreciate the benefit of someone else (knowledgeable) aiding you with bike fitting, even if you are familiar with bikes and how to set them up generally, are you an “expert” on biomechanics / and avoiding injuries etc?
Can you hand on heart say you know every possible thing about bike fitting and how to do it optimally for yourself?

How many people who think their bike is set up well are actually just accommodating a poor setup?

If you actually do know it all already, why not set up shop using that wisdom to fleece the rest of us idiots…
Remember to be condescending and abrupt when taking our money please…

🙄

You’ve only got 3 contact points; the pedals, the saddle and the bars.

Cleats go forwards and back wards and side to side.
Saddles go up and down and backwards and forwards.
Handlebars go up and down and forwards and backwards by changing stem size.

There are a number of more subtle tweaks, but sort the basics out first.

It’s not hard, it’s not tricky, it’s not complex, it’s not an exact science. It’s about thinking it through and trying stuff out, and teaching yourself about how you fit on a bike.

Sweet Jesus, cycling really is the new golf…

You’ve only got 3 contact points; the pedals, the saddle and the bars.

5 contact points. 😉

👿 😆

6 if you’re chewing the stem. 😀

This thread seems to wave wildly from people who’ve had experience by having a fit done and finding benefits to others that have no experience of the process claiming its all snake oil and completely useless.

Most of the bikefitters I know are experts in the field and have a long history of improving performance via diet, training and, as painful as it may be, fitting people to bikes. If you are looking to improve, then this forms another part of the puzzle to extracting the best from your body. If you visit a proper fitter, they will change your bike and how you interact with it but they should also give you the info on how you can continue to change it as your body changes.

Remember, this is all optional, you dont have to buy it. But because someone else decides thats what they want, its not your place to tell them they are wrong.

But because someone else decides thats what they want, its not your place to tell them they are wrong.

What?! I thought that was a Basic Human Right On The Internet™

others that have no experience of the process

Do give over.

I’ve been riding and racing mountain bikes, cyclocross bikes and road bikes for 26 years, fitting them all to me.

I’ve taken the books I mentioned out of the library, studied them and put what I learnt into practice. I’ve looked to see which pro riders were the same height as me and looked at their positions, worked out by measuring photographs to see what size frames they rode, how long their stems were, what changes they made through their career.
I’ve spent time reading on the net, learning what people think works and what doesn’t, learning what people regard as good, what people think is rubbish.

There are some people who have taken much of this information and use it in an intelligent way, but none of it is secret, none of it is a black art and all of it is available to everyone to learn for themselves.

I’ve been riding and racing mountain bikes, cyclocross bikes and road bikes for 26 years, fitting them all to me.

Well done, you’re very experienced and know what you’re doing.

For the rest of us isn’t it reasonable that we go to someone, well like you, for advice, and pay for it accordingly?

I dont care that you dont want it done, I just can’t understand your desire to prevent other people from the benefit.

There are some people who have taken much of this information and use it in an intelligent way, but none of it is secret, none of it is a black art and all of it is available to everyone to learn for themselves.

I completely agree, but then a lot people earn money specialising in a field. Just because the info is there doesn’t mean most people can interpret it to apply to them.

For the rest of us isn’t it reasonable that we go to someone, well like you, for advice, and pay for it accordingly?

No, it’s not.

It’s reasonable to learn about it and teach yourself, it’s part of being a cyclist. If you have a problem, if you are strangely shaped, then maybe you could ask for advice, but otherwise it’s something you should know, just like fixing a puncture or being able to ride up or down a hill.

I suggested in my first post that it is a feature of the way cycling has become an aspirational activity; it’s people trying to throw money at an issue that they can deal with perfectly well on their own, and they will learn and use and keep that information and use it again and again and become better cyclists as a result.

It’s not complicated, it simply requires a bit of commitment which appears, on the strength of this thread, to be sadly lacking.

Presumably people aren’t allowed to pay other people to build wheels, service suspension, bleed brakes or any of the other myriad of mechanical jobs that might be required on a bike? After all, it’s not complicated. Might put a few bike shops out of business though…

Don’t quite know where to start with all that….

*facepalm

I give up.

I compare it to buying a pair of shoes and having to pay extra to have someone tell you the right size.

It’s not complicated, it simply requires a bit of commitment which appears, on the strength of this thread, to be sadly lacking.

So you’d never employ the services of a physiotherapist, surveyor, financial advisor or any one of the other myriad of people providing “expertise”? I’m sure all of these and more could easily be learnt by someone with a bit of commitment.

You’re the one treating cycling as if it’s some kind of special club. If you haven’t been riding for over 20 years, hand brazed your own frame out of iron you mined with your bare hands or some other nostalgic bullshit then you’re not worthy.

It’s just riding around on a bicycle. If people want to spend their money on it and it makes them happy what does it matter?

I give up.

I compare it to buying a pair of shoes and having to pay extra to have someone tell you the right size.

You really should. That’s the stupidest analogy I’ve heard in a long time.

I’ve never paid for a bike fit but then i spent years of trial and error to learn how to do it myself. However, with the current prices of bikes as high as they are I would still encourage people who are new to the sport to pay for a good bike fit to save time and money.