Originally Posted by
jrobe
"So anyone out there who hasn't spent the money to have a fitting done -- go now."
The problem with this advice is that a "professional fit" is quite subjective. From my experience, you can pay two "professional fitters" quite a bit of money and end up with two entirely different bike set-ups. This isn't an exact science by any means. Every time I have been fit, I have ended up making significant changes on my own afterwards.
Also note that the biggest advocates of bike fittings are bike shops. Most all fittings start with some formulaic approach and then make small adjustments up/down forward/backward to "dial it in". If you are an experienced cyclist most of the time you can make these adjustments yourself without the need of fancy equipment. If you know your body and can accurately access the feelings while riding a bike, you can fit yourself.
I have also seen where fitters will change something that did not need to be changed just so they can prove to the customer they they "got what they paid for." In almost every case I have seen, adjustments still need to be made even after the fitter is through.
Now one area where a fitter will come in handy is in cleat positioning, not because you really need a fitter, but because it is easier to make the adjustments with two people rather than one.