while i have a lot of respect for tom and his business (and if i lived in the detroit area, i'd certainly go to bikesport michigan), he makes some assumptions that aren't true for a lot of us.
1. there are decent bike shops in the area. for me this is true, there is one half-way decent bike shop in my area. they only sell trek and trek-owned brands (klein, gary fisher, etc.), but they (i guess i should say "we" because i have worked there over summers between grad school semesters) have 1 fantastic mechanic and a bunch of very good ones. there is another shop (they have 2 stores) in my area that is absolute trash. they know very little about road bikes, overcharge for everything ($9 tubes, $7 per foot of cable housing, etc.), and do poor mechanical service. so, i ended up at the one i work and shop at by default; the other one sucked.
2. the decent shops are interested in the triathlon market and know something about it. this is not true for me nor is it true for a lot of people who don't live in california, boulder, minneapolis, detroit, and a handful of other metropolitan areas. it's hard enough to find a shop outside of large cities that has employees who know something about road bikes, let alone tri bikes.
3. the shop has an employee who knows a lot about tri-bike fitting. the people at the shop where i have worked know a LOT about road bikes and a few of them are very excellent road bike fitters. but they don't know anything about tri-bike fitting and i end up doing the tri-bike fittings. how do i do them? well, i have spent a ton of time reading stuff dan has posted here on slowtwitch and the stuff tom has on his bikesport page, doing lots of trial and error, videotaping myself on my bike, comparing angles, power output, comfort, etc. it has taken a decent amount of trial and error, but i think i have a pretty good fit now. i agree with what has already been written: fit is about getting in the ballpark. so, i think i can get people in the ballpark, but i'm far from an expert fitter. if i were buying a $5000 time trial bike (which we don't sell), i wouldn't want to be fit by me.
4. we can afford to buy new bikes at retail prices. yes, i know that there are many people on this forum who have plenty of money (and i like them because i buy their used stuff), but there are many who are deciding between a used felt s32 and a used QR kilo, not between a new p3c and a new bmc time machine. i personally can't afford to spend retail for even a cheap tri-bike. but i can find some pretty nice frames on ebay to build up with parts from other bikes and get a "new" bike for $400 or $500.
i agree with tom that fit is very important. but for some of us, flying to michigan or california to get fit isn't an option. for such people, or for people who can't afford the cost of a professional fitting, if they're willing to spend some time with trial and error, taking some video, looking at angles made by the parts of their body, etc., they can end up with a decent fit.
1. there are decent bike shops in the area. for me this is true, there is one half-way decent bike shop in my area. they only sell trek and trek-owned brands (klein, gary fisher, etc.), but they (i guess i should say "we" because i have worked there over summers between grad school semesters) have 1 fantastic mechanic and a bunch of very good ones. there is another shop (they have 2 stores) in my area that is absolute trash. they know very little about road bikes, overcharge for everything ($9 tubes, $7 per foot of cable housing, etc.), and do poor mechanical service. so, i ended up at the one i work and shop at by default; the other one sucked.
2. the decent shops are interested in the triathlon market and know something about it. this is not true for me nor is it true for a lot of people who don't live in california, boulder, minneapolis, detroit, and a handful of other metropolitan areas. it's hard enough to find a shop outside of large cities that has employees who know something about road bikes, let alone tri bikes.
3. the shop has an employee who knows a lot about tri-bike fitting. the people at the shop where i have worked know a LOT about road bikes and a few of them are very excellent road bike fitters. but they don't know anything about tri-bike fitting and i end up doing the tri-bike fittings. how do i do them? well, i have spent a ton of time reading stuff dan has posted here on slowtwitch and the stuff tom has on his bikesport page, doing lots of trial and error, videotaping myself on my bike, comparing angles, power output, comfort, etc. it has taken a decent amount of trial and error, but i think i have a pretty good fit now. i agree with what has already been written: fit is about getting in the ballpark. so, i think i can get people in the ballpark, but i'm far from an expert fitter. if i were buying a $5000 time trial bike (which we don't sell), i wouldn't want to be fit by me.
4. we can afford to buy new bikes at retail prices. yes, i know that there are many people on this forum who have plenty of money (and i like them because i buy their used stuff), but there are many who are deciding between a used felt s32 and a used QR kilo, not between a new p3c and a new bmc time machine. i personally can't afford to spend retail for even a cheap tri-bike. but i can find some pretty nice frames on ebay to build up with parts from other bikes and get a "new" bike for $400 or $500.
i agree with tom that fit is very important. but for some of us, flying to michigan or california to get fit isn't an option. for such people, or for people who can't afford the cost of a professional fitting, if they're willing to spend some time with trial and error, taking some video, looking at angles made by the parts of their body, etc., they can end up with a decent fit.