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Old 11-11-13, 09:09 PM
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rekmeyata
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NE Indiana
Posts: 8,687

Bikes: 2020 Masi Giramondo 700c; 2013 Lynskey Peloton; 1992 Giant Rincon; 1989 Dawes needs parts; 1985 Trek 660; 1985 Fuji Club; 1984 Schwinn Voyager; 1984 Miyata 612; 1977 Raleigh Competition GS

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Sounded like yours went well, congrats, unfortunately for smaller cities in America is that they take a high school kid or a college age kid and put them through a 3 day class then charge $250 plus accessories and hang a banner saying they do pro fits. A pro fit will only cost you additional money for something that may or may not work. A true pro fit is really only necessary, and that’s debatable, for ordering a custom built bike (for the everyday rider not the pro). Debatable because there are a lot of custom frame builders like Rivendell, Richard Sachs, etc, etc; those make bikes all the time without a pro fit! I've know about a dozen people who have had a pro fit and about 1/2 came out worse then they did going into it. One guy I knew that came out worse spent over $800 for the recommended stuff and was in worse pain then before he went in. And I know guys who ordered bikes over the phone from Rivendell and got a perfect fit just by answering their fit questions. And really all a pro fit is an excuse to bring a customer into the store, charge $150 to $250 for the fitting and sell you a bunch of stuff that may or may not work. A pro fit that you and I can get at LBS is a far cry (much less extensive then the pro level) from a pro fit a pro rider gets, and theirs works, but a pro rider gets theirs for free. In fact when a marketing rep for a pro fit bike tool comes into an LBS, the selling point isn't: "it will make customers fit on their bikes better", the selling point is that it brings additional profits to the LBS in the form of selling additional and expensive parts. It's pure profit for the LBS.

There are places that can help you fit the bike to you such as:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/sport/a/bikefit.htm
http://www.caree.org/bike101bikefit.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c_5Pkimb64 (for tri bike fit, but there are other films)
http://www.jacksbikes.com/contents/en-us/d40.html

It's just trial and error, you can do that on your own. I have 9 bikes, 7 road bikes; can you imagine the cost if every time I bought a bike I went and got a pro fit done? If I had to do that for every bike I would have quit the hobby!
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