Bike Fit Cardiff- Bike Shop vs Physio?

sasolshares

Over the last year I fine tuned my bike fit and got it spot on. Having recently got a 2nd bike, I applied the same measurements and compensated for a slightly larger frame size with a shorter stem. However something's not right with the front end as I come away from 16- 20 mile rides with sore stiff shoulders. I'm reluctant to go shorter than the 80mm stem on the bike so time for a pro bike fit I think.

Choice is between Cyclopaedia Cardiff or other LBS whose fitters you would hope are keen cyclists, or a bike fitting service offered by Spire Hospital's Physic team. Costs are comparable, you either get a bike expert or a body expert (I think there may be a Bristol LBS whose fitter is also a physio). Can anyone recommend a good bike fit in the Newport- Cardiff area or advise on the physio option?

alh14

I'm currently seeing the physio at BW cycling in Bristol, he is very good but he doesn't do the bikefits but works in conjunction with the bike fitter instead, I would recommend James as a good physio though !

JesseD

Guys in Cyclopedia are all very knowledgeable, they are all active riders/racers as well so I would have thought they would be able to get you spot in position wise.

sasolshares

Great, thank you. I will give Cyclopaedia a go and report back!

sasolshares

Had my fitting at Cyclopaedia- disappointing and so not what I expected, not a pleasant experience. The fit consisted of a minimal verbal interaction assessment of my flexibility and body & proportion measurements which were then entered into a computer. This provided 'optimum' settings which were then applied to my bike, in a busy storefront. Cyclopaedia's approach is a bit academic, take some measurements, software provides the bike settings but no analysis of the cyclist's actual position on the bike. As it turned out my saddle needed moveing forward and the fitter said everything else was spot on. To be fair he took a lot of care with the fore-aft saddle setting. I was then asked to get on the bike and asked "does that feel comfortable"? Throughout this process I kept wondering whether this was all pre- setting and at what point I would get on a fitting jig or my bike would be placed on a turbo trainer to assess my position and interaction with the bike. That never happened but by this stage I was embarrassed to ask lest the same fitter try to charge me for a full fitting (which is what I thought I had booked for).

I was charged for a basic fit but wondered afterwards whether the outcome would have been any different if I had a more sophisticated fit at 3x the price. There are basically only about 4 parameters that can be adjusted on a bike (saddle height, fore/ aft, handlebar height/ reach & cleats) so as only one change was made to my bike, a more expensive fit may have been overkill. So is my bike optimally set up? It's more comfortable but I have fine tuned the saddle angle since the fit. For s Wales cyclists I suggest going elsewhere for a fit. If I was to do this again I would use Spire Hospital's cycle fitting service.

JesseD

sasolshares - Sorry to hear that and TBH I am a little surprised as I have always found them to be very good and knowledgeable, sorry for recommending them now.

imposter2.0

JesseD wrote:

sasolshares - Sorry to hear that and TBH I am a little surprised as I have always found them to be very good and knowledgeable, sorry for recommending them now.

There's no evidence that they did not provide the 'bike fit' service that was asked for though. The OP already said he was now more comfortable as a result. He will never know if he could be more comfortable unless he goes elsewhere for a different fit. But that's all he will get - a different fit. The cyclopaedia guys know what they are doing, but it doesn't sound like the OP knows what he really wants.

svetty

sasolshares wrote:

If I was to do this again I would use Spire Hospital's cycle fitting service.

So you have seen them and are thus in a position to determine how good they are?

stretchy

Is the judgement based on how many things the fitter changed?

JesseD

Imposter wrote:

JesseD wrote:

sasolshares - Sorry to hear that and TBH I am a little surprised as I have always found them to be very good and knowledgeable, sorry for recommending them now.

There's no evidence that they did not provide the 'bike fit' service that was asked for though. The OP already said he was now more comfortable as a result. He will never know if he could be more comfortable unless he goes elsewhere for a different fit. But that's all he will get - a different fit. The cyclopaedia guys know what they are doing, but it doesn't sound like the OP knows what he really wants.

I was thinking more about the service side of things as previously I have found them to be very welcoming and as they all are racers/ex-racers/riders they are happy to chat about all aspects of bike related stuff. My comment definitely wasn't a slight against them, just surprised to be honest, but my expectations of service will be different to the next man's.

sasolshares

stretchy wrote:

Is the judgement based on how many things the fitter changed?

Not at all which is why I surmised that a more comprehensive fit may also have resulted in just one change. Or maybe not as an on-bike analysis might have thrown up other postural issues rather than relying on a one size fits all algorithm. At the end of the day the service you get depends on the individual you deal with rather than the business.