Bike Fit experiences!?
Discussion
I am considering a Bike Fit to try and eliminate some hamstring pain from a Hamstring injury I picked up last year.
I know people have different opinions on getting a Bike Fit and I have been riding for a long time but changed my bike last year after my injury due to it being too slightly big. Have tweaked it myself but cannot get it to the point of being spot on.
The majority of the issue has gone but I am hoping to do a couple of Sportives next year and couldn't do 100 miles at the moment as I still get a twinge every now and again.
I now have 2 bikes which I would get done at the same fit session.
Reading through posts on the search, Pedal Precision and Cadence Sport appear to have good feedback. Pedal Precision is 25 miles from me, whereas Cadence Sport are 74 miles from me. However I am prepared to travel for the better fit if that is the case!!
Thanks in advance.
I know people have different opinions on getting a Bike Fit and I have been riding for a long time but changed my bike last year after my injury due to it being too slightly big. Have tweaked it myself but cannot get it to the point of being spot on.
The majority of the issue has gone but I am hoping to do a couple of Sportives next year and couldn't do 100 miles at the moment as I still get a twinge every now and again.
I now have 2 bikes which I would get done at the same fit session.
Reading through posts on the search, Pedal Precision and Cadence Sport appear to have good feedback. Pedal Precision is 25 miles from me, whereas Cadence Sport are 74 miles from me. However I am prepared to travel for the better fit if that is the case!!
Thanks in advance.
NorthDave said:
Bizarre! I have just booked a session at Pedal Precision to have my winter bike set up. Richard did a fantastic job for me on my last bike - the difference was night and day.
I would highly recommend him. I think he does the team GB athletes and is very thorough.
Interesting, which Fit did you go for? I would highly recommend him. I think he does the team GB athletes and is very thorough.
Do they swap insoles in your shoes? I have seen this in other fits and people seem to say it makes a big difference but my question around that is of course what happens when you change shoes.
I recently had a fitting session a Cyclefit and came away a bit disappointed. Whilst the information I got pointed out my current bike is the wrong bike for me I felt all they wanted to do was push me onto one of the bikes that they sell so it started to feel like hard sell. The key metrics are the BB to Seat measurement and Seat to Hoods. The BB to Seat is same regardless of what bike you ride but there are a load of things that can affect the seat to hoods and subsequently affect your levels of comfort.
I have a short torso/arms so my reach needs to be quite short I also have long legs so my saddle needs to be quite high. This can create a large saddle to bar drop which causes me to overstretch. I would compensate by reducing the height of the saddle but that just moved the problem to my knees and reduced the amount of power I could generate. I now know what kind of bikes I can consider and which ones I should ignore if I want one that fits.
If you assume any kind of bike fit is going to use a similar kind of process to determine you saddle height then you can do some of this yourself before going for a full bike fit. If you take your inseam measurement properly and then multiply that number by 0.883 then you will get a ball park figure for your BB to saddle height. Using this equation I get 750mm and the number I got from my high tech fitting was 752mm so not a million miles out. Once you have your saddle set you can then get an idea of how stretched you are when on the hoods. My saddle was 25mm too low and now this has been corrected my knees are thanking me. My back isn't though
If you are overstretched or the saddle to bar drop is too high then you can flip stems, add spacers, get shorter reach bars or in my case look for a bike that fits.
I have a short torso/arms so my reach needs to be quite short I also have long legs so my saddle needs to be quite high. This can create a large saddle to bar drop which causes me to overstretch. I would compensate by reducing the height of the saddle but that just moved the problem to my knees and reduced the amount of power I could generate. I now know what kind of bikes I can consider and which ones I should ignore if I want one that fits.
If you assume any kind of bike fit is going to use a similar kind of process to determine you saddle height then you can do some of this yourself before going for a full bike fit. If you take your inseam measurement properly and then multiply that number by 0.883 then you will get a ball park figure for your BB to saddle height. Using this equation I get 750mm and the number I got from my high tech fitting was 752mm so not a million miles out. Once you have your saddle set you can then get an idea of how stretched you are when on the hoods. My saddle was 25mm too low and now this has been corrected my knees are thanking me. My back isn't though
If you are overstretched or the saddle to bar drop is too high then you can flip stems, add spacers, get shorter reach bars or in my case look for a bike that fits.No experience of bike-fit but I popped in to the LBS to try and get some insoles for my road shoes that have more arch support. The LBS has a bike-fit studio and the guy behind the counter said he wasn't qualified to select the right insoles, so I would have to wait and see the bike fit expert.
When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a b
king for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.
Needless to say he can fk right off.
When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a b
king for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.Needless to say he can f
k right off.I think you went to the wrong place Paulmon. I had a fit at Cadence in Crystal Palace and he got me into a much better position to get power out of my legs and the only thing he sold me was a cheap stem because the one I had was too long. My bike was technically too big and he didn't try to sell me a new bike. I'm now looking at a new bike and the guy who did my fitting, Simon, is only too happy to tell me what sized frame I need when I suggest other makes and has not even once mentioned Giant to me despite them being a Giant dealer.
BlueNGT said:
Interesting, which Fit did you go for?
Do they swap insoles in your shoes? I have seen this in other fits and people seem to say it makes a big difference but my question around that is of course what happens when you change shoes.
I didnt recall selecting a level but from what was done and the cost I think it was the pro fit. He did the cleats on the shoes but we didn't discuss insoles. I probably wouldn't of entertained talking about them anyway though - I've had loads of custom insoles done in the past and I always end up ripping them out. I think custom insoles just mask other problems and dont offer much value. That might be controversial though!Do they swap insoles in your shoes? I have seen this in other fits and people seem to say it makes a big difference but my question around that is of course what happens when you change shoes.
jesusbuiltmycar said:
No experience of bike-fit but I popped in to the LBS to try and get some insoles for my road shoes that have more arch support. The LBS has a bike-fit studio and the guy behind the counter said he wasn't qualified to select the right insoles, so I would have to wait and see the bike fit expert.
When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a bking for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.
Needless to say he can fk right off.
LOL what a joke!!When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a b
king for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.Needless to say he can f
k right off.As per the other thread I posted on last week I really recommend the Specialized insoles, with the 3 different arch options
Ive swapped them between 4 different shoes with no issues
TwistingMyMelon said:
jesusbuiltmycar said:
No experience of bike-fit but I popped in to the LBS to try and get some insoles for my road shoes that have more arch support. The LBS has a bike-fit studio and the guy behind the counter said he wasn't qualified to select the right insoles, so I would have to wait and see the bike fit expert.
When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a bking for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.
Needless to say he can fk right off.
LOL what a joke!!When I got to speak to him all he did was attempt give me a b
king for not buying my shoes in his shop and stated that he would only sell me the insoles if I had a £200 bike fit and bought a new pair of shoes from him.Needless to say he can f
k right off.As per the other thread I posted on last week I really recommend the Specialized insoles, with the 3 different arch options
Ive swapped them between 4 different shoes with no issues
I recently had a Guru bike fit session, which I can highly recommend.
What led me to this was having two LBS fits to bikes I had already purchased; one was much better than the other and is down to the experience and expertise of the fitter. Neither bike felt particularly comfortable on long rides.
Having now decided to sell both of these bikes I decided to find out what my ideal measurements are and then look for a bike to match. Too this end the beauty of the Guru system is that you pedal away on a glorified fully adjustable excercise bike and the fitter can make adjustments, using a PC, in real time to the saddle and handlebar position so that instantly you can judge if the change is for the better or worse. The trouble with conventional bike fits is that you have to wait several minutes for a change to be made which makes it harder to recall how the riding position felt previously.
I ended up with a riding position that felt perfect and much more comfortable than my two current bikes.
The set of measurements I came away with are quite different to what some of these online bike fit calculators came up with.
I went on the manufacturers website for one of the bikes I'm interested in which indicated I will need a size 54".
Making the most of the recent Cycle Show at the NEC I was able to compare a 54" & 56" back to back (both my current bikes are 54") and found that the 56" fitted me perfectly and was a much nicer bike to ride. Strange how things turn out.
What led me to this was having two LBS fits to bikes I had already purchased; one was much better than the other and is down to the experience and expertise of the fitter. Neither bike felt particularly comfortable on long rides.
Having now decided to sell both of these bikes I decided to find out what my ideal measurements are and then look for a bike to match. Too this end the beauty of the Guru system is that you pedal away on a glorified fully adjustable excercise bike and the fitter can make adjustments, using a PC, in real time to the saddle and handlebar position so that instantly you can judge if the change is for the better or worse. The trouble with conventional bike fits is that you have to wait several minutes for a change to be made which makes it harder to recall how the riding position felt previously.
I ended up with a riding position that felt perfect and much more comfortable than my two current bikes.
The set of measurements I came away with are quite different to what some of these online bike fit calculators came up with.
I went on the manufacturers website for one of the bikes I'm interested in which indicated I will need a size 54".
Making the most of the recent Cycle Show at the NEC I was able to compare a 54" & 56" back to back (both my current bikes are 54") and found that the 56" fitted me perfectly and was a much nicer bike to ride. Strange how things turn out.
I did one with specialized. It took a couple of hours and I was impressed, checked my flexibility, arch drop in my feet, measured my sit bones etc. He made slight adjustments and compared the results by over laying the video images. I would definitely do it again if I buy a new road bike.
Bungleaio said:
I did one with specialized. It took a couple of hours and I was impressed, checked my flexibility, arch drop in my feet, measured my sit bones etc. He made slight adjustments and compared the results by over laying the video images. I would definitely do it again if I buy a new road bike.
I too had a Specialized BG fit and came away happy.BlueNGT said:
I am considering a Bike Fit to try and eliminate some hamstring pain from a Hamstring injury I picked up last year.
Off the bike, can you stretch your hamstrings off without pain? May be worth trying to improve your flexibility (stretching) and inching the seat forward to use the quads more. Loads of vids around to get you in the ball park, before you see a fitter - GCN do some good vids.TSCfree said:
BlueNGT said:
I am considering a Bike Fit to try and eliminate some hamstring pain from a Hamstring injury I picked up last year.
Off the bike, can you stretch your hamstrings off without pain? May be worth trying to improve your flexibility (stretching) and inching the seat forward to use the quads more. Loads of vids around to get you in the ball park, before you see a fitter - GCN do some good vids.Have watched a couple of vids on YouTube, good Arts Cyclery one about seat fore and aft. My seat height is set using the method GCN give of inseam minus 10cm and measure from middle BB to middle of seat.
Will try plumb line to check seat position.
I had a very positive experience at Pedal Precision. I was having no end of problems with my back and knees but after my bike fit they all went away. The only issue I had with them was getting an appointment in the first place as they never returned calls or e-mails. This was a good few years back though so they may be better now.
TSCfree said:
BlueNGT said:
I am considering a Bike Fit to try and eliminate some hamstring pain from a Hamstring injury I picked up last year.
Off the bike, can you stretch your hamstrings off without pain? May be worth trying to improve your flexibility (stretching) and inching the seat forward to use the quads more. Loads of vids around to get you in the ball park, before you see a fitter - GCN do some good vids.Last year I had a lot of issues with upper back pain - which seemed to be caused/made worse by cycling. I went to see a local Chiropractor who gave me a number of off the bike stretches / exercises to strengthen & improve flexibilty which has fixed the issues. His opinion was that short of getting a sit-up-and-beg style bike, there is not a lot that can change whilst cycling and it is better to concentrate on alleviating/preventing the problem off the bike.
The video below is an example of the type of exercises I do regulary:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/videos/fitness/cycl...
benny.c said:
I had a very positive experience at Pedal Precision. I was having no end of problems with my back and knees but after my bike fit they all went away. The only issue I had with them was getting an appointment in the first place as they never returned calls or e-mails. This was a good few years back though so they may be better now.
No reply yet, 24 hrs after I messaged them. I've had three fits, a saddle fit and two shoe fits. In my experience there's a vast gulf between the good guys and everybody else. Half of my fits were wasted on 'average' fitters. Most of the time they just felt formulaic without any real in-depth expertise.
I had a great fit with The Bike Whisperer ahead of the Transcontinental. It's the only fit experience I've had that impressed me and is the only one I could recommend personally. He's not the cheapest (though measured by hour he probably is) but he's incredibly thorough and knowledgeable. He counts many TCR riders as clients, including a former world 24 hour TT champion. If he can keep us comfortable and on the bike for the durations we ride at then you can be fairly confident he can work the same magic for others.
'Buy cheap, buy twice.'
I had a great fit with The Bike Whisperer ahead of the Transcontinental. It's the only fit experience I've had that impressed me and is the only one I could recommend personally. He's not the cheapest (though measured by hour he probably is) but he's incredibly thorough and knowledgeable. He counts many TCR riders as clients, including a former world 24 hour TT champion. If he can keep us comfortable and on the bike for the durations we ride at then you can be fairly confident he can work the same magic for others.
'Buy cheap, buy twice.'
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