Bike Fitting

Kieran_Burns

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

£185??? :shock:

Is it worth it?

I may well be cycling PAST this shop over the weekend, so it's really not far from me

kelsen

It depends a lot on the person doing the fitting and the system used, but you will usually come away with little tweaks that can make a big difference if you do a lot of riding. You also get an idea of how well any bike you sit on fits you going forward. I paid £150 for a RETUL fitting and would say it was worth it in the long run.

essex-commuter

I had a RETUL and the only thing they did was move my saddle forward 4mm. Luckily my company paid for the fit otherwise I would have been a bit peeved.

Saying that, if you have issues that you feel might be fuelled by the position on your bike it may well be worth it. I stayed and watched the guy after me having it done. Both his cleats were wonky and too far forward, his saddle was 10mm too low and his handlebars were not straight and they were too low...I think it was worthwhile for him.

dhope

essex-commuter wrote:

I had a RETUL and the only thing they did was move my saddle forward 4mm. Luckily my company paid for the fit otherwise I would have been a bit peeved.

Saying that, if you have issues that you feel might be fuelled by the position on your bike it may well be worth it. I stayed and watched the guy after me having it done. Both his cleats were wonky and too far forward, his saddle was 10mm too low and his handlebars were not straight and they were too low...I think it was worthwhile for him.

Had a RETUL and only thing they did was drop one 5mm spacer. Similarly underwhelmed.
I'll get a fit before I buy the next bike though, likely Bike Whisperer as I've heard only good things.

essex-commuter

dhope wrote:

likely Bike Whisperer as I've heard only good things.

+1

Kieran_Burns

It's all about my right knee issues. Anything above 50 miles starts hurting and going over 60 is really painful. Over 70 and it's basically agony

hegyestomi

You could always roll in and ask for a quick "review": they probably put you on a turbo for a few minutes you can assess how good they are and if you want to get it done there.

meanredspider

essex-commuter wrote:

dhope wrote:

likely Bike Whisperer as I've heard only good things.

+1

I had mine done there - 4 hours - excellent. Learned that I'm exceptionally flexible for someone of my age and gender Loads of work on shoes, cleats and wedges. Stem up and shortened, saddle up slightly, bars angle altered. Also learned that my spine curves slightly (not massively uncommon) and one leg is longer than the other (quite common).

Highly recommended. You have to book early though (I think they squeezed me in with 6 weeks notice...)

Wrath Rob

meanredspider wrote:

essex-commuter wrote:

dhope wrote:

likely Bike Whisperer as I've heard only good things.

+1

I had mine done there - 4 hours - excellent. Learned that I'm exceptionally flexible for someone of my age and gender Loads of work on shoes, cleats and wedges. Stem up and shortened, saddle up slightly, bars angle altered. Also learned that my spine curves slightly (not massively uncommon) and one leg is longer than the other (quite common).

Highly recommended. You have to book early though (I think they squeezed me in with 6 weeks notice...)

+1, a very similar story for me too. Scherrit is great and very thorough. My problem now though is that with N+1 having taken full effect I've got to change my bike fit on the Fuji to something more racy, correct the fit on the Qoroz as its not quite right, and then get the TT bike dialed in properly as its currently painful to ride as well as being not very aero. Money, money, money....

spasypaddy

bike whisperer is excellent HOWEVER i remember when he was reasonably priced which is why i went there. hes now doubles his price from when i saw him so im not sure i'd go back.

when i had my TT fit done a few months ago i actually went somewhere else rather than wait 2months to see scherritt and it was much cheaper and i was given stretching plans to get more flexible. This was with Le Beau Velo who i went to after a recommendation from a clubmate.

Ian.B

This is worth a look:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/video/2013/jul/10/how-to-set-up-bicycle-pro-video

pinarello_fan

Kieran_Burns wrote:

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

£185??? :shock:

Is it worth it?

I may well be cycling PAST this shop over the weekend, so it's really not far from me

You might be cycling past, but you'll not get a bike fit for several months I expect. I had a bike fit from Adrian a few years ago before he had his shop and he is excellent - I got some foot beds too which made a big difference. The fact that he's so busy demonstrates how good he is.

Kieran_Burns

I meant that it was fairly local so not a problem to get to it, not that I was expecting a walk in booking

beancounter

essex-commuter wrote:

I had a RETUL and the only thing they did was move my saddle forward 4mm. Luckily my company paid for the fit otherwise I would have been a bit peeved.

So, either by luck or judgement you found that your bike was already almost perfectly set up for you.

What, then, would you have liked the retul fitter to do for you?

bc

meanredspider

spasypaddy wrote:

bike whisperer is excellent HOWEVER i remember when he was reasonably priced which is why i went there. hes now doubles his price from when i saw him so im not sure i'd go back.

I don't think you can blame him for charging more given the waiting list. I know I was a bit shocked (almost peeved) when the waiting list was so long as I needed the fit for Malin 2 Mizen. To give them their due, they called me back a few minutes later to say that they'd found a slot by shuffling some stuff around. I think I'd put my prices up even more if I were them.

supersonic

Call me a cynic (;-)), but do you think if you went to one fitter, then another, that the 2nd would say it was spot on and needed no adjustment whatsoever?

meanredspider

supersonic wrote:

Call me a cynic (;-)), but do you think if you went to one fitter, then another, that the 2nd would say it was spot on and needed no adjustment whatsoever?

Cynic

greg66_tri_v2.0

Fitting is as much an art/philosophy as a science. There are positional "styles" that fitters can adhere to, so you can easily get two different positions from two equally skilled fitters.

If you are comfortable on your bike, feel powerful, and don't suffer ride induced chronic pain/aches, I'm not sure why you'd want a bike fit. If you were to get one, I'd (personally) hope that the fitter made little or no adjustment to your position.

I've sorted my fit incrementally over quite a few years (those Penny Farthings were a real bugger if you wanted a low front end). IMO, it's all about your three contact points: feet, bum and hands.

You start from the ground. Stand up, lift your heels slightly off the ground. The part of your foot that feels like it is taking your weight should be *right* over the pedal spindle.

For saddle height I find the best starting point is the Lemond method Some people may tweak around it; for me it's bang on.

Cockpit is the biggest variable as you most variables: lower back flexibility, core strength, limb length, neck strength, and so on. One way I found useful was to set up on a turbo, close my eyes and try to let my hands find where they went to most comfortably. That's probably the best starting point - add/subtract spacers/stem to get there. As time goes on and flexibility changes, re-adjust as necessary. Certainly the front end set up of my bikes is what's changed most over the years.

Obv starting with a frame that's the right size is a good idea, but in general I'd say one size too small is easier to work with than one size too large.

spasypaddy

meanredspider wrote:

spasypaddy wrote:

bike whisperer is excellent HOWEVER i remember when he was reasonably priced which is why i went there. hes now doubles his price from when i saw him so im not sure i'd go back.

I don't think you can blame him for charging more given the waiting list. I know I was a bit shocked (almost peeved) when the waiting list was so long as I needed the fit for Malin 2 Mizen. To give them their due, they called me back a few minutes later to say that they'd found a slot by shuffling some stuff around. I think I'd put my prices up even more if I were them.

no he upped his prices after he had a class with steve hogg. however i wont say a bad word against him as it really is a fantastic service. just there are other services now that a lot of people are recommending that are substantially cheaper.

desweller

Cadence Sport is pretty good. It doesn't help that I'm close to being the least supple man on the earth, but he made my cycling more-or-less instantly pain-free when I was having a lot of trouble with my lower back.

He'll give you your numbers so you will be able to reproduce your fitted setup at home; very handy for me as I had my fit done on my road bike and was able to copy it across to my touring bike pretty effectively.

For reference, I ride short commutes during the week and middle-length (up to 100 miles or so) jaunts on Sundays or Saturdays.

leeefm

Just to chime in, I had a Body Geometry bike fit session done at Sigma Sports and didn't really rate it. I went with slight knee & hip issues and the fit didn't really relieve any of my symptoms. To be fair, they're not physios, so it is difficult for a bike fitter to potentially cure a problem through fit alone, so it might be advisable to get a fit done somewhere that offers physio/biomechanical analysis services as well. I'm looking for somewhere that can measure me up for a frame build.

meanredspider

leeefm wrote:

Just to chime in, I had a Body Geometry bike fit session done at Sigma Sports and didn't really rate it. I went with slight knee & hip issues and the fit didn't really relieve any of my symptoms. To be fair, they're not physios, so it is difficult for a bike fitter to potentially cure a problem through fit alone, so it might be advisable to get a fit done somewhere that offers physio/biomechanical analysis services as well. I'm looking for somewhere that can measure me up for a frame build.

This is where I found the Bike Whisperer so good - spent a good 1/3rd to 1/2 of the time checking me out before we went anywhere near the kit. Did London to Edinburgh (my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries back-to-back) and a tight Achilles was all I had by the end (as did a large number of the riders) - so I'm pretty confident that the bike/shoe fit is good. I also like the fact that you can contact them any time afterwards to ask questions and they respond very quickly.

wytco0

I had a fitting after I bought my bike and I am really pleased that I did, my bike is now far more comfortable and its completely resolved 2 problems I was having. I will be going back for more tweaks when I have some decent endurance.

Kieran_Burns

Just to add: my replacement cleats (9 degree float) have really helped. Knee is a little tight but nothing like as bad as it has been

hegyestomi

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Just to add: my replacement cleats (9 degree float) have really helped. Knee is a little tight but nothing like as bad as it has been

Maybe you could try some speedplays: lots of people think that they are great is you have knee issues.

First.Aspect

There seems to be a presumption that if you start to hurt on a bike, your position is wrong. In my experience, unless you regularly spend 4 or 5 hours in the saddle, spending 4 or 5 hours in the saddle will hurt one way or another. No amount of bike fitting will help that.

I'm a believer in getting it close (which you probably already are) and then refining it yourself. If you are unfomfortable, go cycling with a set of allen keys. Tweak the position as you ride. That way your muscles are all as tight/tense as they are when you are cycling and you get an immediate sense of the effects of the changes. Not the case in a shop.

BigLights

I'm a total believer in getting the bike fitted. I had my roadbike done and it was a revelation - I can now sit on that thing all day long in total comfort...in fact, I would say it's more comfortable than sitting in an airline seat - given the choice I'd rather gently cycle on the plane, than sit! Plus, I have 2 crushed discs in my back so it needed to be spot on.

Also got my commuter set up (after 4 years of using it) recently, at Velosport in Putney, and it has changed that experience too. I would consider it money very well spent as roadbike riders are particularly susceptible to RSI issues given how locked in you are to the bike.

Coach H

All you need to know about Cadence Sport fitting can be gathered with a quick search in Road - Buying Advice

My experience was great but I only paid £100 back when Ada did it in his house