Bike Fit - my experience

secretsam

So, I took the plunge and got a bike fit the other day, at my local high end LBS (Spirit Bikes in Aylesbury). It was my Christmas pressie, cool huh?

Talk about value for money! The list of stuff that was changed was as follows:
- Shims under cleats to compensate for differences in leg length (common, apparently)
- New saddle recommended for my fat ar53
- Saddle raised (wait for it) by around 3cm, which shows how wildly out my old set up was
- Bars adjusted and lowered slightly
- cleat position adjusted
- Video taken and position checked with 'ideal'
- General advice and help offered

All in all, money well spent. Went out on the 'new' set up today and knocked 10 mins off my PB for a ride, despite not having ridden properly since before winter...

markhewitt1978

Cost?

plowsie

Not a million miles away from me so could think about going there. What sort of price was it?

kajjal

Its good to ride a well setup bike. Improves performance and reduces injury.

Anonymous

What cleats did they put a shim under, and what pedals are you using?
How did the measure your legs?
How big is the shim? If its the shim you get with a lot of pedals/cleats then I guess we all have one leg longer than the other.

Would you not have noticed your seat need to go up if it was 30mm too low?
How straight is your leg now when at the bottom of pedal stroke?

What saddle do you have now?
What is the difference in cleat position?
What advice did they give?

Mikey23

Had mine done in my home a few weeks ago. A couple of minor adjustments have made a lot of difference. Was previously sceptical

secretsam

Coo, lots of questions

Cost: £120, plus the shims. I use SPDs with MTB-style shoes, Spirit recommended swithching to road pedals - they are a Look specialist - but this would involve more cost! Why was I so far out? Lack of experience and advice, I guess. Measurements taken were alighnment of legs, various positions on bike and then lots of sitting on bike and checking position against a 'standard' and then moving me towards it. Got a new Selle Italia gel saddle, not sure which type. Wide fit, suitable for my "sit bones"

In terms of pedal/cleat position, checked alignment of knees as I rode and leg position and adjusted, including for difference in length of legs.

Shop is based in Aylesbury, BTW.

Anonymous

Well you sound at least £120 happier so money well spent ;-)

Am still a bit intrigued by the shims.
What pedals and shoes do you have?
Are the shoes very stiff?
Are the pedals the type with a platform or just small little stubby things?
How thick are the shims and what did they cost?

secretsam

"Spacers" is probably a better word
Shoes are Spesh MTB and pedals plain old Shimano SPDs - ickle stubby jobbies
The spacers are around 1mm thick (or less) and cost a couple of quid each, IIRC

Anonymous

How many did they put on? A couple?
How did they measure each leg to decide one was a couple of mm longer?

hibster

cycling weekly this week has a small bit on shims for exactly the reason above on one leg being longer than the other
it looks a lot like a plug socket in their pic, just a flat piece of plastic with holes in

andrewjoseph

SecretSam, i'm not trying to criticise, but i am concerned the bike fit was aiming to move you towards an 'ideal ' and not towards what is most efficient or comfortable for you. sounds like they are trying to fit people into a mould.

you may well be more efficiant and comfortable now, at least i hope so. but it does sound like they are coming from the wrong perspective.

secretsam

hibster wrote:

cycling weekly this week has a small bit on shims for exactly the reason above on one leg being longer than the other
it looks a lot like a plug socket in their pic, just a flat piece of plastic with holes in

If you mean like the guide to what is "Live / Neutral / Earth" on a plug, then that's spot on - that's just what they look like, except cleat-shaped.

MartinGT

Got one last year myself, highly recommend it to anyone.

1986sv

Good to see some positive thoughts on your fit. Really thinking it should be my next upgrade.

Sawilson

Brought new bike yesterday at Specialized concept store and got full body fit thrown in. The fit was very thorough and took around two hours, the fitter was very knowledgable and came from sports physiology back ground rather than just being trained to fit. They swapped the saddle for a wider one (lard arse) same spec, no cost. The only extra I had to pay for we're the insoles for my shoes as I high a high arch. They also fitted the cleats for me. Not had chance for a long road test yet, but it feels really good and I would certainly recommend it. They also keep a record of your measurements so if you want any of your other bikes setting up it should take a fraction of the time.

prhymeate

I'm tempted to get one myself. I've only been riding for the last year and a half but would like to get a fit before I buy my next bike. I was chatting to my LBS about them and he was pretty sceptical about the more expensive fits and recommended just getting a cheaper fit ~£80. He seemed to think that a lot of bike fitters had a tendency to set bikes up so that riders were quite upright and wouldn't complain about back pain, rather than finding the optimum fit.
I'm not sure if I should just get a cheap fit or splash out on a more expensive Retul fit. I'd go to Cadence Performance in Crystal Palace for what it's worth.

rafletcher

andrewjoseph wrote:

you may well be more efficiant and comfortable now, at least i hope so. but it does sound like they are coming from the wrong perspective.

Why do you think that? An efficient position is NOT (initially) comfortable for the majority of people. Comfortable isn't necessarily efficient. I currently have a set-up with bars nearly level with saddle. I know that's "wrong" from an efficiency point of view, but I don't care, I have no PB's and I'm a fat old fart and it's comfortable. But if you want to ride "competitively (and I'm guessing anyone shelling out £120 is keen to go faster) then using years of someone elses expertise to get to that point seems sensible. Se also Retul bike fitting services.

As to shims - well that's what they are (or packers). Everyone, without exception, has one leg longer thanthe other, so we should all have shims under our cleats to even them out when on the bike. Most of us also pronate or supinate, so should have wedge shims under cleat or insole to correct that too..

upperoilcan

Going for Retul fit on Tuesday to get my new bike dialled in...

Cant wait.

andrewjoseph

rafletcher wrote:

andrewjoseph wrote:

you may well be more efficiant and comfortable now, at least i hope so. but it does sound like they are coming from the wrong perspective.

Why do you think that? An efficient position is NOT (initially) comfortable for the majority of people. Comfortable isn't necessarily efficient. I currently have a set-up with bars nearly level with saddle. I know that's "wrong" from an efficiency point of view, but I don't care, I have no PB's and I'm a fat old fart and it's comfortable. But if you want to ride "competitively (and I'm guessing anyone shelling out £120 is keen to go faster) then using years of someone elses expertise to get to that point seems sensible. Se also Retul bike fitting services.

..

my wife and i had a retul fit last year, we were both getting pain and discomfort in various places when touring, i. e. 8 hr plus days for a week or two.

the bike fit identified some issues for us both and we are now more comfortable. we may even be faster but that was not the aim. it seems as if the OP might have been adjusted into a typical 'racer' position, which can be faster for the sake of comfort. this might not be better in the long term.

6wheels

upperoilcan wrote:

Going for Retul fit on Tuesday to get my new bike dialled in...

Cant wait.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on after (looks too big) comments on your other thread... it looked good to me.

Saying that, because I have a long torso, I tend to go with frames that may look big(for me) to some.

upperoilcan

Well i have sent the measurments that were taken at the time of purchase to the guy thats doing the fit on Tuesday,he has tapped them into his computer along with the bike make and size and it appears (on paper ) that i have made the right choice due to my body geometry.

If i had of chosen the 51 i would of had to had a stem of 140cm and a stem spacer stack of between 30-40 mm

Neither of which i wanted.

Although both sizes could have been made to fit me.

markhewitt1978

I really need to get a fit, in one moment I'm feeling cramped, the next I'm feeling stretched out, keep feeling my saddle is too low, but if any higher I'd be over stretching my legs..

BrandonA

Kajjal wrote:

Its good to ride a well setup bike. Improves performance and reduces injury.

To me the bike fit is a bit of a catch 22.

I got one FOC when I bought my S-Works. The issue was that they fit you to the bike that they built as part of the custom build. What would have been a better solution would be for them to complete all the body measurements up front so that they can state the best frame size, stem lengths, crank arm lengths etc, rather than you having to tell them what you think you need and then you getting "fitted to the bike". I'm lucky that I think my frame is a good fit so the bike fit really involved positioning the saddle correctly. If the frame was not suited to me there is only so much you can do.

On my other bike trial and error enabled me to determine the best position for the saddle. This came down to comfort and a position I thought maximized my power. I compared measurements with the S-Works and they were pretty similar.

If you have a turbo trainer I'd use this to experiment with. You can change things about and test without leaving your home. There is no "right" setting for a bike so ultimately it comes down to personal preference - Mark Cavendish for example has recently swapped to the smallest sized Venge. He is the same height as me and I'm happy on a larger frame.

nick1972

I had a fit done last friday but not had a chance to get out and ride. I can't wait to see how much difference it'll make.

kajjal

BrandonA wrote:

Kajjal wrote:

Its good to ride a well setup bike. Improves performance and reduces injury.

To me the bike fit is a bit of a catch 22.

I got one FOC when I bought my S-Works. The issue was that they fit you to the bike that they built as part of the custom build. What would have been a better solution would be for them to complete all the body measurements up front so that they can state the best frame size, stem lengths, crank arm lengths etc, rather than you having to tell them what you think you need and then you getting "fitted to the bike". I'm lucky that I think my frame is a good fit so the bike fit really involved positioning the saddle correctly. If the frame was not suited to me there is only so much you can do.

On my other bike trial and error enabled me to determine the best position for the saddle. This came down to comfort and a position I thought maximized my power. I compared measurements with the S-Works and they were pretty similar.

If you have a turbo trainer I'd use this to experiment with. You can change things about and test without leaving your home. There is no "right" setting for a bike so ultimately it comes down to personal preference - Mark Cavendish for example has recently swapped to the smallest sized Venge. He is the same height as me and I'm happy on a larger frame.

It is down to personal preference and how you want to ride your bike. When I first got my road bike it decided to attack me with knee pain, ankle pain, back pain and the saddle didn't want to be left out and was painful after about an hour. My previous mountain bikes didn't do this.

After a bit of research, adjustment and a new saddle I can now ride for hours with no pain or injury. On Sunday I rode for four hours in strong winds and virtually fell of the bike exhausted, again no injuries or problems.

I can understand people's confusion and frustration with road bikes as until you learn how to adjust their setup it is unlikely you will get the best out of them and they can be instruments of torture at worst.

giant_man

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I really need to get a fit, in one moment I'm feeling cramped, the next I'm feeling stretched out, keep feeling my saddle is too low, but if any higher I'd be over stretching my legs..

yeah you do ...

kingstonian

I had a Retul fitting today - I needed the measurements for a custom steel bike soon being made for me. I'm really happy with the final position we settled on.

upperoilcan

Had the Retul fit done yesterday,i gotta say money well spent for me,bike is now set up perfectly for my body as before it was'nt,i have had to have my shoes packed out and all sorts,I also now have a far smoother pedal stroke using the correct muscles.

Most pleasing to me was the fact that the 54" frame i chose was indeed the better fit over the 51 due to my body geometry.

I took the bike out yesterday after the fit and it already feels a lot better and i can feel the difference in the upper leg muscles as according to how i had the bike set up before i was not being at all efficient.

All in all a good experience.

markhewitt1978

How much does it make a difference to the fit given as to what you tell them you want to do? Presumably someone wanting to win road races is going to be given a different fit to someone who wants to do club riding and sportives?

bianchimoon

markhewitt1978 wrote:

How much does it make a difference to the fit given as to what you tell them you want to do? Presumably someone wanting to win road races is going to be given a different fit to someone who wants to do club riding and sportives?

There's a retul bike fit place in newton aycliffe, sportsscience or something similar, he'll fit you to whatever style of riding you want, all computerised/cameras etc, did me for £100 special off he had on for cycling clubs, made an immediate difference to where the power was coming from on my legs, felt a lot better