Bike fitting for £100 in West London

artaxerxes

Apologies if this has been posted already, but an interesting article about the Bike Whisperer.

Oddjob62

Hippy on the lfgss forum always recommends them, and believe me, he's not one to dish out compliments lightly.

pllb

Have been for a fitting at Bike Whisperer - fantastic experience, they know their stuff and I definitely felt I had my moneys worth. Much more comfortable on bike now. Can't recommend highly enough!

Paulie W

Mmm, my first reaction to this is that you are spending a £100 on something that you can do yourself with an alun key and a bit of patience. But maybe I'm just tight...

Also, being comfortable on your bike is overrated - I like to suffer

Jamey

Is it worth shelling out £100 for this if you don't use clipless pedals?

I just use flat pedals but I do feel like I could be better positioned on the bike.

pllb

Paulie W wrote:

Mmm, my first reaction to this is that you are spending a £100 on something that you can do yourself with an alun key and a bit of patience. But maybe I'm just tight...

Also, being comfortable on your bike is overrated - I like to suffer

I am as tight as the next man :shock: but i consider this to be one of my best cycle related expenditures. You cannot assess your own position and make adjustments whilst sitting on the bike - unless you have Mr Tickle long arms

Anyway I am no evangelist, it's just my opinion but FWIW these guys rock!

iPete

Read this earlier, been looking into this for a while but most places seem to charge 50-100% more, tempted by £95, its on the list of needed stuff anyway!

Might offer to pimp their website a little for a free fitting

http://www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk/bike-fitting

Paulie W

pllb wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

Mmm, my first reaction to this is that you are spending a £100 on something that you can do yourself with an alun key and a bit of patience. But maybe I'm just tight...

Also, being comfortable on your bike is overrated - I like to suffer

I am as tight as the next man :shock: but i consider this to be one of my best cycle related expenditures. You cannot assess your own position and make adjustments whilst sitting on the bike - unless you have Mr Tickle long arms

Anyway I am no evangelist, it's just my opinion but FWIW these guys rock!

I guess whenever I've bought a bike I've always spent a fair bit of time adjusting saddle, handlebar, peddles, etc at the outset by making minor adjustments then riding the bike to see how it feels. Making more adjustments, see how that feels and so on. There is no science in this (but it doesnt sound like there's a great deal in the Bike Whisperers either) and it does take a fair bit of time to get 'right' but I kind of enjoy that process (and its free ).

I can understand though that this service makes life a lot easier and woudl be particularly useful for those with an injury.

amnezia

Paulie W wrote:

pllb wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

Mmm, my first reaction to this is that you are spending a £100 on something that you can do yourself with an alun key and a bit of patience. But maybe I'm just tight...

Also, being comfortable on your bike is overrated - I like to suffer

I am as tight as the next man :shock: but i consider this to be one of my best cycle related expenditures. You cannot assess your own position and make adjustments whilst sitting on the bike - unless you have Mr Tickle long arms

Anyway I am no evangelist, it's just my opinion but FWIW these guys rock!

I guess whenever I've bought a bike I've always spent a fair bit of time adjusting saddle, handlebar, peddles, etc at the outset by making minor adjustments then riding the bike to see how it feels. Making more adjustments, see how that feels and so on. There is no science in this (but it doesnt sound like there's a great deal in the Bike Whisperers either) and it does take a fair bit of time to get 'right' but I kind of enjoy that process (and its free ).

I can understand though that this service makes life a lot easier and woudl be particularly useful for those with an injury.

Depends how serious you are about cycling.

If you spend £1000s on bikes every year then £100 to get a professional fitting makes sense.

Paulie W

Or maybe if you spend £1000s on bikes every year you have a clue what you're doing yourself!

pomtarr

There's an interview with the Whisperer himself here:

http://thebikeshow.net/if-the-bike-fits/

This guy knows his stuff. I'd go if I lived in London...

Jamey

Jamey wrote:

Is it worth shelling out £100 for this if you don't use clipless pedals?

I just use flat pedals but I do feel like I could be better positioned on the bike.

^^^ Anyone?

londonlivvy

Jamey wrote:

Is it worth shelling out £100 for this if you don't use clipless pedals?

I just use flat pedals but I do feel like I could be better positioned on the bike.

I think so, yes - in that your handlebar distance and angle, seat height, are all important, regardless of whether you ride clipped in or not.

But give TBW a call - they're really nice and very professional and wouldn't encourage you to spend money if they didn't think you would benefit from it.

Jamey

Cheers

supersonic

I wouldn't pay it. I believe this is something anyone can do with patience, experimentation and good guides on the internet.

Also you can get fitted up on a stationary trainer, which may feel very comfortable, but completely alter the weight distribution and handling when you get out on the road.

Bike fitting is often a series of compromises. However it obviously works for many and can save some time! But not for me.

jimmcdonnell

I had a bike fit from TBW, and in 2 hours Scherritt cured the intense neck pain that any ride over 20 miles had previously caused. And I know my way around my bike, but I couldn't have measured myself and then made the 3 precise (sub-5mm) adjustments that cured me!

Perhaps some of our fellow forum members are more gifted or sensitive in that direction. Or perhaps they're just reactionary bullsh!tters. Hard to say.

Anyhoo, £80 (mine was a while ago) well spent. I recommend TBW to anyone who'll listen.

plasmadaddy

Agreed, Scherritt is a top bloke.

I thought I had set things up pretty much spot on and was more than comfortable on the bike. Went to see Scherritt and it turns out loads of things were not quite right.
A few mm here and there, repositioning of cleats after Scherritt was underneath the bike taking photos of me on the turbo, saddle height, saddle fore/aft and length from bars. Slight bar adjustment and hey ho we were done.

Scherritt mentioned that with the changes he had made I would be more powerful on the bike.

Guess what?
He was absolutely spot on!

For £90 you can't go wrong.....

lardboy

I went to see Scherrit after last year's Slowcial ride where I had horrific pain in my knees and had to get the train home.

He's a top bloke and spent ages getting everything set up exactly right, taking every measurement and looking at my riding from every conceivable angle. He also moved my brake levers which involved stripping and re-wrapping my bars, which is a pain of a job at the best of times. On top of this he discovered a bent rear axle which was throwing the chain off my SS when pedalling at high cadence. I also got good advice for my girlfriend about how to shop for a small sized ladies bike (get 650 wheels, apparently).

I haven't completely sorted my knee problem, as it's not just positional, and I have to work on my strength, but I'm now more confident in my position on the bike and feel more powerful when I lay the power down.

I'd recommend him without reserve.

Slow Downcp

A good fitting is worth the money IMHO - I spent £50 on a fitting at Epic, and it's made a big difference. I thought I had a decent set up before (having made adjustments here and there over 20 years of cycling), but the difference is massive now.

BentMikey

I'd go to him for a bike fitting, assuming I buy the fairly expensive upright I'd like to buy this year or next.

stonehouse

Having been to The Bike Whisperer a few times I feel I'd like to comment.

Sure you can do your own fit and you might not have any issues at all, but there again you might not be sensitive to an incorrect fit or perhaps your effort levels/mileage/hills might not push you over the edge.

I've found that just a few mil on saddle height alone can be the difference between knee pain and pain free. Making those adjustments can take ages on your own and involve a lot of pain!

My vote is for the BW, they are a great couple who I would highly recommend.

Skippy2309

I few MM makes a big difference... messed with my saddle height on wednesday, rose it by 5-10mm, didnt ride in today my knees are feeling it bad. post is marked so going to drop it a little see if it helps.

Anecdotally the ride felt better - as in accelerated faster, higher cadence, smoother, etc also felt like it improved my confidence into fast turns :?

BentMikey

Funnily enough I'm off to see them on Tuesday...

Cafewanda

Today at 3pm

CiB

I reckon I know my way round a bike and how to fiddle about with it, but the bike fit that I had (not TBW) was the best £80 I've ever spent cycling-wise. It's having someone who knows what to look for, where to look, taking a step back and looking at you on the bike, and knowing what to measure, what to aim for that made the difference.

The before & after measurements on my sheet weren't very different, but they were the differences that counted. It was the combination of a number of small changes that added up to a cumulative big change. Upshot was that a bike I could have happily have shifted on EBay suddenly became the best bike I've owned. I wouldn't have another - I know what to aim for now, and what to change. £80 as a percentage of a couple of grand was well worth it though.

BentMikey

I'm just back, Scherritt is excellent. I'd highly recommend him to anyone, no wonder Aunty Charlotte and others speak so well of him.

CometGirl

They also do coaching, and Scherrit is largely responsible for me managing to ride the Race Against Time last year (6-day LEJOG in a team). I'd definitely recommend them.

davis

Just booked in for the end of July because of this thread.

They really genuinely do sound like they're doing things right; I phoned them to discuss it first. I get the feeling you're not so much paying for "tweaking of a few bolts" as you are for their combined experience of sorting niggling problems as efficiently as possible.

Looking forward to it ;-)

BentMikey

CometGirl wrote:

They also do coaching, and Scherrit is largely responsible for me managing to ride the Race Against Time last year (6-day LEJOG in a team). I'd definitely recommend them.

Oh wow! I didn't realise you used him for coaching. I've been thinking about getting some of this.

So far the fitting on my recumbent is super positive. It all feels better and I seem to have a little more power. I need some time to see how I adapt and how it all goes though, but it's looking very promising!

davis

Thread bump ahoy! I went on Tuesday, and I've been off the bike since then until today.

They really are good; Scherritt did my fitting, and, while the changes weren't massive, it really makes a difference having someone look at you while you're riding with a experienced objective eye and deciding what changes need to be made. I could have played for days trying to get to where Scherrit got me in a few hours. I went out for a fairly gentle (as directed) 4 hours today and, despite my knees being a bit wrecked by recent running, the persistent knee niggle I'd had didn't re-surface. I'll see how it goes, but that alone is probably worth it. I can take the fitting info and apply it to other bikes too.

As an aside, they're really great to talk to. Scherrit probably mentioned more helpful tips in passing than I've picked up over years of tinkering, and I got some really useful advice about pedals and glasses. And dogs.

Wholeheartedly recommended. You're paying for the fact that an experienced and talented person is looking to get the best possible result for you, not for raising your saddle by 10mm or other apparently minor fettles.