What should I expect from a bike fitting?

First.Aspect

So, I had a bike fitting a few months ago.

Before I went, I measured my current bike (roughly), so serve as the starting point for the fitting.

We went through the flexibility tests. Then we spent about an hour looking at how cool it was to see the animation of where my joints were etc. Then we spent about another 45 mins radically changing my cleat position to even up the motion of my knees.

And that was it. There were no tests of pedaling under load. No adjustment of the bar height, saddle height, reach etc.

Sadly, the new cleat position caused pain in my ankle - he wasn't supposed to know, although I did emphasise that I use a toe-down style now as a result of the minor injury you can see in my avatar. However, he knew best because power transfer is best with a flat pedaling style, you see. Which is what you need if you haven't raced for 15 years.

So I came away with a load of cleat spacers and adaptors which I can't uses, and my 15 year old riding position.

I wouldn't mind (... well actually I do) but when it came to setting up a custom frame, the guy was just wedded down to the mm to the precise geometry we'd set up, which I only measured in a hurry the night before.

Have I been had?

I mean, my existing position was initially eyeballed by an old Italian bike shop owner, who looked at me when I walked in the shop and said, "eeeeee.....fisty siiixs". It was free. I still have that bike.

pblakeney

Funny that.
Just from the thread title, my initial response was cleat fittings, spacers & shims.

Then I read the post.......

Ties in with what I have heard from others. Waste of money.
When you buy a bike the seller should be able sell you the correct size, including saddle position & stem length/height.

But then you get to buying cheap on the internet.....

meanredspider

I had my done at The Bike Whisperer and it was great.

Physical history questions and what sort of riding I do.
Flexibility etc
Then lots of time on shoes: cleat position, wedges etc
Then onto the bike - shorter stem, slight angle change on bars, slight seat height a fraction up.
Everything noted.

I was very happy and, apart from slightly tight left Achilles at the end of L2E (my first, 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries back-to-back) absolutely no cycling issues since (3 years ago)

andrewc3142

I had the free bike fit at Condor when I bought my Acciaio years ago. It's fairly basic, but it does mean you end up with the right size frame, cranks, stem, bars. Includes all the adjustments you refer to.

Very useful if you are having the bike built up and so can't try out the exact product you want to buy.

Other bikes that I've bought complete I could test and form my own view.

They all fit me perfectly.

Would I use a free fitting session for a bike that's to be made up for me? Definitely.

Would I pay for one of the more fancy fit sessions? Since I have no issues with any of my bikes, no.

Would I pay for it if I was having problems? Quite possibly - people I know have resolved issues this way and go away happy.

Sounds like they didn't do a particularly good session.

First.Aspect

So I was had.

Glossy bike shop in London. Lightweight wheels and Parlees everywhere. They even turned away a young lady with a puncture who knocked on the door. Not at all cool. No riff-raff I suppose.

When the CAD came back, I was aparrently right between a stock 54 and a 55 , so I opted for the 55. I don't like sloping top tubes so I asked for a custom geometry identical to a 55 stock but with a flatter tt. When the revised CAD came back the fitter had changed the length of every tube (except chainstays and down tube) as well as the seat angle. He got rather defensive when I asked why.

He got even more defensive when I aksed for at least some flexibility in the position of the contact points, because his precious CAD wasn't quite the same as the two bikes I have at home. "But this is the fit we came up with." So it added a week or two for the manufacturer to do a CAD which, surprise, was what I'd asked for inthe first place.

Do you want me to bore you with the 2 1/2 month extra delay followed by finding out that they'd sold me an option which hadn't been available for 2 years in the first place? I mean, they sell upwards of 5 frame brands and they can't be expected to know anything about every single one - that would be like 25 things to remember. Nor can they be expected to read emails, can they - particularly since this has to be done whilst on important site visits on a mobile?

To make matters worse, I have now found out that the bike I had originally enquired about actually doesn't have a 2 year wait as claimed. Better margin on another brand perhaps?

Troubling. I think the shop has been set up by some bloke in London with some money but no in depth knowledge about bikes. As soon as you scratch the surface or go beyond being told by his staff what bike you want, it all goes Pete Tong and the whole selling high end bikes lark becomes less of a jolly jape.

Still, I'm having fun now ordering said frame and sourcing all the same parts for about 2/3 the price, which should offset the cost of the fitting if not the wasted summer's riding. I'll just have to get our local bumkins who sell Indy Fabrication and Enigma to build it for me, even though their workshop doesn't have studio lighting and a gloss white floor.

Should this be in "your rants"?

andrewc3142

Afraid it sounds like you were had.

In terms of build-up, it's quite fun doing it yourself. Maybe worth geting the LBS to face and fit the BB if you haven't before and perhaps to fit the headset (if the frame comes without). The rest is easy.

First.Aspect

I've built a bike before. Used to be a shop on the uni campus with the headset press and so on.

I'm less confident setting up Di2 with an inernal battery though. I can probably figure it out but I'd be concerned about rattling if I can't get the jtb box or internal battery set properly. I also don't want to mess up any expensive parts or the frame finish.

itboffin

After loads of knee shoulder and back pain I finally went to the Bike Whisperer that was back in 2008 since then I've not had a single issue from position.

greg66_tri_v2.0

itboffin wrote:

After loads of knee shoulder and back pain I finally went to the Bike Whisperer that was back in 2008 since then I've not had a single issue from position.

Whereas the demon drink, well, that's just had problems lining up for you at your front door and around the block. :twisted:

greg66_tri_v2.0

First Aspect wrote:

So, I had a bike fitting a few months ago.

Before I went, I measured my current bike (roughly), so serve as the starting point for the fitting.

We went through the flexibility tests. Then we spent about an hour looking at how cool it was to see the animation of where my joints were etc. Then we spent about another 45 mins radically changing my cleat position to even up the motion of my knees.

And that was it. There were no tests of pedaling under load. No adjustment of the bar height, saddle height, reach etc.

Sadly, the new cleat position caused pain in my ankle - he wasn't supposed to know, although I did emphasise that I use a toe-down style now as a result of the minor injury you can see in my avatar. However, he knew best because power transfer is best with a flat pedaling style, you see. Which is what you need if you haven't raced for 15 years.

So I came away with a load of cleat spacers and adaptors which I can't uses, and my 15 year old riding position.

I wouldn't mind (... well actually I do) but when it came to setting up a custom frame, the guy was just wedded down to the mm to the precise geometry we'd set up, which I only measured in a hurry the night before.

Have I been had?

I mean, my existing position was initially eyeballed by an old Italian bike shop owner, who looked at me when I walked in the shop and said, "eeeeee.....fisty siiixs". It was free. I still have that bike.

So, without naming names, did this shop have a name containing a letter from the Greek alphabet, or a syllable which is a letter from the English alphabet?

andrewc3142

So, without naming names, did this shop have a name containing a letter from the Greek alphabet, or a syllable which is a letter from the English alphabet?

If it's the one I think you're thinking of, wouldn't touch it. Proper bike shops are slightly chaotic, greasy, cluttered places, not spotless and looking like the reception of a high-end doctor or lawyer.

And no bike shop worth its salt turns away someone with a puncture, or even wanting to use the track pump.

But on the other hand if you're (you not being the original poster) willing to drop £10k or so on a new bike every few months there'll be someone who'll be willing to take your money and will pander to your wish for exclusivity.

Whether it will make you quicker on a shite, wet Sunday in December is another issue, but then you'd probably be at home sipping a recovery drink after your turbo session, reading bios of past greats, like when Coppi whopped the flash guys on his butchers delivery bike ... and missing the point entirely.

DKay

First Aspect wrote:

I've built a bike before. Used to be a shop on the uni campus with the headset press and so on.

I'm less confident setting up Di2 with an inernal battery though. I can probably figure it out but I'd be concerned about rattling if I can't get the jtb box or internal battery set properly. I also don't want to mess up any expensive parts or the frame finish.

In my opinion, fitting and setting up a Di2 groupset is actually easier than mechanical. If you've installed a mechanical system, then you should be able to do a Di2 setup no problem.

First.Aspect

So, without naming names, did this shop have a name containing a letter from the Greek alphabet, or a syllable which is a letter from the English alphabet?

I don't know which one you mean, so no. Nor should I name names really.

But as the guy at the door said, they aren't really that sort of a bike shop. More of a fitting service. Which is fair enough, but decent cyclists help out strangers with punctures at the roadside, so I still don't see why a little common decency couldn't have been applied.

itboffin

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

itboffin wrote:

After loads of knee shoulder and back pain I finally went to the Bike Whisperer that was back in 2008 since then I've not had a single issue from position.

Whereas the demon drink, well, that's just had problems lining up for you at your front door and around the block. :twisted:

You know me too well :oops: