Originally Posted by geneman

I bought my most recent frame off Ebay and threw the components on myself. I bought a frame size that was appropriate for my body based on several on-line calculators. I'm 5' 8.5" and I purchased a 55cm. Again, based on calculations from a few sites I could have gone with either a 54 or 55. While I intend to race a little this year, I primarily do longer distance rides and wanted the benefit of a larger frame.

So, with the knowledge that my frame was pretty much right I scheduled a fitting session with a very good LBS to get a proper fitting done. This shop is a certified Serotta dealer and has the equipment to do it right. My fitting was called a "body fitting" essentially because I already had a bike and there was no need to generate dimensions for a custom build project.

Here's how the session went. I worked with one guy ... an ex-racer ... been a biker forever ... intelligent sort, but hardly fixated on numbers as I'd find out later. I spelled out my goals for the season he gave me a rundown of what we would try to accomplish.

The fitting ... he put the bike on a trainer and put me on top. He plumbed my knees relative to my feet, he made sure that the balls of my feet were centered on the pedal, he watched my pedal stroke. We adjusted ONLY the seat (raised it twice just to get the feel) and settled on putting it basically 1/2" higher than where it was when I walked in the door. He then made sure my feet were the appropriate distance from the chainstays on both sides. He proclaimed that my initial setup was FANTASTIC and that the only change he would like to see made was the 1/2" raise to the seat. I guess this made me feel good that I was basically almost dialed in and needed just a little tweek. We generated very few numbers (which was a little dissappointing). Come spring he gave me the opportunity to come back in for a tweek after I had spent more time outside on the bike.

We spent the next 30 minutes talking about training techniques to try to hang with the racer-types next season. He was extremely talkative yet pretty knowledgable. It's hard to say whether I would do it again. It seems I got it almost perfect by myself. The cost was relatively low for an hour of his time though ($40 ... it should be noted however that he cut me a break because he only had to make the minor adjustment to the seat).

Just thought I'd share.

Here's the bike;

-mark