Fitting Calculators
 

Hi,

Well, as usual, I am obsessing over details. So I have measurements from Competitive Cyclist, Argonaut, and Wrench Science, and believe it or not, they are all within 1-1.5 cm of each other's frame size recommendations. I set my carbon bike up exactly as CC said to, and it seemed to have just a tad more reach than I liked.....plus, although I felt I had maybe 1 mph more at the same energy level (non-scientific data, of course), I was also getting hand numbness pretty early in my rides. So I cut the stem back by 10 cm, and it is pretty much perfect now. Very little numbness unless it's cold or very windy or something, and that's after 40-odd miles or so - about 2 hours in. But I'm always looking for that 'holy grail' fit.........

So my question is, when you go to these sites, are the 'fit' numbers supposed to be for racing, or general cycling, or what? WS and CC stated 'Eddy Fit', but they were all really close anyway. Or, do these sites assume I'm a 19-year-old Italian National racer? Again, wrench science is the one who seemed to want to know my flexibility.

Any knowledge on this?

Thanks!

p.s. the Competitive Cyclist wanted me to have a 'total reach' (that is, ETT plus stem) of about 694, while the other two wanted me to have about 681.

I couldn't really tell you. Maybe no one other than the software designer could. However my feeling is that the same fit is an optimal place to start for anyone. If you're not "anyone," you don't need a fit calculator. You'll order exactly what you know you need.

OTOH it's sorta like the fairy tale about the giant who made everyone fit the bed rather than the bed fit the person. They assume normal flexibility and no specific grudges against the standard road fit, which has been a standard for so long that the variation you chose is called the Eddy Fit, though as a standard it goes back over a 100 years.

An algorithm is not going to be able to dial in your fit to within 10 mm. There is no point to obsessing over minute differences in the output from these sites. Just use them to get you in the ballpark, then pay attention to your body.

Yes, for example, if your hands are getting numb, it's often because you have too much weight on them. Improving core strength and adjusting stem extension can be a part of fixing this, but you should also experiment with moving the saddle back, i.e. increasing the saddle setback. You can do this by sliding the saddle back on the seatpost 5 mm at a time without modifying the tilt. You may find as the saddle goes back that the saddle needs to be lowered a little. You may find that 1 mm adjustments are not too small, for both the saddle height and the saddle setback.

If you have a frame that is within that 1.5 cm range that is essentially golden, for frame size. You need now to see if you can dial in your contact points (saddle support points, pedals, handlebars) with that frame. If you run into places where the frame or other parts limit you (I often find I want more saddle setback that I can get with a zero-setback seatpost), then you need to change parts or even the frame for fit reasons. I don't believe the calculators can set up in this much detail for the wide range of riders.