12strings

Background: began serious cycling last spring, purchased road bike this past summer, never have gotten a bike fit. I've tweaked things along the way, and have done lots of 2 hour rides without much discomfort no real pain...I just always felt it could be better. Still using the stock saddle also, and feel like a better saddle at help a lot.

If you were in my shoes, and planned to spend about $150 to spend this spring on cycling, would you go for your first real bike fit (with a locally recommended fitter /mechanic that friends speak highly of) or just keep figuring things out yourself, try a new saddle, and maybe try a different length stem?

I'm hesitant because the fit may point me to get those items anyway...so that would be even more money...but it might mean making more intellegent choices.

bruce19

Often a fitting results in a new saddle, stem, etc. Just sayin

12strings

That exactly my point...

PepeM

Do you know you need a new stem? Are you having any issues with your saddle?

sheltonlp

Have you followed the many good videos on Youtube about bike fitting? I know they are not a replacement for an experienced 1:1 fitter but they may help you get even closer to good positioning. Personally I think the saddle is very important so I would look at upgrading that if you are going to get into longer rides. You only plan on spending $150 on cycling for the whole spring? I wish my desire for better gear would be that controlled :-)

PepeM

What is the point of replacing a saddle that is not giving you any trouble?

sheltonlp

He mentioned he thought a new saddle would "help a lot".

fried bake

the fitter may not have any recommendation on the saddle given that you have no discomfort. stem is a possibility however. a proper fit is a great idea. you may find it beneficial in increase in power/comfort over longer distances, etc, etc.

ypsetihw

ok, just my story, but here goes: I bought my first serious road bike last august after going through a mess of bikes that didn't fit me. I learned to do my own sizing and fit and bought something really close. the saddle was horrible, but that was the saddles fault, not the fit. a small adjustment to the bars and some home made measurements on saddle height and watching some video of myself riding on the trainer dialed it better than they do at the shop. I am VERY comfortable on my bike, and even my serious cycling friends who race regularly have commented that "I look very comfortable on the bike."

I have a cycling buddy who is retired and has money to burn and buys LITERALLY EVERYTHING from our LBS, even if he doesn't think he needs it. They charged him $50 to adjust his disc brakes, and they still dragged and squeaked. Seriously. His bike fit cost him $120, and after 2 hours on a test rig, they told him "it fit great" and changed nothing. I would literally kill a 3itch if that happened. total waste of time and money. he got a fit because they said he should, he wasn't even uncomfortable. ridiculous if you ask me.

have someone take some video or pictures of you riding from the side, take a look at the angles of your back, hips, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. if you can get some video from behind you can see if your hips are rocking, if you can't tell yourself. honestly, this stuff isn't rocket science. the prices high-end LBSs charge for this stuff is unjustifiable in my opinion, and I think you can get pretty darn close by yourself.

if you are not technically, mechanically, or kinesthetically inclined, then stop riding a bike lol

ypsetihw

also, best advice I ever got was "ride a century, then you'll know what's comfortable"

I did, and I found out lol. 7 hours in the saddle with answer a lot of questions about what is comfortable or not.

seriously though, if you don't have knee pain, back pain, or wrist pain, and you feel comfortable and you are in a position which is agreeable to the level of aerodynamics you are trying to achieve, then why burn $150? buy some better tires, or new kit, or some fizik or lizard skinz bar tape instead, or lots of post ride beers for the bike fitter, and then he'll check your fit for free

RollCNY

A 2 hour ride should generally have no discomfort and no pain, real or imagined. Your own description suggests there are some things to work on. Personally, "bike fit" is a crap shoot, and I've seen worthless ones and I have seen beneficial ones. Unfortunately, they are the very definition of YMMV.

Drew Eckhardt 

Comfort at the time isn't everything - I was plenty comfortable through 134 miles, although a few weeks later my knee started acting up.

Some how I lost an inch of saddle height over the last few years starting with lemond's .883 formula, and the professional opinion was I could use another inch beyond that.

My position also deteriorated with my flexibility over the last 20 years, although watching a video I should have been able to straighten that out myself.

ypsetihw

funny you should say that right now. I literally installed my new saddle and bar tape yesterday, went for a short test ride, and dropped the saddle height a few mm after thinking I felt my hips sway and watching some video of myself. btw I had no pain whatsoever in 1200 or so miles on the old saddle and position including a century and 2 metrics. even that small change and I IMMEDIATELY had knee pain above the patella. it's amazing to me how just a few mm here and there can totally change your body's response to riding and your position on the bike.

12strings

1. I HAVE looked at lots of YouTube and online info on fitting, and made adjustments as I saw fit...I feel like I can tell now if an adjustment makes things better or worse...I've mostly just moved the saddle around, since I haven't tried any different stem lengths.

2. I have 2 saddles: the stock touring style saddle, which has thicker padding, but seems to make the "front" uncomfortable when I get low, or roll my hips forward like "they" say to do, and it seems like it might be too narrow for my sit bones..And another saddle that seems to be the right shape, but is very hard, and hurts my sit bones but no where else...

oldbobcat

If you know what you're after, you know your body proportions, and you're good at listening to your body, you can probably figure most of it out. Over years of cycling I've had three professional fits. The changes from the first were quite minimal, the second was reversed after riding home into a headwind, and the third, a full Retul workup, didn't change a thing.

unionmade

I got a proper fitting after about 6 months on my road bike. The fitting was done by a guy who also coaches a local college team. I had gotten the fit pretty good myself (he did not change saddle height or position), but the fitting was very helpful for all of the riding tips he gave me. He really improved my posture on the bike, and my foot positioning. After the fitting I had less back pain, and intermittent foot pain I was experiencing was eliminated.
He did swap out my stem for a 10mm longer one. He just swapped it out, kept the old one, no charge (both alu FSA stems).
So, I'd recommend a fitting, given that you have recommendations for the fitter.

cyclebycle13

There are fitters and then there are fitters. I went for a retul fitting years ago and it was awful. Not the system, the fitter. He had me change all kinds of equipment and it did nothing. He didn't listen to my issues and he missed just about everything. A couple of years later I went to a different fitter-- did a lot more research and talked to some people and it worked wonders-- only minor tweaks, no equipment changes except for his pointing out a leg length discrepancy and putting a 3 mm shim under the shorter leg and adjusting the cleats accordingly. Worked great for about 6 mos. But, fitters are not doctors, physical therapists, etc and things got bad the next year. I went back and we tried all sorts of things. Turned out I had a lateral bulge at L4/L5 causing many of my issues, but (even with that) I felt as if I was "twisted" when on the saddle.

When I started PT for my back it turned out my leg length issue was functional and not structural. Therapist was able to get my legs level and I had to ditch the shims.

The herniated disc turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Going for PT (and finding a really good, experienced therapist) allowed them to figure out all the crazy issues I was having w/ my muscular system. I now have a whole stretching routine that keeps me level, keeps my hips and core flexible and keeps me pain free.

The fitters have their place, but be careful, especially if they find you have different length legs (and you never had any truama).

Incidentally, HSS (hospital for special surgeries) in Manhattan has started a bike fit program. I have no idea what the cost is, but if I was to go for another fitting that's about the only place I'd consider going.

Lazyass

So they're charging $150 for a fitting nowadays?

12strings

More info, for those interested:

1. I live in a small town without a place to get a bike fit. The fitter is someone who has family in the area, but lives in a larger city about an hour away. He comes back to town on occassion and does mechanical work and fittings for people in our local bike club, and rides with us sometimes. He does not use guru or rwtul, and has even offerred the option of coming to my house to do the fitting...just my bike on his trainer.

He said he charges 100/hour, and it could take anywhere from 1-2 hours...I'm approximating.

ypsetihw

I'm in the wrong business - I wonder how many people I could get to pay me even half that . . . time to go post on craigslist!

Kopsis

That's the one you want. Ride it more, the sit-bone pain will usually subside with more saddle time. I experienced that recently when switching to a Brooks Cambium on my commuter. I'm used to firm saddles, but the Cambium has essentially zero padding and caused some sit-bone tenderness after the first couple rides. Within a week of short daily rides that subsided and I did a 53 mile ride Saturday with no saddle discomfort at all. If you can get yourself conditioned to ride a firm saddle, you will not regret it.

jtaylor996

I think the budget is too low here. I just did a fit at a flat rate $300, but it did take 3 hours. It was full motion capture analysis, custom orthotics, saddle pressure mapping, body measurement, etc...

So that's what the fit costs. Then I needed a new saddle: $150, stem: (LBS will probably swap for free), shorter cranks ($$$ 'cause I went with quarq), the orthotics: $50.

I'm not saying this is not important. For me it was, I have a lot of issues that were causing me pain, and this fixes most if not all of that. But I just think you'll never get away from this process for just $150.

thrllskr

Bicycle fit is 100% waste of money. You are not a pro, and it is designed to scam your money, get you to buy new things for your bike, and rip you off! Don't waste your money.

San Rensho 

The best fit you will get is to get a really good rider (usually an old experienced racer) to ride with you and analyze not only your fit, but also your riding technique. many problems come from bad body position which is controlled not by bike fit, but by the rider

Kopsis

What you need to keep in mind is that a pro fitting for someone with problems is often "magical", but for someone without, it's often "meh". Most people go into a pro fit knowing something is wrong, but not how to fix it. Complaints are often very specific (eg. lower back pain after X miles, anterior left knee pain that goes away on hard efforts, etc.). If you don't have any such issues, the fitter isn't really earning his fee. Most people don't pay $100/hr for a "good" fit, they pay that kind of money to solve hard problems.

Anyone (including you) can figure out reasonable saddle and bar position with a little internet research and trial and error. If you've followed the typical guidelines and aren't experiencing any discomfort on longer rides, then "better" would have to mean more power or more aero. Both of those goals risk compromising comfort (you often have to trade one vs. the other). In any case, "better" isn't a specific goal. Until you have one, seeing a fitter is not money well spent.