Originally Posted by
bike eagle
I have been looked at by three different fitters in bike shops, and none of them tried to improve my posture. They only made adjustments to the bike, not to me.
Did they make these adjustments before or after seeing you on it? Was it more of a "basic fit" where they adjust the saddle position and maybe put a different stem on?
A real fitting usually costs around $100-$150 and is at least an hour and a half long. Usually starts with a 15 minute interview about the type of riding you do, checking out how flexible you are and your range of motion, followed by the fitter hooking your bike up to a trainer and watching you pedal for a while (possibly taking pictures or video during the process). The fitter will usually start by making adjustments to your cleats, followed by saddle height/fore/aft position. Then they'll work with you on your posture. Most people need to make the same adjustment you did. Another way to think about it is to rotate your pelvis back. Instead of your pelvis being horizontal (like you sit in a chair), it is rotated back so that your sitbones take the weight of the body.
The fitter will look at the angle of your legs, length of your cranks, etc... Then they will look for reach to the hoods and drops. The fitter could possibly make some adjustments to the rotation of the bar and swap out a stem. When you see the before and after pictures/video of yourself on the trainer, you will immediately notice how much smoother your pedaling is and how much more comfortable you are.
If your fitting didn't involve most of these steps, you need to find another fitter.