Worth getting fitted?
 

So a question for my fellow Clydes/Athenas...

is it worth getting fitted to the bike even if I am not at the ideal weight and am still losing weight?

Right now I still have some flab/thigh interference and it seems to me that would complicate the fitting.

While your reach may change your seat height and seat position may not. If your stroke and height is off and too far back/forward you could not be using your legs to your benefit.

I'd pay to get the stroke right.

Always worth getting a fitting, imo.

Assuming you have a place you trust and the cost is doable.

A bike fit evolves over time as the rider becomes more flexible among other things. That being said, not being positioned properly on the big can cause a number of injuries, or at least displeasure.

Go for it.

My wife just had a follow up with her bike fitter last night. Is it worth it, absolutely. She is more confident her fit is getting nearer to perfect for her.

Get a bike fit!!

as you ride and lose mass in your bottom you may have to raise the saddle a bit, but a good bike fit can stop cycling from being painful.

If your knees wobble when your ride your bike isn't fit correctly, if you are too stretched out from the buttock to the feet (saddle too high or too far back) and you may have sciatic nerve pain, hamstring pain, or other back pain.

A properly fit bike will also maximize the energy you put out while not making you increase your effort.

I just got a bike fit done again as my fit had changed. For me we raised the saddle and brought it forward, rotated the bars and moved the brifters, adjusted the cleat position on my shoes.

This cost $125.00, but I can now take it back to him for some micro adjustment as needed for little to no cost.

I am actually pretty well fitted to the bike, I have had it for 15 years now, but as I lose weight I can tell I could get flatter on the bike without gut/leg interference.

But trying to get that and not cause other issues (like closing up the hip angle) has me thinking I need to start from scratch and get re-fitted.

YES. Had first fitting just about a month ago and was very worth it. Guy did minor adjustments and could feel more power in pedals immediately. Was very worth it too in the comfort area too. Saddle pain at a minimum after 30 plus miles. Wish i would have done it years ago. Make sure they will do a follow up adjusting as well after a week or so if you feel you need it. That is important.

Yes agree with everyone that says it is worth getting A bike fit.

I need to get A refit this year.As it has been 10+ years and different bike geometry and I moved from A race bike to endurance etc geometry bike.

A basic bike fit was included when I bought my road bikes in the early 2000's.Not sure if that has changed.

rgconner
I'm going to look into fitters around your area sooner or latter.As I spend a lot of time in Auburn not to far from Sac.

:twitchy:my wife is starting to work towards some triathlons... my first thought on bikes when she said that was that we'll have her fitted by a good fitter... thankfully I'm in houston and we have 2 or 3 very high end fitters including one who'll do a prefit and based on that recommend bikes to get... it'll prob end up costing 10-20% of what I'll end up spending on a bike for her (i'm a cheap skate and and a competent mechanic so an older used bike, building up a bike from random parts, or even a bikes direct bike isn't out of the question... at least until she really gets bitten by the bug and I have to buy her a proper "tri bike" :twitchy: (for now we'll go road bikes so she can get some base miles on)

I still want to get myself fit... I have 2 issues... 1st... did I mention I'm a cheap skate?... hell I ride a nearly 35y/o frameset... 2nd... I feel that I've fit myself fairly well and am comfortable... do I really want to mess with that AND pay someone for the effort? lol... when I get a newer bike I'll budget for a proper fit from one of the quality fitters in the area...

I guess I am the lone one who will says: IT DEPENDS. If you communicate well with your body, understand what it is telling you and understand how adjustments of the bike effect you, a fitting will not change the positions of things significantly.

If all of the above do not apply to you, then a fitting may be worthwhile.

oh as for fit... I can say this... in my MTB days I had a bike fairly well dialed in... but after about an hr of riding my back would be killing me... I wasn't in amazing shape so I figured it was just because my core was weak and I had a gut... but at some point I just swapped a 5mm spacer from above to below the stem... that lowered my reach by 2mm and rose the bars about 5mm... that ONE change completely changed my feel on the bike... it was at that point that I started thinking I could do the full 50mile "EPIC" endurance ride our club had out on the trails as a fund raiser every year... (trial riding is MUCH MUCH more taxing than road riding)... note that it took many many rides with minute trial and error adjustments to get to that point of comfort... but I don't know if a proper fit would have gotten me closer quicker or not...

So I mention to my wife I am going to do the fit session and she says "Call (Curtis) Inglis first, see what he says."

Damn, I knew I married her for a reason...

So I call up Curtis, who built the frame, and he asked me a few questions, then made the following suggestion:
"I took all that into account when I built the frame. Put it back the way I designed it: saddle flat, knee over spindle, do a couple of 30+ rides and then let me know how you feel."

So I stuck the original stem back on, with the -15 degree drop and 3CM more of reach than I was using, put the stack back on the original way, reset the saddle and did knee over spindle.
Hip angle was around 40 top of stroke, 110 to 115 bottom of stroke. Arm angle was 120 to 130, depending on where I put my hands.

**** me if that did not fix most of the issues. Went for a short ride and never really felt I was putting weight on the hands. Next door neighbor who is a triathlete was out washing the car and shouted over that my position was damn good, my back was almost totally flat in the hoods.

Still have some gut/thigh interference, I need to lose another inch or two off the waist to fix that.

He still recommended a fit session if I could not get up to a metric century, as the one thing he can't do is account for 15 years of me aging.

Bastard also recommended I do some more core work and stretches. See if I recommend him anymore!

I've been fitted twice. Didn't make a huge difference other than my wallet was lighter. Probably won't ever do it again unless I'm having a major issue on the bike I can't tweak myself.

For me the process resulted in being fitted to a bike that stretched me out too much across the top bar. I decided on my own to drop from a 55 cm Bianchi to a 54 cm steel Miyata. This small change resulted in a massive difference in comfort.

I'd save my money, people should learn to fit themselves on a bike.

My problem with fitting:
1) You pay a lot of money for the fitting. In my case the LBS wants $250.00.

2) Very expensive once you start replacing seats, stems and cranks.

I figure once you are finished with the fitting you are going to spend around $500.00 easy.

Just my thoughts.

I haven't paid a dime. I need the saddle adjusted for height and fore/aft. Added some spacers under the cleat, and rotates my bars. Did the same for my wife. Came when I bought the bikes.

Well, you did pay for it... it was wrapped up in the cost of the bike.

Technically so was mine, which is why it fit right when I put everything back the way the builder designed it.

I still got some minor issues, but I just found out that the bike club I joined has fitting sessions run by a member a couple times a year.
It is not as full blown as a "real" fitting but if you are close he can get you the rest of the way.

Had a fitting just a month ago and thought they were going to try to sell me stuff. Nothing fit me made suggestions and i was out the door with no new stuff. Was great experience abd bike never felt better. Not all bike shops are out to screw a guy. Some shops are honestly good people.

I had a fitting as part of a doctor ordered PT regimen (arthritic knees). I never would have gotten my own fit right. It was the best thing to happen to my cycling.


First thing the therapist/fitter did was to have me walk across the room while watching. "That was weird, do that again."


Two years after this we had a really, really competent (and normally pretty expensive) professional fitter walk through one of our winter training sessions to make suggestions - a friend of the coach. He left little notes for everyone. My note said "?" initially, but then he came back later after watching me for a while and crossed it out and replaced it with a smiley face. Kind of like, "I get it now; you're a mutant."


Normal people can probably get things right themselves with a little knowledge. Some of us are a mystery to science.