I had a fit there recently and frankly that wasn’t my experience with him at all. They give 2 hours for a fitting and have people booked solid (at least on the weekends) so there won’t be much extra time if something needs to be done. In my case I already had the bike but Matt recommended that we do the fit on the Exit bike anyway. That is fine but it meant that they had to take off my aerobars which ate into the time we had for the fitting. I also decided with another guy in the store that my shoes were too big so we had to change out my cleats. No fault of theirs but it again ate into our fit time. I’m also not a big fan of the fact that they have their fit area right in the middle of the store. Other customers kept asking Matt questions throughout the fit which just felt distracting. By the time we got to the fit I was surprised that we did very little in the ways of warming up (there just wasn’t much time). My feeling from having worked with 5 other fitters over the last few years including John Cobb just a few months ago on a different bike was that this fit was all about going by the FIST book with regards to getting angles right. We set my seat up at 79 degrees and that was it. Everything else was just kind of set from there. We fiddled a bit with seat height and the height of my aerobars but that was about it. To me the most disappointing part of the fit was how little we did to address the cleat/pedal interface. When John fit me we spent probably 80% or more of the time getting that right. The cleat position really dictated how he set me up from there. In this fit Matt made zero adjustments to the pedals and definitely didn’t have them set up the way John did. Each fitter is different so no biggie except since I have had this fitting I have had knee and hamstring issues (I think Matt had me too high). This is the first fit that I have ever had where there was any pain associated post fit.
To be fair we just didn’t have enough time. I didn’t even get a chance to test the bike out after my bars were put back on the bike and the fit adjustments were made. The shop was closed and it was time to go. I really like the guys at All3Sports (Matt too) and I’m sure that Matt is an excellent fitter. I’m certain if I brought this up to them they would address it. But the fit put me in a pretty good position (a testament to the FIST system and Matt) and I just feel that I’ll save my self a lot of time and gas just dialing the rest of the fit in myself. I only post this because I think my experience was quite different from yours and someone about to drop big money for a fit should have your experience rather than mine. If you are getting fit there try to do it during the week when you really might have more time. And definitely don’t leave until you have a chance to ride your bike and make sure it feels right.
Yes, two different experiences. I made my appointment on a Monday because I know how hectic that it can get in there on the weekends.
The specialty retail business can be very trying on the weekends. When I worked with Fleet Feet, Saturdays were a zoo and it became very hard to give the level of service that every customer deserves.
Maybe they will give Matt his own studio to work out of one day!
They were talking about setting the studio up in the back which might have been better. Since they invested a ton of money in the retul system though I’m sure they want the exposure to advertise it to their customers (Oooh, what are they doing over there. Retul. Cool I want that).
I think they are doing some cool stuff there and the shop is getting better all the time. The new president (Morgan) is super cool and doing a great job. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a location in the city someday because that is a long drive for us city folk.
Hands down, Matt Russ at The Sport Factory. He’s an expert-level cycling coach and will give you the best bike fit in the Southeast. He’s been my coach for several years and I can’t say enough about the guy. Personally, he’s gotten me very aggressive, but I’m the most comfortable I’ve ever been. You WON’T be disappointed with Matt Russ. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
~amy
We do not and have not used Dartfish as a fitting tool. This simply does not work. You cannot look at angles from the outside of the body and hope to accurately track where the joints are underneath the skin. We use Dartfish as a tool teach better techniques. It allows us to show you your movements and help you visualize how to improve those movements. We use the WN Precision (aka Wobble Naught) methodology for fitting and technique instruction. Religion does not play into our fitting in any way.
We are serious mountain bikers, I race where my sponsorships have lead me. Namrita is a mountain biker and also a triathlete. Many of our clients are triathletes. I have been studying fitting and technique instruction for the last 6 years and have worked with clients from a wide range of back grounds and with a wide range of goals. I understand the differences that each genre of cycling would need, i.e. road, mountain, cyclocross, track, TT and tri (IM vs shorter races). Each one is different. If one individual were to bring me a bike for each of the sports listed above, each bike would have different constrains and the techniques taught for each one would differ. My personal racing endeavors does not detract from my ability to provide a high quality service.
Opps, I was replying to fatbastardtris’s question about seat tube angles, dart fish and my racing background vs fitting ability. I am the owner of 55nine Performance in Atlanta.
I know Matt is fitting in the area somewhere, i believe on his own now with a purley custom fit bike. I have heard some really good things about what he is doing, i’d check that out.
Had a fit done by Cole once. He said after the fit he needed to put shims on one my shoes because of a leg length difference, so I would need to come back to pick them up. When I came back to get them he said he bought longer screws at Home Depot because of the shims.He was with another client so when I got home and tried the shoes on they had been tightened all the way through the carbon fiber and were about a quarter inch into the shoe! The screws were the wrong size so the shoes were ruined. His response was “I guess I might have gotten too long of screws.” I have had four other fits since and not one fitter has said I have a leg length discrepancy.
Do a little research on what type of fit system you want to use. Gary Lucero at All3Sports uses Retul, Eddie at 55Nine uses Wobble Naught (which I think is really interesting, plus he throws in some very good pedal stroke instruction), and Matt Russ at The Sport Factory trained at Serotta. I’ve had full scale fits by the Gary and Eddie and tweaks by Matt and I think they’re all extremely knowledgeable. Good luck!
I have the same question and since this is 5 years old I thought I would ask if it is still good info. Live in North atlanta
Thanks
Look into Curtis Henry at Cannon Cyclery in Roswell. He trained under John Cobb, is as nice a guy as you will meet, and won’t allow you to settle for anything less than complete satisfaction.