Bike fitting needed for beginner?

Ddman1052

I am newbie to biking and in the market for a endurance road bike. Is a professional bike fitting required? I have located a good bike fitter(not LBS) charging me about $300 for a bike fitting. Is this an overkill for me?

Thanks

kajjal

I would ride the bike for a while to see what you think. At a basic level the only changes you can make to a bike are the saddle and bar position. You can set the saddle yourself which will then give you an idea if you want the bars in a different position.

84im

My two road bikes are kinda sorted, but I've wanted to have the fit fine-tuned, so I'm going in to a bike fitter on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes.

doogan

I got a bike fitting a few months after buying my first road bike to give me confidence it was correct more than anything else. I didn't want to injure myself.

It turned out I was in pretty good shape already through using online help tutorials. It's still worth it though for a relatively low investment.

Santroy79

doogan wrote:

I got a bike fitting a few months after buying my first road bike to give me confidence it was correct more than anything else. I didn't want to injure myself.

It turned out I was in pretty good shape already through using online help tutorials. It's still worth it though for a relatively low investment.

"using online help tutorials" - Do you have a link?

OnTheRopes

Ddman1052 wrote:

I am newbie to biking and in the market for a endurance road bike. Is a professional bike fitting required? I have located a good bike fitter(not LBS) charging me about $300 for a bike fitting. Is this an overkill for me?

Thanks

At this stage I would not pay $300 for a bike fit tbh. If you have a reputable local bike shop with a good reputation they should be able to size you up and give you a reasonable fit to begin with, in fact before you part with any dosh I should make sure that this is what you will get.
You can also research how to measure yourself to do your own bike fit and get pretty close.

Once you have been riding for a while then a bike fit will probably be of more value. Of course if the $300 isn't an issue then why not?

StillGoing

A LBS is only as good as the staff in it. Some can't even get basic sizing right. When I was new to cycling, twice I ended up with frames too big for me after advice from shop staff. After a bike fitting with Mike at Bike Dynamics, I fortunately know my sizing and sort myself out when buying these days. Mike has an online guide for DIY fitting.

http://bikedynamics.co.uk/shop.htm

First.Aspect

Yes, you need a whole team of trained experts to sell anyone a bicycle. I know all of the medical history questions, motion capture and wind tunnel work seems a bit of a faff, but you only need to do it annually.

simon_masterson

You can if you want, but a bike fitter will look at what you do now when fitting you to your bike, so you might find it more useful when you have spent more time riding it. With that said, unless you have injuries/anatomical issues etc that complicate things, you should be able to get yourself basically comfortable on a bike yourself, using guides in books, magazines, online, etc.

froze

YES IT'S AN OVERKILL!! you should first attempt to do the fitting yourself by following the advice given by these websites:

https://blog.bikefit.com/how-to-fit-a-road-bicycle/

https://cyclingtips.com/2010/04/science ... e-fitting/

https://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/art ... ght-14608/

https://www.bicycling.com/skills-tips/a ... 0b7b7ea6ae

Now look I'm not going to lie to you, it will take longer following the guidelines I posted for you then going down to a fitter, but it's far cheaper and 98% of the time you will dial your fit in and be perfectly fine with the results, but it may take a 2 to 3 months of trial and error to get it that way. If after you tried it yourself and your still not comfortable (you can also google what is uncomfortable and read sites how to correct it, like numbing sensation in the hands, or pain between the shoulder blades, etc) then you can take your bike to a fitter and spend money like water...why did I say like water? Because they will try to sell you all sorts of stuff to get to the comfort they feel is best for you, but there is a possibility too that some of the stuff they will sell you may not be necessary but you won't know it and just buy it. So make sure you ask around to other riders who they recommend before just jumping to some bike shop.

MOST, not all, but most bike fitters are snot nose kids, usually younger than 25, who were trained by the owner of the store to be a "professional" fitter, but what they really are is more closely aligned with parts replacement sales people, because there is big profit in parts so it behoves the bike shop to sell you parts and whatever clothing they deem necessary; may cost you $300 for the fitting but you may walk out of there having paid an additional $500 for parts and clothing!!

Personally I think $300 is really high, the highest costing fitter we have in town is $200. And there are different levels of fittings depending on who trained the fitter, most bike shops are simple level one fitters, but there are 3 other levels! with each increasing level the price goes up, and they should have accreditation to prove whatever level they claim they are. A lot of bike shops rarely get to level 3 not alone 4 because most people trained to do fittings (or even mechanical work) leave the industry to pursue better paying careers in other fields. So make sure you get a recommended shop and check out their fitting certification, the smaller the town you live in the less likely you find anyone that is good, even in big cities there may be only one level 3 fitter, where I live in a town of 250,000 we only have one level 2 fitter and no one beyond that. Newer fit devices use led marker lights placed at key anatomical landmarks on your body, and then they use a motion capture camera, all fed into a computer, and get a 3d image from all of that as you pedal, and then adjust the fit of the bike according to what is shown, this sort of complexity, which is a level 3 fitting, is not necessary for the average rider, it's great for local racer or if you have some sort of odd body thing going on, but really not necessary, that sort of fitting I can't find locally, but a major city about 2 hours from me has it but it cost $300 plus whatever parts they recommend to get me there. So you see, unless their using the expensive equipment I just mentioned the $300 from that place you mentioned is a ripoff!

On that note, I know a guy who got a "pro" fit done at the place in town that charges $200, they did the fitting plus charged him for new shoes and pedals for a cost of $350; he rode the bike for a month but was still uncomfortable, so he goes back, for free they rechecked his fitting, and sold him a new crankset for $450; he rode for another month, so he goes back and the recheck and decide he needed a new seat and stem for another $275; he was still uncomfortable so he complained to the owner saying they can't fit him properly and wanted the money back from the fitting, couldn't get the money back on the parts because he used them, they said no because they guaranteed the fitting by giving him a free refit each time he came back. So my friend spent a lot of money and wasn't better off then he was before his first fitting in fact he claims he was worse off!! So this is why I suggest you first try to fit yourself so you don't run into a financial pit from which there is no return.

Also whenever you make an adjustment in a position, it will require about a month to see if your body likes the new position, a change at first might be uncomfortable but after riding a bit it may settle into something you really like.

imposter2.0

froze wrote:

Also whenever you make an adjustment in a position, it will require about a month to see if your body likes the new position, a change at first might be uncomfortable but after riding a bit it may settle into something you really like.

Presumably you have to actually ride your bike during that 'month'..?? A better measure would be 'hours' (ie time in the saddle), I would have thought...

Moonbiker

You need a bike fit if your a dentist or IT manager who plays golf and wears rapha kit but lacks common sense.

Wayne Plunger

Moonbiker wrote:

You need a bike fit if your a dentist or IT manager who plays golf and wears rapha kit but lacks common sense.

With what my dentist charges trust me he can afford many bike fits whether he needs them or not!!!