Bike Fit - Adrian Timmis or Paul Hewitt?

kingrollo

I must have caught adrian on a bad day:-

1.my fit was just under 2 hours - but I still paid full price (and that includes timeout whilst he served people in the shop)

2.Add another £30 onto the quoted price - for shims and wedges - which everyone seems to need.

3.My cleats were fitted 'blind' and not adjusted even when I told him i could still feel discomfort

4.You don't get any documentation

richard36

kingrollo - that doesn't sound too good. I would have thought there would be someone else serving in the shop whilst he carried out the fitting. He must know that lots of people travel a long way to see him and pay good money. You would therefore expect his undivided attention. You would also expect your measurements in writing for future reference.

I'm not sure whether your experience counts as a negative one but if it is then that is the first one I've read about. I'm due to see him in April and will be making a long journey to his shop. If my experience was similar to yours I would be extremely disappointed.

whojanicanackerov

kingrollo wrote:

I must have caught adrian on a bad day:-

1.my fit was just under 2 hours - but I still paid full price (and that includes timeout whilst he served people in the shop)

2.Add another £30 onto the quoted price - for shims and wedges - which everyone seems to need.

3.My cleats were fitted 'blind' and not adjusted even when I told him i could still feel discomfort

4.You don't get any documentation

Why don`t you give him a ring and give him a chance ?

I had a bikefit by Adrian on Saturday and things turned out nice for me.
Although I was`nt there 3 hours... I did`nt need to be.
Bike was adjusted to me and insoles sorted.He even sorted my gear indexing and fitted my bar tape.
There was also a young pretty assistant in the shop who kindly made me a green tea.
OK its alot of dosh for a bike fit I can admit.
But for me it was worth it
The new position has lowered my heart rate by 20 BPM over the hour.............. The powertap does`nt tell porkies.

ajb72

lochindaal wrote:

Here's my review I wrote before on my fit with Adrian

http://www.amateuretape.com/bike-fit/

That's the experience I am hoping for in 3 weeks time, shame to hear someone else was not so satisfied. Surely not everyone needs a full 3 hours though if your bike is close to where Adrian would recommend it, he just says to allow up to that much time for real desperate cases that need just about everything altering?

I am going with the expectation that everything needs adjusting - if I get the odd bit of feedback that my own set-up efforts are ok that would be a bonus!

harrywolper

Spend £250 at well known bikefit store near Covent Garden. Complete and utter waste of money.

Spent a lot less with Adrian and got a superb fit and much better understanding of the bike fit process.

Probably the best money you will spend this year.

molov

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

anyone got any experience of the Bike Whisperer's fitting service in West London - they apparently have a good rep?
A bit steeper than some of the options mentioned above, but that's west London innit I suppose ...
http://www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk/servi ... e-fitting/

I had a fitting with Scherrit a few days ago, while it's too early to tell any significant changes in performance his service and attention to detail was spot on. One of the most impressive features of his fit is the informal surroundings of his home which makes you feel like you are being fitted by a friend. Scherrit is very thorough and allocates 4 hrs for a fit so you will be fitted by the time you leave with all paperwork and a big smile. Initial feelings on the turbo were a smoother pedal stroke and more efficiency with less perceived effort. Highly recommend the extra ££.

sandyballs

Had my bike fit by Adrian on Fri just gone. Found him to be very pleasant, was there just under 2 hours. Did not need any wedges or shims and he checked my feet inside the shoes and matched the cleats to the right part of the foot.

Did not need anymore time since we went through everything quite easily. He gave me some tips on the turbo training and how i should go about setting up my other bikes to match. (they were in a different country so could
not take them all).

Did not see any pretty girl mind, but wont mark him down for that.

Overall happy with the service and hopefully will get out to test soon.

KnightOfTheLongTights

molov wrote:

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

anyone got any experience of the Bike Whisperer's fitting service in West London - they apparently have a good rep?
A bit steeper than some of the options mentioned above, but that's west London innit I suppose ...
http://www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk/servi ... e-fitting/

I had a fitting with Scherrit a few days ago, while it's too early to tell any significant changes in performance his service and attention to detail was spot on. One of the most impressive features of his fit is the informal surroundings of his home which makes you feel like you are being fitted by a friend. Scherrit is very thorough and allocates 4 hrs for a fit so you will be fitted by the time you leave with all paperwork and a big smile. Initial feelings on the turbo were a smoother pedal stroke and more efficiency with less perceived effort. Highly recommend the extra ££.

thanks molov, good stuff.

Smirf

Seems the bike whisperer is doing well, emailed them yesterday and first available date is early April!

Wanting to get something in the next week or so to give me time to bed in, there seems to be 2 options in central London. cyclefit or have a Bg fit at the specialiazed store in Covent Garden (which seems a comprehensive session of 3 hours). any experience of these?

mrushton

harrywolper wrote:

Spend £250 at well known bikefit store near Covent Garden. Complete and utter waste of money.

Spent a lot less with Adrian and got a superb fit and much better understanding of the bike fit process.

Probably the best money you will spend this year.

Assuming you mean Cyclefit in what way was your money wasted?

oldspoke

I must admitt this thread makes me smile. Some of the comments are way, way over the top.

Yes adrian is a competent bike fitter - and for that I would recommend his services. However some people on here are building him up in to some kind miracle worker. His shop is one of the more local to me, so I have been in few times to buy stuff. Ive always found arian a quiet but very polite sort of guy. I therefore find the idea that before the bikefit commences you sit down and have a good old chat about cycling highly improbable. When I went we just got straight on with it.
The good thing about adrians is the footbeds - I was less convinced about the shims and wedges, and for the price I paid I would have expected some printed documentation.

So there you a competent fitter, with good and bad points , like I say i would recommend his services, but keep it in perspective

whojanicanackerov

oldspoke wrote:

I must admitt this thread makes me smile. Some of the comments are way, way over the top.

Yes adrian is a competent bike fitter - and for that I would recommend his services. However some people on here are building him up in to some kind miracle worker. His shop is one of the more local to me, so I have been in few times to buy stuff. Ive always found adrian a quiet but very polite sort of guy. I therefore find the idea that before the bikefit commences you sit down and have a good old chat about cycling highly improbable. When I went we just got straight on with it.
The good thing about adrians is the footbeds - I was less convinced about the shims and wedges, and for the price I paid I would have expected some printed documentation.

So there you a competent fitter, with good and bad points , like I say i would recommend his services, but keep it in perspective

Pretty much agree with that after my fit.Quiet polite and did the job.
My position was quite bad before Adrian sorted it hence the heart rate lowering over the hour.

richard36

When I submitted the OP I quoted a bike fitting with Adrian of £130. I've just been on his website and noticed that a bike fitting (for one bike plus footbeds) is £150. Did I originally misquote or has the bike fitting gone up by £20?

I've got an appointment with him in April but if the price has gone up to £150 then I will seriously need to think whether I can afford to go especially as it will cost me at least £40 in fuel to get there.

Pedal Precision charge £110 for what looks like a similar service though you don't get any footbeds. I don't know anything about them though there are glowing testimonies on their website.

I may need to give a visit to Adrian a re-think which is a shame as I am sure he does a very good job.

I

sandyballs

You should have received a confirmation e-mail of the 'purchase' complete with price. I would quote this as the price that you will pay when the fitting occurs. New bookings I would say will be at the new price as that was would be agreed at time of purchase.

As always check with Adrian if you do not want to waste petrol money.

gaz047

hi,
i've been to Adrian Timmis twice in just over a year. the first time to get fitted to a focus cayo and this time to get fitted to a felt b12, each time i got the footbeds. So here is a quick write up of my times at Cadence Sport.

The first visit was at his house, where after a quick chat about cycling history (mine, not in general) and any ongoing issues whilst cycling. After telling him that i always seemed to be fiddling with my position and never feeling quite right/comfortable, i was put on the physio bed and was pulled about for a few minutes. he then set about moulding the footbeds and marking/adjusting for cleat placement. Then he disappeared with my shoes/cleats to get another coffee. When he returned i was put on my bike/turbo and immediatly felt more balanced. he then revealed that he'd established one leg longer than the other and whilst making the coffees he had placed two shims under my right cleat, to even out the difference (but only told me they were there after letting me try it!). It was then on to saddle position, where i was put 2mm up and 2cm back and then the bars which were fine, just needed rotating a bit. Result - most worthwhile cycling purchase i have made. no more fiddling about wondering why one side is always better than the other and comfortable for hours.

The second visit was to the shop Cadence Sport, where the bike fits are done upstairs. Again after a coffee and a quick chat about any issues, what will i be using the bike for etc, we got the footbeds moulded and shims bolted on. It was then turbo time again (got quite a good workout aswell!). end result - comfortable in the tuck and feel i have the right balance between aero/comfort/efficiency.

Conclusion - i don't have any other experiance of bike fits, but if i buy another bike i wouldn't hesitate to get booked in with Adrian again. He knows his stuff, is polite and obviously takes pride in what he's doing. Its a bit of a trek for me to get there (2 hours each way), but whats the point in spending a load of money on a bike if it doesn't fit!
Might have rambled on a bit there, but it is 0300, im on a night shift and am now having trouble focusing on the screen!!

richard36

Very helpful Gaz, thanks.

As I've said there are very few negative reports about Adrian's work so he must be doing something right!

ajb72

Thanks for the detailed report Gaz, it's a good 90 min drive for me each way so reassuring to hear these reports of satisfied customers. Just over a week until I go for my first ever bike fit, can't wait.

Did you fill in a form for Adrian prior to the fit? The website mentions this but I have not had anything to fill in for him.

As for the price hike - all this feedback and free advertising on the forum can't be doing his order book any harm, can't blame him for raising prices when the demand is there. Just glad I booked mine in at £130 (and wish I'd gone last year when it was £100!).

richard36

ajb, I emailed Adrian last night and he confirmed that I will get my bike fit for the old price of £130 so I'm sure you will also.

He also said he would be sending me the questionnaire nearer the time so perhaps yours will turn up very soon.

Hope the bike fit goes well. Post your experience.

ajb72

Richard36 wrote:

ajb, I emailed Adrian last night and he confirmed that I will get my bike fit for the old price of £130 so I'm sure you will also.

He also said he would be sending me the questionnaire nearer the time so perhaps yours will turn up very soon.

Hope the bike fit goes well. Post your experience.

Cheers Richard, will do.

gaz047

No worries fellas. You get the form through a day or two before your booking (although I didn't realise I'd been sent it, due to being crap at checking emails! But only took 2 mIns to do when I arrived).
Let us know how it goes

ajb72

I promised to update after my fitting session, which I had on Saturday morning.

There is far too much that takes place to detail it all here, I would miss loads out from the 3 hours I was there and understate the depth that Adrian goes into. I had expected the fit to be based on Adrain's riding experience, but in fact he also has an excellent physiological knowledge and was able to explain why my previous position was causing the specific problems I had experienced. He also goes into some depth taking body measurements and checking foot alignment and as well as using his experienced eye uses lasers and measuring devices to assist.

I have suffered with hand/wrist pains and a bad back for a couple of years. In trying to self-remedy this I have tinkered with all sorts of meddling, ending up with a saddle position that was quite far forward. The first thing Adrian identified was that my bars were rotated too far upwards. As a result I rarely used the drops due to the added stretch required and spent most of my time with hands placed an inch or two backwards of the hoods.

Having sorted that, my levers needed raising to a correct position (slightly higher than I had them). However, at the same time Adrian also turned them inwards ever so slightly - the result was that my hands naturally dropped into a neutral position. This was a one of those 'eureka' moments for me - all of a sudden I understood why I had been putting excess weight and strain on my wrists and my hands were now in a very relaxed position with no strain at all. I can also now move to the drops with ease and hold a comfortable position there.

After this Adrian sorted my saddle position, which was moved back 1.5cms and the nose lowered so the saddle was level. This sounds a huge amount but once the bars and levers were in the correct position, I could reach the hoods in comfort with no stretch and a comfortable flex in the arms. We also dropped the saddle height by 5mm and that was me set in a balanced neutral position, with no strain on the arms / back etc and the correct knee angles in the pedal stroke. I also now have my Speedplays set to zero float, as Adrian set me into the natural position for my feet and locked out any unnecessary additional movement.

What I particularly appreciated is that at every point a change was made, Adrian explained why and put me back in the old position again so I could feel the difference. This was the same for the moulded insoles - I hadn't appreciated how badly my Sidi's fitted my narrow feet until I tried the 'before and after a couple of times!

You might expect that with all these changes it would have felt a bit odd peddling away in my new position. The opposite is in fact true - because my new position is now balanced it immediately felt 'right'. To go back to the old position would have me fidgeting with discomfort after a few miles again. I've been out for 3.5 hours today and never once suffered with pain in the hands and back.

For anyone who is considering a booking but unsure if it will be worth it, all I can say is I wish I'd one years ago. I would probably have saved the fitting fee in not wasting money searching for comfy saddles and bars, and just getting properly set up in the first place!

ck99

I used Adam White ( http://awsportsperformance.com/ ) and I thought he was good. He came to my house (I live 18 miles from Reading) and spent 1.5 hours sorting me out, for which I paid £50.

kamil1891

I have also had a bike fit at both places. Firstly, I came to Paul Hewitt... I thought it wasn't too bad at the beginning but with more miles there were more problems occuring. The biggest one was my knee. At that fit I had to buy new stem too. 14cm one, which I now use with other bike that has slightly shorter top tube than my best bike (and I've been recommended by Adrian to use 13cm if I get hold of it), I've been fitted to.

On the 3rd of March I've had a fit with Adrian and I could see straight from the beginning that he will be much more competent. While he went to fit the insoles he also put some wedges under my cleats. However, he didn't say that to me but my answer told him exactly what he wanted me to say. He simply has a talent to do this job He also did few other changes, maybe not so drastic lengthwise but I've been proved that few mm's change a lot. I've also kept my original 12cm stem and didn't have to pay for anything else.

So, in conclusion. Paul Hewitt main changes were: stem moved up to the maximum, saddle setback at 6cm, saddle height 83cm and 14cm stem.

Adrian Timmis: stem at the bottom as he has seen that I've got great flexibility (he has even compared my flat back to his at his 20's.. I'm 20 too), saddle setback at 11cm, saddle height 80cm and 12cm stem.

These dimensions are only for comparison how mr. Hewitt was wrong. I've spent £110 (fit+stem+little service which was done wrong) and £165 at mr.Timmis, and he supplied footbeds, 5 wedges and 2.5h of his time whereas mr. Hewitt "sorted me out" in less than 1h on his jig.

So, if you are thinking about mr.Hewitt just for peace of mind pay few quids extra and go to see Adrian. I'm sure that Paul sorted out many people right, but probably more people wrong (from many reviews I've seen). It's not worth wasting money like I did


edited: and well, of course the result. After Hewitt's bikefit I couldn't reach drops and I could not ride them for more than 2 mins, lower back breaking after 30kms (but I've still had to manage much longer rides with pain) now I spend most of my time on the drops...even going uphill No pains, smooth pedalling, hoods are the place I want to rest, not the end corners on the top of the bars and definitely greater efficiency

ziglar

How did you guys (and gals?) get a fit at Cadence Sport for £100-£130?
Current prices are £180.

napoleond

ziglar wrote:

How did you guys (and gals?) get a fit at Cadence Sport for £100-£130?
Current prices are £180.

By going over 12 months ago...

AndyT79

Hi Guys,

Just looking to get a bike fit in the midlands area but i'm torn between a couple of companies ...

The reviews from Cadence sport are great, but the price seems quite high and the waiting list is quite long... do you have any other recommendations?
I've seen both http://bikedynamics.co.uk and http://midlandbikefit.com look decent and a bit cheaper than Cadence, has anyone used either of these?

Any advice would be appreciated

Andy

VTech

I used cadence, did a great job and my cycling has improved loads.
It does cost, on top of the fit price is the cost of cleat adjustment, this is another £30 and almost certainly a new stem, another £30 ish.

Ive been happy with the purchase though, he did a great job for me.

supermurph09

AndyT79 wrote:

Hi Guys,

Just looking to get a bike fit in the midlands area but i'm torn between a couple of companies ...

The reviews from Cadence sport are great, but the price seems quite high and the waiting list is quite long... do you have any other recommendations?
I've seen both http://bikedynamics.co.uk and http://midlandbikefit.com look decent and a bit cheaper than Cadence, has anyone used either of these?

Any advice would be appreciated

Andy

Bike Science in Derby is a good choice imo.

themogulman

Timmis is the Daddy.

Wondering why he is so booked up and why he can charge more than others, because he is the best around.

I took a new bike to be set up the same as the old and he didn't charge me the full price because it only took 25 mins to do it, so he does respect his customer and not take the p**s.

lc1981

VTech wrote:

I used cadence, did a great job and my cycling has improved loads.
It does cost, on top of the fit price is the cost of cleat adjustment, this is another £30 and almost certainly a new stem, another £30 ish.

Ive been happy with the purchase though, he did a great job for me.

I don't think he charges extra for cleat adjustment. There's a small charge if you need wedges under your cleats, which is perhaps what you're thinking about?