Bike Fitting

nutter_bed

Hi

Just wondering if someone could give me an idea of what a reasonable cost for a bike fitting would be please?

Kind regards
Andrew

johnmcsorley

I had my Retul bike fit done here for £150:

http://www.cadenceperformance.com/servi ... e-fitting/

And worth every single penny!

nutter_bed

Thanks for that.
I've enquired about a Retul and a Specialized one but just wondered what sort of price I could expect to pay.

Thanks again

macleod113

I had mine done in Lincoln for £85. it was in his garage but he was a nice chap and i feel really comfy on the bike.

powerup bike fittings if you wanna google?

defycomp2

£130 for a 3hr fit using the Serotta (SICI) method at Ride Plymouth.

drlodge

My bike fit (2 bikes, full shoe/cleat assessment) which took 6 hours cost about £300. And it was worth it. Lunch was included too.

nutter_bed

Thanks for all the info guys, much appreciated.

If anyone has any recommendations around the Yorkshire area, please feel free to let me know

philwint

Also research around the web and see if you can sort your own fit out before parting with a significant sum of money. There is a huge amount of information available online to help you diagnose and resolve any specific issue (I suffered from numb with my first road bike - until i fixed it). Id go that route first.

I've been riding bikes (ok MTBs) fairly seriously for more than a dozen years, and now road bikes for a year. And I've never had a £fit" and am not sure what it would add. When i get a new bike I measure it up against an old one as my default and then fiddle over a number of rides until it feels right.

I have ridden 100 miles in reasonable comfort, don't suffer from any back/neck/knee/foot/etc issues.

So what would I be getting for my money? I may be a cynic - but I do think "snake oil" whenever i see bike fit threads.

StillGoing

A proper fit does far more than the basics gained from the Internet. Mine involved videoing with reference points to trace movement and assess my positioning, pedal action and best power outputs. The adjustments were all designed to ensure I was in the best position to produce my max power output for longer and in far more comfort. The biggest find was that I produced better power with shorter crank arms. Worth every penny.

Gizmodo

Mike Timmis, Cadence Sports, £180 including custom insoles.
http://www.cadencesport.co.uk/bike-fitting/

He also offers a remote bike position analysis £59.99

This is not an online bike fit, a bike fit is still far better getting done 1 to 1 with an experienced fitter, but this is an online video analysis of what I think maybe right or wrong with your position and bike set up. I will give advice on how far out you may be (or how spot on you are!), any equipment changes and set up that may help.
People will be required to take short video clips of them riding a turbo, with side, front and rear views, also of the bike without the rider on it, using either an iPad, iPhone, iTouch or similar. You can use this free app to record an upload clips http://www.ubersense.com
Instructions here cadencesport.blogspot.co.uk Email video cadencesportbikefit@gmail.com .

mrbubbaman

My local charges £200 and its around 4 hrs. My neighbour had it and says it's made a difference. I would love to do it, but I don't want to part with that money just yet

Proff

viewtopic.php?f=40013&t=12921561

This was my experience!

lotus49

philwint wrote:

So what would I be getting for my money? I may be a cynic - but I do think "snake oil" whenever i see bike fit threads.

Written just like a Yorkshireman .

I have to say that I agree. I am suspicious of the whole idea of bike fits and "snake oil" is exactly the phrase that springs to mind.

The one telling aspect is that no-one ever has a bike fit and is told that it actually does fit already. Most people who are prepared to pay for a bike fit are probably fairly serious about cycling already. How come none of these relatively well-informed cyclists ever manages to adjust his or her bicycle properly?

Until I see some evidence that bike fitting is a real thing, my money is staying in my pocket.

StillGoing

lotus49 wrote:

philwint wrote:

So what would I be getting for my money? I may be a cynic - but I do think "snake oil" whenever i see bike fit threads.

Written just like a Yorkshireman .

I have to say that I agree. I am suspicious of the whole idea of bike fits and "snake oil" is exactly the phrase that springs to mind.

The one telling aspect is that no-one ever has a bike fit and is told that it actually does fit already. Most people who are prepared to pay for a bike fit are probably fairly serious about cycling already. How come none of these relatively well-informed cyclists ever manages to adjust his or her bicycle properly?

Until I see some evidence that bike fitting is a real thing, my money is staying in my pocket.

Because without the right kit to analyse your movements it is impossible to measure angles etc. A proper fit will video you with a trace to measure the extremes of all angles and try out various lengths of stem, seat adjustment, crank length etc. A power meter will clearly show if there is any improvement as will the video trace afterwards. Many of the fitters have completed sports physio and muscular skeletal training to be able to tell what is good and what is bad. How many riders and LBS still think being able to stand over the top tube is a good fit? Ignorance of progress in sports science is why some people continue to struggle.

gavbarron

Tiger Frog do an online bike fit for £60 where you film yourself on the turbo and send it to them. They then measure angles etc and send you some adjustments to make to your setup. You then film again and see how it feels. Very simple process and very good from what my friend tells me.
Personally I just did a lot of research on line, setup the bike roughly and then photographed and filmed myself making adjustments as I went. I took measurements for different riding profiles of differing frontal area and them trialled them on the road because the most aero position isn't necessarily the best position for comfort or maximal power output.
If you do go for a private bike fit, make sure you inform them of what you want to achieve and what sort of riding you do, it would be wasted money if you rode mega long audaxes and they set you up low and tight for 1hr crit racing.

giant_man

nutter_bed wrote:

Hi

Just wondering if someone could give me an idea of what a reasonable cost for a bike fitting would be please?

Kind regards
Andrew

You're near to Lancashire, so Paul Hewitt surely. There is none better .....

jgsi

Bike fit is a generational thing... the culture of growing up from the age of 10 and under on bikes does not exist any more unless you are 'lucky' to be born into a cycling family.
If a bike fitter does a competent job , then good although there has been some frankenstein fits highlighted on here before now.
Do we always need a debate on how to spend our money though?

drlodge

lotus49 wrote:

The one telling aspect is that no-one ever has a bike fit and is told that it actually does fit already. Most people who are prepared to pay for a bike fit are probably fairly serious about cycling already. How come none of these relatively well-informed cyclists ever manages to adjust his or her bicycle properly?

Well my bike fitted pretty much perfectly, which is to be expected since it was custom made for me

The alterations to the bike were minimal:
- Seat rasied by about 4mm, that's the same height as the shim added to my left foot. Hence saddle was already at the "best" height given my left leg was shorter than the right.
- Stem changed from 120mm to 110mm, it is a litle more comfy but the 120mm stem wasn't giving me an issue.

That's it! I also had the opportunity to enquire about the best Selle SMP saddle for my needs, and decided to get the Lite 209 as a result. This saddle is a keeper.

Bear in mind the main reason for the bike fit was not to get the bike fitted per se, since I was quite comfortable with the fit, but more to look at the shoe/pedal interface. I had the shim fitted, and wedges to both feet (inside the shoe at the heel area).

philwint

philthy3 wrote:

lotus49 wrote:

philwint wrote:

So what would I be getting for my money? I may be a cynic - but I do think "snake oil" whenever i see bike fit threads.

Written just like a Yorkshireman .

I have to say that I agree. I am suspicious of the whole idea of bike fits and "snake oil" is exactly the phrase that springs to mind.

The one telling aspect is that no-one ever has a bike fit and is told that it actually does fit already. Most people who are prepared to pay for a bike fit are probably fairly serious about cycling already. How come none of these relatively well-informed cyclists ever manages to adjust his or her bicycle properly?

Until I see some evidence that bike fitting is a real thing, my money is staying in my pocket.

Because without the right kit to analyse your movements it is impossible to measure angles etc. A proper fit will video you with a trace to measure the extremes of all angles and try out various lengths of stem, seat adjustment, crank length etc. A power meter will clearly show if there is any improvement as will the video trace afterwards. Many of the fitters have completed sports physio and muscular skeletal training to be able to tell what is good and what is bad. How many riders and LBS still think being able to stand over the top tube is a good fit? Ignorance of progress in sports science is why some people continue to struggle.

I get the whole analysis bit, I just don't think it would make much difference (to me). I'm sure we could run test on the composition of the cup of coffee in front of me. We could look at the number of grains of coffee, the optimum temperature, and agonize over semi, or full fat milk. But back in the real world would it actually make a noticeable difference?

Does my coffee currently taste good - yes.

It's the same with a bike fit i would think. Am I generally comfortable on my bike and can i keep up on the club runs - Yes

So I would get no noticeable improvement from it.

If you are currently making coffee with dried bark and white paint then it could be improved. But most people are not.

drlodge

philwint wrote:

It's the same with a bike fit i would think. Am I generally comfortable on my bike and can i keep up on the club runs - Yes

So I would get no noticeable improvement from it.

I was in this very position - bike fitted fine (it was a custom built frame for me). What made the difference was the physical assessment to my body, and ultimately the fitting of shims/wedges. I then felt more "dialed in" and improved on my PBs. Changes to the bike itself were minimal.

keith57

I think its hilarious that people will think nothing of spending a few £?,000's on a bike and quibble about a few £?00's on tuning the most important bit :-)

lotus49

Keith57 wrote:

I think its hilarious that people will think nothing of spending a few £?,000's on a bike and quibble about a few £?00's on tuning the most important bit :-)

I think you misunderstand why some of us are quibbling. It's not the expense but the value we are questioning.

You only have to read through the threads here to see some horror stories of people paying hundreds of pounds essentially for nothing of value. I am unconvinced that there is much more to bike fitting than there is to astrology. Sometimes the answer may be correct but that could easily be accidental and a lot of the time it seems to be random guessing aided by a dash of intuition. Different fitters come up with inconsistent results and no-one's bike ever fits them properly before they are fitted, which just isn't plausible.

If someone can come up with some empirical evidence that there is an approach to bike fitting that is consistent and produces measurable results I shall consider sticking my hand in my pocket. It may be that such evidence exists - if it does, I'd be very interested to see it.

giant_man

lotus49 wrote:

Keith57 wrote:

I think its hilarious that people will think nothing of spending a few £?,000's on a bike and quibble about a few £?00's on tuning the most important bit :-)

I think you misunderstand why some of us are quibbling. It's not the expense but the value we are questioning.

You only have to read through the threads here to see some horror stories of people paying hundreds of pounds essentially for nothing of value. I am unconvinced that there is much more to bike fitting than there is to astrology. Sometimes the answer may be correct but that could easily be accidental and a lot of the time it seems to be random guessing aided by a dash of intuition. Different fitters come up with inconsistent results and no-one's bike ever fits them properly before they are fitted, which just isn't plausible.

If someone can come up with some empirical evidence that there is an approach to bike fitting that is consistent and produces measurable results I shall consider sticking my hand in my pocket. It may be that such evidence exists - if it does, I'd be very interested to see it.

You have to find a good one, and look upon it as an investment.

carl_p

Interesting thread. Must admit I'm a bit dubious about the whole bike fitting thing. I bet if you went to 10 different fitters you'd get 10 different set ups. If the so called science is correct then surely there can only be one correct fit for you. It's the randomness that puts me off.