Professional Bike Fit

krink

krink

Eddie Munster
Who has had a professional bike fit? I have never done it, just used the height recs for bike frame sizes and futzed with my saddle and stem. What experience have you had? Was it beneficial or a waste of time and money? Do the measurements translate btw road, gravel and MTB bikes?
 
I've had basic fits done when taking home new bikes. But, always required some tweaking after that. My body straddles fit charts.

Both mtb, however one is old skool XC, '16 Scalpel and the other is a modern geo '22 Pivot T429v3. The Scalpel I could go M or L, Pivot's chart had me on a S, but got a M.

I'm sure you could benefit from a professional fit, especially if you're feeling the need that you might need one. Don't think I'd want to use the same fit numbers going to a gravel or road bike.
 
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I have had a few done by @jdog on my road bike and CX bike. Highly recommend if you plan on saddle time.

As for MTB, I had fitting when I rode/raced XC and was clipped in. Now that I’m more enduro/DH and ride flats I haven’t been fitted but left the shop set up for my riding.
 
If you're having issues, it's definitely worthwhile. Most fitters are hourly and can try to fit in multiple bikes if you ask/bring them with.

IME, MTB fit is far less important than road/gravel because you're moving around on the bike more so the static position isn't as key to comfort. Getting the saddle height/angle and reach right is always my first concern and the rest is usually good enough. I am a bit more careful about setting up my position on my XC bike position than a trail bike though. Learned that the hard way during a 3 hour race this Fall trying to make my reach a bit longer.
 
I saw Tim at Fitfirst solutions in West Milford. I brought my road bike which is the trainer bike, and my XC race bike which is where I spend most of my time. He hooks up sensors to your body and can measure the angles and range of movement. He’ll make small changes and then have you pedal a bit to capture the changes he made. This is only part of his process, but a big part of it. We dialed in both bikes and shoe/cleat positions for each. When he was done, he sent me a few emails including one with all my measurements, so when I get a new bike I don’t have to go through it all over again.

It was not cheap, but we made some changes which made a huge difference on how i feel on the bike. He’s not associated with a bike shop, so he’s not pushing new components. But he is next door to a shop though just in case something is so out of place. Like the $50 saddle i ended up finding more comfortable than my $350 3D printed saddle. I also ended up buying a new stem, bars, and crankset based on his recommendations. He just told me what to look for, he didn’t sell me anything. I only had to buy new bars because nobody makes a slammed stem for 35mm bars.

I’m not doing the bike fit justice. Let me know if you have ay questions, But i would recommend it.

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jShort said:
I saw Tim at Fitfirst solutions in West Milford. I brought my road bike which is the trainer bike, and my XC race bike which is where I spend most of my time. He hooks up sensors to your body and can measure the angles and range of movement. He’ll make small changes and then have you pedal a bit to capture the changes he made. This is only part of his process, but a big part of it. We dialed in both bikes and shoe/cleat positions for each. When he was done, he sent me a few emails including one with all my measurements, so when I get a new bike I don’t have to go through it all over again.

It was not cheap, but we made some changes which made a huge difference on how i feel on the bike. He’s not associated with a bike shop, so he’s not pushing new components. But he is next door to a shop though just in case something is so out of place. Like the $50 saddle i ended up finding more comfortable than my $350 3D printed saddle. I also ended up buying a new stem, bars, and crankset based on his recommendations. He just told me what to look for, he didn’t sell me anything. I only had to buy new bars because nobody makes a slammed stem for 35mm bars.

I’m not doing the bike fit justice. Let me know if you have ay questions, But i would recommend it.

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Ah, that's where he ended up. Had a conversation or two with him after he left Cycle Craft. Interesting guy.
 
Hilltop in Madison has the Retul system with all the sensor thingys. I haven't done it yet, but it's on my to do list.
 
JDurk said:
I've had basic fits done when taking home new bikes. But, always required some tweaking after that. My body straddles fit charts.
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Robin said:
I have had a few done by @jdog[ on my road bike and CX bike. Highly recommend if you plan on saddle time.
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Yup when I turned 55, anything over 3 hours brings on a new type of soreness.
Cassinonorth said:
If you're having issues, it's definitely worthwhile. Most fitters are hourly and can try to fit in multiple bikes if you ask/bring them with.

IME, MTB fit is far less important than road/gravel because you're moving around on the bike more so the static position isn't as key to comfort. Getting the saddle height/angle and reach right is always my first concern and the rest is usually good enough. I am a bit more careful about setting up my position on my XC bike position than a trail bike though. Learned that the hard way during a 3 hour race this Fall trying to make my reach a bit longer.
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Great point, was thinking that the saddle tilt / saddle BB distance would be the same on any bike but the other stuff is more variable. Ive heard that some fitters try to get "race" aero rather than comfort- I would like to optimize comfort and then efficiency. Just want to see the numbers and feel, then see if I can translate to my other bikes. I spend the longest time on my gravel bike so Ill likely start there.
jShort said:
I saw Tim at Fitfirst solutions in West Milford. I brought my road bike which is the trainer bike, and my XC race bike which is where I spend most of my time. He hooks up sensors to your body and can measure the angles and range of movement. He’ll make small changes and then have you pedal a bit to capture the changes he made. This is only part of his process, but a big part of it. We dialed in both bikes and shoe/cleat positions for each. When he was done, he sent me a few emails including one with all my measurements, so when I get a new bike I don’t have to go through it all over again.

It was not cheap, but we made some changes which made a huge difference on how i feel on the bike. He’s not associated with a bike shop, so he’s not pushing new components. But he is next door to a shop though just in case something is so out of place. Like the $50 saddle i ended up finding more comfortable than my $350 3D printed saddle. I also ended up buying a new stem, bars, and crankset based on his recommendations. He just told me what to look for, he didn’t sell me anything. I only had to buy new bars because nobody makes a slammed stem for 35mm bars.

I’m not doing the bike fit justice. Let me know if you have ay questions, But i would recommend it.
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This looks ideal, gotta check it out. Thanks to all!
 
Can mirror getting fit by Jay or Don at Halters, well worth the investment.

When I first got my road bike and "made it work" many moons ago, the longest ride I could do was 20miles. Following the bike fit, the next day I doubled that mileage and was no where near as fatigued.
 
krink said:
Yup when I turned 55, anything over 3 hours brings on a new type of soreness.

Great point, was thinking that the saddle tilt / saddle BB distance would be the same on any bike but the other stuff is more variable. Ive heard that some fitters try to get "race" aero rather than comfort- I would like to optimize comfort and then efficiency. Just want to see the numbers and feel, then see if I can translate to my other bikes. I spend the longest time on my gravel bike so Ill likely start there.


This looks ideal, gotta check it out. Thanks to all!
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I doesn't get any easier after 55? Asking for a 56y/o friend.
 
I will agree that the bike fit is worth it, i go to rich at bicycle tech (lincoln park) and he has done all of my road bikes at this point, cant say i have ever felt the need on the mtb but definitely worth it on the road bike where you move around less, makes everything more comfortable.
 
jShort said:
I saw Tim at Fitfirst solutions in West Milford. I brought my road bike which is the trainer bike, and my XC race bike which is where I spend most of my time. He hooks up sensors to your body and can measure the angles and range of movement. He’ll make small changes and then have you pedal a bit to capture the changes he made. This is only part of his process, but a big part of it. We dialed in both bikes and shoe/cleat positions for each. When he was done, he sent me a few emails including one with all my measurements, so when I get a new bike I don’t have to go through it all over again.

It was not cheap, but we made some changes which made a huge difference on how i feel on the bike. He’s not associated with a bike shop, so he’s not pushing new components. But he is next door to a shop though just in case something is so out of place. Like the $50 saddle i ended up finding more comfortable than my $350 3D printed saddle. I also ended up buying a new stem, bars, and crankset based on his recommendations. He just told me what to look for, he didn’t sell me anything. I only had to buy new bars because nobody makes a slammed stem for 35mm bars.

I’m not doing the bike fit justice. Let me know if you have ay questions, But i would recommend it.

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Holy shit Jeremy, you look like shit...
 
Drove past many bike shops to go see @jdog at halters to buy my road bike and spent 3 hours with Don getting it fitted included with the purchase. Totally worth it
 
jShort said:
I saw Tim at Fitfirst solutions in West Milford. I brought my road bike which is the trainer bike, and my XC race bike which is where I spend most of my time. He hooks up sensors to your body and can measure the angles and range of movement. He’ll make small changes and then have you pedal a bit to capture the changes he made. This is only part of his process, but a big part of it. We dialed in both bikes and shoe/cleat positions for each. When he was done, he sent me a few emails including one with all my measurements, so when I get a new bike I don’t have to go through it all over again.

It was not cheap, but we made some changes which made a huge difference on how i feel on the bike. He’s not associated with a bike shop, so he’s not pushing new components. But he is next door to a shop though just in case something is so out of place. Like the $50 saddle i ended up finding more comfortable than my $350 3D printed saddle. I also ended up buying a new stem, bars, and crankset based on his recommendations. He just told me what to look for, he didn’t sell me anything. I only had to buy new bars because nobody makes a slammed stem for 35mm bars.

I’m not doing the bike fit justice. Let me know if you have ay questions, But i would recommend it.

View attachment 252909
Click to expand...

He was in the shop the other day and we talked for quite a while about how modern XC bikes don’t fit anyone. I thought I was the oddball wanting an older bike GEO but apparently it’s everyone. On most of the Epics we sell the stem and bars get swapped to a 31.8 with a negative stem. Also every road bike made has the wrong width bar on it, which is super interesting being Retul Data literally shows that and no one has changed specs to what people actually need.
 
Steve Vai said:
He was in the shop the other day and we talked for quite a while about how modern XC bikes don’t fit anyone. I thought I was the oddball wanting an older bike GEO but apparently it’s everyone. On most of the Epics we sell the stem and bars get swapped to a 31.8 with a negative stem. Also every road bike made has the wrong width bar on it, which is super interesting being Retul Data literally shows that and no one has changed specs to what people actually need.
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Me too, frames from 4-5 years ago have the perfect reach for me and the seat tube angle is where I like it.
 
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