Retul fit and want peoples personal experience and reviews?

saampourteymour

OK guys basically i have been having problems with my bike which i can not fix myself, these include (upper back pain which i thought may be the stem so bought a shorter stem and maybe i bought a too shorter stem and began to get lower back pain on top of this i think i am gettin an knee injury due to overuse/ misalignmen i have tried changing my bike around alot. i got upper back pain on my first road bike and i thought maybe was to small it was a 54 so my new bike which i have had for 6 months and ride everyday (done 1800 miles on so far) is a 56 (according to felt fitting chart i should fit a 56 ) so i know its not my body trying to get accustomed to the bike.


to cut the story short i am saving up for a Retul fit and want peoples personal experience and reviews on the place they went in the UNITED KINGDOM only so i can get my moneys worth and the best fit possible i had to sell my tv to get the money so im hoping it will be worth it

i have googled this question numerous time and haven't real got anywere i have looked on the site and see a couple of recoomendation however none which i am satisfied with

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND OPINION AND HELP ME OUT THANKS

SAAM

"It doesn't get easier, you just go faster"
Greg Lemond

kayakerchris

Adrian Timmis Cadence sport
all that needs to be said

Mickyg88

Give up cycling, maybe canooing would rock your boat.... Only in jest.

adam0bmx0

Unless people have had more than one fit at diffferent fitters, it will all be subjective, so they can't say which is the best Retul bike fitter in that sense.

I had one done at Bike Science in Bristol by Andy Sexton.

I had a problem with a ligament that was getting worse and worse, couldn't ride an hour/20 miles without pain.

After trying loads of stiff myself, i.e wedges, insoles, clea position etc, couldn't get comfortable or rid the pain.

Bit the bullet and got a fit, cured! Simple as that, did a hilly 50 miler pain free, a 30 miler then the 100 miler Ride London, not one niggle or any knee pain.

He basically positioned my saddle height and fore/aft into a position I would never of thought of, added two shims to my right leg + 3 wedges, then 2 wedges to my left.

So yes, very happy with my fit and now cycle pain free, it's bliss.

cynicalrider

I had a retul fit done by Richard Melik of Freespeed which is in Chiswick. I was extremely sceptical at first, but have been riding with the changes he made for the past month or so and the diffierence, while slight, is noticeable, particularly in races over 120km.

wiganwarriors

Hi all. Also had a fit with Andy at bike science last weekend after purchasing a bike from there. I believe the fit is only as good as the fitter and there experience and knowledge. To early in the day to give an honest opinion if the Retul system has worked for me. Previous fits were with Adrian at Cadence, his fits are mostly based on his experiences, have to say in all honesty I did not have any negative issues, but got the Retul fit free when I bought the bike. All the data and figures do look impressive with Retul, lets see if they translate to an accurate and comfy riding position, only time will tell.

Good luck

triquin

Without doubt the best money i have ever spent on cycling.

wandsworth

I had a Retul fit recently by Tom at Swift Cycles in Spitalfields in London. They give a free fit when you buy a bike there. I had never had a bike fit before, so have nothing to compare it against. I also had been riding that bike for only a week, and wasn't trying to correct for any specific aches or pains, just to set up a new bike.

I found it very helpful. They measure a lot of variables in your riding. Based on that, and depending on what you are looking for (speed, comfort, etc) they make changes to the bike set-up. In my case, that made my riding position very comfortable and efficient. Some of the changes are fairly obvious, such as changing saddle height and setback, changing height and angle of bars, etc. Some are more subtle, such as putting a small washer on the pedals to make them slightly wider to compensate for wrong leg angle (this combined with slight change in cleat position on shoe).

It is definitely worth doing, as an experienced fitter will be able to interpret the data generated by the system to identify problems that you might not even have been aware of, and to suggest, and then test on the spot, potential fixes.

jamesroberts

It is worthwhile doing IMO.

I had a fit with a local franchise of bikefitting, however they are relying on the measurements/data they have taken and imputed into their software which throws up various "ideal" settings depending on requirements on comfy/performance.

However we had to make further adjustments when I had it done as the saddle height was obviously wrong when riding on the jig - therefore I think whilst it is good to get a base the key importance is to pick someone experience enough to listen to your feedback to adapt it to suit your riding style.

The biggest benefit I found was the proper positioning of cleats on my shoes - before I would often have feet pain/numbness regardless of how loose/tight I had my shoes on anything over 40km. Now that has all disappeared and as a bonus have a more efficient and even pedal stroke.

andrewjoseph

Bikeshed in Hereford.

Helped with some issues, but now have others. Can't tell if the new problems are due to the new fit or not.

Alexvs

I had a bike fit at Velomotion in Milton Keynes when I had my Specialized Secteur which was a relaxed riding geometry and I was having lower and upper back, shoulders and knee pain. The pain in the back was more fatigue based I think as only came in after some time and was found to be due to having an upright and rounded back position. This was fixed easily by lowering and extending the front end and then the knee pain was reduced by moving the saddle back and leveling it out. I had 2 visits in total as the first was limited by the bike having a large zero headset spacer (bottom one) so had to go and find a smaller replacement. When I got hold of one I went back and also ended up getting a longer stem after finding that helped things even more.

The experience of the fitter is key with helping and with Velomotion the fitter was a trained physio so the pre flexibility test wasn't just a case of doing it for the sake of it as he picked out areas I could improve through simple stretching. Also the understanding and attention to detail was spot on as literally noticed a sensor that wasn't sat right by millimeters so removed and replaced. Placing the sensors requires more understanding than I thought and surprised me at how accurate you need to be.

Anyway that bike got stolen a month later so I now have a new bike and will be getting a second bike fit but at the shop I bought it from due to negotiating it within the sale. This is on Tuesday so I'll be able to give an opinion on how the processes of both differ and if this one helps as much as I'm not suffering the same as I did on the last bike so things are already better but just need a few tweaks to help with my back and hands.

bus_ter

Alexvs wrote:

I had a bike fit at Velomotion in Milton Keynes when I had my Specialized Secteur which was a relaxed riding geometry and I was having lower and upper back, shoulders and knee pain. The pain in the back was more fatigue based I think as only came in after some time and was found to be due to having an upright and rounded back position. This was fixed easily by lowering and extending the front end.

This interests me as I've had back and shoulder pain and the solution usually suggested is a shorter stem and higher handlebars to give an even more upright position. You've done exactly the opposite!

Rodrego Hernandez

Retul / Bikefitting.com / specialized BG fit / other methods are all well and good to get a beginning point. It is then that the experienced eye such as the aforementioned Adrian Timmis come into their own.

Bike fitting is something that is difficult to get right but easy to get wrong. Relying on a computer without an experienced eye to assist is only going to help so far.

supermurph09

I really think that Bike Radar or British Cycling should do an independant test of bike fitters. Perhaps send a relative newcomer around 10 fitters and see what the findings are. I've had two fittings by the same person and been happy with things, after initial discomfort Andy at Bike Science in Derby got me much happier on the bike. Its not cheap (cheaper 2nd time around) but if you are going to spend alot of time in the saddle its worth doing.

Alexvs

bus_ter wrote:

Alexvs wrote:

I had a bike fit at Velomotion in Milton Keynes when I had my Specialized Secteur which was a relaxed riding geometry and I was having lower and upper back, shoulders and knee pain. The pain in the back was more fatigue based I think as only came in after some time and was found to be due to having an upright and rounded back position. This was fixed easily by lowering and extending the front end.

This interests me as I've had back and shoulder pain and the solution usually suggested is a shorter stem and higher handlebars to give an even more upright position. You've done exactly the opposite!

I like to be different Seriously though, looking at my position before my back angle was over 50 degrees from hip to shoulder and the bottom of my back was rounded. The only way to cure this was to extend that distance resulting in a 45 degree angle (I believe) and a flatter back. The angle of your back is all dependent on the geometry of the bike (I couldn't have reduced this any further even if I wanted to) and style of your riding you're aiming for. Apparently racing styles will be anywhere between 35 - 45. With the shoulders, having a short stem resulted in having quite pushed back shoulder blades and by pushing this out gave me a more even position here too as I no longer sit chest forward and am more even throughout. It's obviously all personal but it worked for me.

nawty

Garth at Vankru in Southampton.

My only bike fit so I've nothing to compare it to but I think he is the only Retul Master Fitter in the UK and I am very happy with the whole experience.

FWIW, I don't think just using a methodology of averages is necessarily going to get you to the best fit, the fitter plays a bigger part and Garth was very knowledgeable.