Bucknuckle

Has anyone ever had a professional bike fitting done before? We're you happy with your results,notice any difference? Thank you.

PepeM

I have. I was and still am very happy with the results. I've been back to my fitter at least five times to tweak different things and he is always glad to help (he also hasn't charged me anything since the initial visit, not sure how he makes a living.)

I'd say who you are getting a fit from is the most important thing. The system they use, not so much. If you find a good fitter then you'll probably have a good experience, otherwise it might feel a bit underwhelming. I'm a bit wary of the $300 bucks, spend three hours using the video capture systems offers. I feel like they just go by the book and follow the method, so it is very likely that you just end up with a generic fit. The fitter I go to charges by the hour and does not use any of the fancy equipment unless he feels the need to. He also seems a bit reluctant to suggest new equipment purchases, which I appreciate.

As with many services, it is really hard to determine whether it will be 'worth it' beforehand.

thin_concrete

Yes - I have as well, and it helped my knee and lower back problems. Was totally worth the cost to get everything in line.

GlennR

I have with a recheck 6 months later.

Yes, I was more comfortable. I also tweaked it myself as time passed.

Doge

I think that should be expected of a good fitter. Tuning to the rider for what and how the rider rides and for what event.

On the same bike my kid went back for a single event fit. Raised seat, moved it forward and dropped bars. Afterwards put things back.

growlerdinky

About 5000 miles ago I got a Guru fit.

It was the best $150 I've spent on cycling.

tgmcmonigle

Best money I've spent on my bike so far....

Jeremy_S

I have and I picked up speed due to proper leg/hip position over the pedals etc. Took a couple of hours and a lot of pedaling on a trainer. I ended up moving my bars up 5mm and the seat down about 5mm over the course of the next year because although I was faster I was never quite comfortable so I just went faster for shorter distances. Still, worth it in my opinion because I learned a lot as well on how to measure and set up a bike.

motorthings

i'll echo the "best money ever spent" feeling. i did a Retul fit after having done a few standard eyeball and tool fits, and the difference in fit, comfort, efficiency and power were well worth it.

ptempel

I got a Serotta pro bike fit a long time ago from Bert at High Gear Cyclery. Maybe 9 or 10 years ago? Was right after getting the Ridley Excalibur that I still ride and its about 11 years old now. Was around $120 if I recall but took flexability into account. He flipped my stem up and put the saddle back as far as it will go. Only change is flipping the stem back down after I got more comfortable with it. Was worth the money, I think. Should ideally get it done again, but have been too cheap to do it. Single income supporting wife and child also has something to do with it.

hsuehhwa

I had professional bike fit almost every yr (~5000 miles). One thing I learned that is that your own fitness is just as important as your bike fit. Many injuries/discomfort are caused by poor bike fit as well as weak core or hips. There are many cross-training routines for cyclists on the internet. Make sure your commit some time to core/hip exercises.

Drew Eckhardt 

Yeah, it was great. Got rid of my knee pain and let me naturally pedal faster.

Inpd

I'm curious if anyone had a negative experience. i.e. the fitter didn't really help them. I'm also curious if the fit is for you or for you and the bike. i.e. if I have two bikes do I need two fits?

growlerdinky

The fit is for you and whatever bike you can apply the measurements (prescribed by the fit) to.

I have 3 road bikes. I was fitted on a Guru fit system, and those measurements were applied to a bike that I brought in. Luckily I was in the ballpark with it, so only saddle height/fore/aft were adjusted (quite substantially). I was emailed my Guru fit file, and with the help of an x/y laser level, a trainer, a metric tape measure, and some allen wrenches, I was able to set up my other bikes to match.

There are some measurements (none involving the relationship between the saddle and bottom bracket) that are a few mm off from the prescribed fit. One 58cm bike with a 110mm stem is 4mm further from saddle to stem clamp than the other, which is spot on. Stem height on one is 3mm low, on the other 3mm high. My oldest, least used bike actually took the fit perfectly.

Anyways, they all feel great. Every time I ride, I appreciate the time and money spent obtaining, and applying my ideal fit.

PepeM

If you have different purposes for them then you might want different fits.

It's important to understand there is no such thing as a 'right' fit, it is all a set of compromises between aerodynamics, power production, and comfort. Depending on your goals you will place more emphasis on one of those and less on the others. If you have different goals for different bikes, then your emphasis will probably shift.

Most people not racing probably place more emphasis on comfort (which they should.) People time trialing will favor aerodynamics while for climbing specialist power production will be the most important.

dougphoto

Helped me with my back problems

Voodoo76

I went to one of the Steve Hogg guys last year. I just could not get my Right foot to feel good after changing pedals. A very worthwhile experience. No big changes but I learned a ton. Have had one follow up and plan on another some time late this year. Time and money well spent.

adamhenry

I recently had a Retul fitting and I am very happy with the results.

Fiery

I had one around six months ago. I reverted a lot of the changes within the first few weeks, and by now the only thing remaining from the fit are the insoles and the position of the left cleat. The fit was with a physiotherapist who's trained in a few bike fitting systems and who has been working full-time as a fitter and bike coach for some time now, so he seemed to tick all the boxes.

The fit was by the numbers - detailed interview, then body measurement and assessment of flexibility and functionality, then video analysis on the bike with checking the joint angles, cleat alignment, knee tracking and all that stuff. However, he didn't try to really explain most of the stuff he did, and I felt that most of the changes were done by the book without bringing in any personal experience. He also proposed some changes without really listening to feedback ("Change the bar for a wider one, it will be more stable." - "But I'm not unstable on this one." - "The wider one will be more stable."). I'm sure at least part of it was the language barrier (I don't speak his native language and his English isn't very good), and it's possible that he would have explained more and maybe asked for more feedback without this problem. In any case, the poor communication wouldn't have been a problem really if the new fit was a big improvement, but it wasn't. He was clear though that I should come for a follow-up if anything didn't feel right, but I didn't feel like his service offered an improvement over what I could try myself based on feel, it would just have cost me extra time and money.

The changes he did were to re-position the cleats, raise the saddle about a centimeter higher and move it forward a little to increase the knee angle at max extension, then raise the handlebar because I told him I'm a recreational and not competitive rider, and finally change the insoles and add four cleat wedges and one in-shoe wedge per foot to get the knees to track inline with my toes. The saddle position was something that I consciously had a little low because of my IT band problems, and since I know that being a little too high hurts me more than being a little too low, I lowered it by around 5 mm and moved it back appropriately. The raised handlebar didn't make me more comfortable but did make the bike handle worse, so back down it went (after all, I had originally put it there after experimenting for some time to find what felt best). The wedges felt OK to begin with, not better or worse but different. After a couple of weeks I started developing knee pain so I started removing the wedges one or two at a time as a test and it immediately felt better. I've finally removed all of them a few days ago (I used to have a wedge under the right cleat and a shim under the left one even before the fitting). I also rotated the right cleat a little to let my foot get into a more natural position, but this is not something I would hold against the fitter - we had already rotated it a bit during the fit and it felt OK on the trainer, but on the road it became obvious that it needed a bit more rotation.

It wasn't all negative though, I also learned some useful stuff during the fitting. It made me realise that I was dropping the heels way too much and that I was also rotating my pelvis too far forward, so I consciously corrected it. The stem length got validated - we tried shorter and it caused tension in my lower back. My cleat position also got validated - I'd originally put them almost as far back as they could go, but some time before the fitting I had moved them to be almost directly under the ball of the big toe as a test of a more conventional position. The fitter moved them back to pretty much exactly where they used to be. Next, for some reason it always felt like my left leg was reaching more at the bottom of the stroke, like it's slightly shorter than the right leg, so I'd tried to even them out by feel with a shim and by moving the cleat further forward on the left shoe. It turns out that, if anything, my left leg is a little bit longer than the right, and having the cleats positioned symmetrically and without shims seems to have made me sit on the saddle a little straighter (I used to put a little more weight on the right sit bone). Finally, even though I've removed the shims, my knees naturally track a little further out than they used to, which puts them in the same plane as the balls of my feet and this feels more stable.

Overall, I can't say I'm exactly happy with the fitting I got, but I'm not sorry that I tried it, especially since my health insurance covered most of it. The insoles are the only thing I'm really not happy about because they don't really offer more arch support than the ones I used to have before, even though they are marked as "high" and the old ones were "medium". I also wasn't glad to pay around 300% the market price per cleat wedge and cleat bolt since I already had exactly the same ones at home, but I'll chalk that up to life school and I won't forget to bring my own if I ever go to a bike fitting again.

Inpd

That's an understatement. It sounds like a dreadful horrible process. But why did your health insurance pay for it.

Fiery

I've probably made it sound worse than it was, or maybe we just have differing criteria on what is bad :-) I'm sure a lot of his clients are perfectly pleased with his services, but I prefer a different approach.

The fitter is a registered physiotherapist and he could bill it as such. I just got a prescription from my orthopedist for physiotherapy and that's all that was needed have insurance cover it.

Chandne

I have once and it was fantastic for me. I went to Dr. Jason Glowney and his fit guy at CU-Boulder. I think Dr. Pruitt is also there, and is a pretty famous fit doc. Among other things, they fit me with pedal extenders, moved my saddle and cleats around, and raised my handlebar. The difference was pretty impressive. They took into account my flexibility and as they gets better, I can drop my bar by a few mm. It was very helpful from a comfort standpoint, and it is much easier to go past the 30-mile mark that was my max before. They also said I could make a 56cm or 58cm bike fit, since I have used both and I am kinda in the middle. So I stuck with 58s and simply use a shorter stem and avoid the toe overlap I get with 56s (size 12 feet).