HazeT

And give up never came across my mind, may be give up on the bike and try to sell and buy a new one. But I would like to avoid the money loss and try to get it fit to me.

I probably can sell it for 900, but then would have to spend another 1200-1300 on a new one. so it's more then 500 dollars lost in two weeks..

socalrider

are you using a level to get the saddle tilt just right.. eyeballing rarely works.. If you are going from slight downtilt to a hair uptilt you should not have much discomfort in the nether regions.. why a professional fitter would send you out the door with the saddle tilted down is just poor practice.

HazeT

Well, they call it professional fitting services and claim to be experts in the Specialized body geometry fitting system... so...
I do agree that the guy should have not had sold me a bike knowing that I was having back pain and numb hands... He should have had suggested me to try other bikes in the store "roubaix/secteur/trek's..".
This was my very first road bike, at least I know more on how I feel on this kind of bike and how my body should feel. I will be visiting other dealers this weekend to try giant, spec and dale's. If any of those floats my boat in a 10-20 miles ride, I would not think twice in selling my bike and exchange. Hopefully it would be a Spec so I could ask the LBS to take this one back and I would pay the difference for the new one.
It suck to loose money but it suck even more not enjoying your ride

HazeT

I just trusted the guy... He was the professional fitter so I gave it a try on the tile.
may be It wasn't just a slight down/up tilt I just used eyeballing and first time I seat on the bike I thought "holy cow this is to high, let me go back and tilt it down a bit" but I decided to give it a try, maybe make a U turn if bugging me too much but I was able to do the entire route. First time in two weeks that my hands didn't get numb after 3 miles.
I was switching hand position more then one time per mile/ridden and still had it numb after 3-5 miles so I had to take both hands off for a while to recover.
Today I rode 15 miles, mostly on hoods, and had a little tingle at the end but that was it... I really enjoyed the ride and came back looking forward for tomorrow morning

Homeyba

It doesn't sound like a professional fit to me. Either way, if you paid the money for a proper fitting, you deserve to get what you paid for or you should get your money back! You shouldn't have to loose any money or have to sell a bike you just bought!

BTW, Getting fitted by someone who knows what they are doing should allow you to hop right on the new bike and it should fit like a glove. You definitely shouldn't have to mess with seat height or tilt!!!!!

HazeT

Are my hoods to upright? it's about 40° angle from the bars? how do they affect my hand numbness or back pain? should I try to lower the angle a bit?
btw.. called the LBS and the guy said the fit is correct, it's just that my body needs some time to get used to the bike..

cooleric1234

I imagine that's personal but those hoods look way too tilted up to me. Personally I like it to be level between the foremost front/top part of the hood and the top of the back of the handlebars.

socalrider

Since they are a specialized dealer I would contact specialized directly and tell them about your experience.. They really advertise there professional fit system..

kinetic

Is the saddle recommendation (level or slightly up) a good rule of thumb for hybrid, CX, and MTN bikes as well? I too am having hand numbness issues. No lower back pain though.

AndrewP

I think the back pain is due to lack of core strength. Your daily rides are giving you plenty of strength in the legs, but you need to do something for the upper body. I found a few daily push-ups on the edge of a table made my lower back and shoulders a lot easier during the rides. On the edge of a table is better for Clydesdales than on the floor. I dont think your bars are too far forward, but get the top close to saddle level. You will just have the nervous handling of a racing bike due to the steering geometry and short wheelbase.

CraigB

Bars and hoods look fine to me. Lowering them will, if anything, result in a more aggressive (bent over) position, which will in turn put more weight on your hands unless you have the core strength to support your upper body. And of course the LBS is going to tell you it's your body that needs to get used to the bike. That might be true, but if you're still uncomfortable with it after another week or two, go back to them anyway.

HazeT

After a lot of annoyance the LBS voided the sale. So I'm in the market again for a bike. This time I will make sure my trials are not just a lap around the block and that I won't buy it until I'm properly fit.
It's a shame that I gave up on the Allez. that bike is awesome I really enjoyed the ride before I had back pains/numb hands. But this time I decide to go with a relaxed geometry. I'm 280lbs I won't be a racer anytime soon

cbrown9064

According to my book, the Sectuer and the Allez don't have the same geometry (not supposed to), but are very similar. I compared a 58cm in both the Secteur and the Allez (Aluminum). Here are the results;

Seat tube length Secteur 535 Allez 540
Top tube length Secteur 582 Allez 582
B B drop Secteur 70 Allez 67.5
Chain Stay length Secteur 418 Allez 407
Seat tube angle Secteur 73 Allez 73
Head tube angle Secteur 72.5 Allez 73
Fork Rake Secteur 49 Allez 43
Trail Secteur 56 Allez 59
Front-Center Secteur 621 Allez 610
Wheelbase Secteur 1029 Allez 1008
Stand over Secteur 825 Allez 822
Head tube length Secteur 225 Allez 205
Handle bar width Secteur 440 Allez 440
Stem Secteur 110 Allez 110
Seat tube length Secteur 350 Allez 350

So, from my untrained eye, it looks like the Allez is a bit more set up for quicker response. The difference in trail, rake and wheelbase seem to me to would make a difference in how "quick" the bike responds (handles). Also the head tube angle and length would seem to put the rider a bit more stretched out (someone...is this correct?).


To me, the difference may be that the "fit" was never right from the start. When I started looking at bikes this spring, there was a sweet Roubaix in a 56. I sat on it and cranked on it on the trainer. From a leg perspective it was a good fit. From the torso perspective it was too small. I have a long torso and average legs for 6'1". We then threw a 58 Tarmac up on the trainer and what a difference! The seat is looks pretty low compared to how others look on their bikes, but the overall fit is better. The longer top tube was what I needed.

Perhaps something similar happened to you. The Allez may be a good fit in the leg, but perhaps it is too long for your torso. I would think a shorter stem (to move the bars back) would help. But I am not a fit expert by any means. What I am trying to say is that you need to go back and check out the size below what you got and see how that works, and/or discuss these exact problems with the fitter. Did they attend the Specialized fitting course? I think it is a one week class. If not, did someone in their shop? Ask for someone else to take a look. I had never ridden a road bike until I got mine and never had any back problems.


My $0.02. Worth what you paid for it!
Chris

HazeT

Well, from their website seems to be, but It didn't show up on the specialized website. anyway, the new store that I will shop my specialized shows on the specialized website when I look for BG fitting center.
Since they have GIANT/Dale/Spec I can test them all at the same dealer and may be talk to him, see what he thinks. hopefully I don't have to pay for parts swap well the old dealer at least replaced the stems for free.