I like to learn through trial and error, and damn it's pricey, but in the end self sufficiency is priceless...

Fer instance...I've been dicking around with my reach and cockpit, stem, bars, etc..

Today's opportunity was provided by the realization that I'm playing with a very tight margin and need to go back to the drawing board...

Never, evuh, wrap yer bars until you are utterly convinced your hoods are where you need them.

The upside to trashing a finely done shop wrap job?

Taking the old tape and learning how to wrap the damned bars myself!

taping the bars is a piece of cake.

Agreed.

I don't think self-fitting is a great idea. You can't actually see how the fit is changing your position, and most people don't know what to look for anyway.

In other respects, if you're mechanically inclined then go for it. I am not, so for me developing mechanical skills is a waste of my time. My time is also valuable to me, so I have no qualms in letting someone with experience work on it.

Sounds like you are having quite an adventure. What are the tight margins you mentioned? Fitting margins? If you are getting that close, and it really matters, then finding a good fitter should be your next move. However, having experienced riders with you giving immediate feedback as you ride is also valuable. They can watch your leg extension, rocking hips, back profile, arm profiles, etc. And for sure no one but you knows when the fit is really really comfortable. I took my own advice, shorted the cockpit significantly and no more feeling stretched out. Also then lowered the bars. Same with the seat, pedal clips, hood positions. Ride until you notice something is off, no matter how far that is, and then adjust.

And once I get it all set up, I'll probably go in for a fitting just to see what changes the fitter suggests. Might be educational. And might just be backwards.

Doing all your own maintenance is as you said, priceless. Even if you take the bike into the LBS, you will know when the job is muffed or done right.

Just had that same experience myself. I had gotten a new ergo bar and was uncertain how best to position it's angle compared to the old regular curved ones. I ended up having to add more and more angle, about 3 times, and each time I'd have to unwrap the damn tape, shuffle the hoods, and then spend 10 minutes staring at the hoods doing the "are they level? They aren't. No they are, I'm just crazy. No wait they aren't" routine. My only solace was that the next time I need to set up a new cockpit I'll be a pro.

IMHO it is well worth it to learn to work on your own bicycle. If you can work on the bike it is not a big deal to try different things with fit, gearing, etc.. Plus if you learn to work on your own bikes they will always be in great mechanical condition. At the first sign of a funny noise, missed shift, or strange/loose feeling somewhere you can figure out the problem and fix it. On the other hand I guess some people have no interest (or ability) in mechanical things outside of using them, so to each his/her own.

I don't tape the bars until after I've ridden it a few times, and take tools to make adjustments mid-ride.

There you have it.

Agreed on the self fitting but, I can feel what's off with my posture and such in terms of comfort. I do have a fitter and will be going back to him next week. The other upside is due to the experience I can speak better to him and hopefully garner results.

My cockpit isn't as comfortable as I'd like it to be, I like being in the drops, but the hoods seem a bit far away and I'm on the elbows of the bars. My stem is 90mm 0 degrees with spacers below. What I wanted to achieve is being able to stretch out a bit more in the drops and have a smidge less twitchy feeling in the front end. I'm starting to think that my frames top tube length is about 10-20mm too much, not allowing for compensation up front. I do have a set back post...

I do need to get involved with a group of riders...hopefully this Summer.


lmao, yup!

Agreed, it saves money and in the end you can really tailor things to yourself. I do most of the typical maintenance on my musical instruments as well.

That was the lesson learned.

I used the same tape on the bike when I handlebar off old frame to new frame and unwarpped and rewrapped after installing new cables. No issues. But maybe that's because Fizik Performance tape is awesome.

You might see if a local LBS will let you try a 70mm 7 or 17 deg stem, maybe flipped. As long as there isn't any damage, they have nothing to lose, and neither do you. Doesn't hurt to try.

Your cockpit mis-fit echos the problems I had with 2 bikes, so One is fixed the other is yet to be tested. I'm not the same as I was when I received my '75 Sekine (in '75). I felt streched a bit. So pulled the front curve of the bars back by a full 50 mm by getting different bars and went to a 60-ish mm quill stem. Then I actually lowered the bars another 10 mm and walla! The frame is too long for my comfort, so the drastic short bar/stem combo actually gave me better control.

Next is my newer bike a 25 mm shorter effective length in the top tube, threadless stem, but the 105 brifter hoods are longer than on my Sekine. I switched out the 100 mm 7 deg stem for a 75 mm 7 deg flipped stem but haven't had a chance to test it yet. I wanted a 17 deg flipped stem just so I get lower without removing lots more spacers. Aesthetics, I know.

Down and back can be a good thing. You will here folks say a short stem is twitchier, but most reading I've done says you get used to it pretty quick, and actually I had better control because of less stretch - probably because of low core strength.

Dregs, I really like the Eleven81 stems on Ebay for fit experimentation. They're like $20 each shipped, and are fairly light.

Thx Jiggle... Will look into it... I'm seeing my fitter on Friday... I'm sure to be enlightened...

I'm using Fizik 3mm performance... Good stuff.

That Fizik tape is all I use. I hate spongy tape. It's also easier to wrap.