No upgrade is going to make you faster than a proper fit. Nothing. The sum of all upgrades will probably not be as fast as proper fit.
If they are really good, use them and then you can shop the various bikes knowing exactly what size you need.
Then you can do your shopping knowing you are getting the bike that fits you best, not the closest to your fit the dealer has.

IF the fitter is good, that $300 is the best investment you will make.

If I were going to spend 4k on a bike I would go and do a real fit before I bought the bike. I'd try to find a place that has a good fitter and a fit bike system such as Retul Muve or Guru etc... Based on those coordinates I would try to find the frame that best fits me in the best configuration i.e. not a ton of stem spacers or some ridiculous stem lengths etc... This is what you want and not some bike shop guy selecting a frame based on your height or some shit like that.

I'd also look at what bars come with each bike and make sure they can be adjusted to fit your coordinates. I would also ask them to fit me in a racing position and not a "beginner" type that is too upright and not aero. You don't need a whole lot of flexibility to have a decent position that is aero, comfortable and allows you to put out the most power and have a good run.

You may be just a "runner" now but if you're going to spend that much money on a bike might as well just go all in and do it right the first time. Otherwise, in a few months when you decide that this triathlon thing is cool you don't want to find that your frame is too small/big or your position sucks or because you went for the cheapo bike fit you are now injured etc... Depending on the bike shop the included fit is most of the time a joke. The sales guy wants you to buy a bike and not necessarily the one that will be best for you in the long run and you will still want to ride if you get serious about triathlon.

x2000

A proper fitting is the difference between being able to train and race and constant, nagging injuries that will make your life miserable. Your choice.

Later!

Brian

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Swim. Bike. Run. Repeat as necessary.
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$300 is about what I paid for a retul fit. I am not sure if podium offers this but I will describe what they did with me so you know what to expect for your $300.

First we talked about my riding style and what my goals were for the year. Then they put the bike up on a trainer and measured it using the retul system. They put me on the bike and put a bunch of sensors on my body and video'd me riding. This allowed us to look at my biomechanics. If you have ever seen computer animation where they fit up an actor in a suit and record his/her motions, this is similar to what you see doing this type of fit. The computer recorded all my measurements (hip angle etc) and we looked at this and discussed how my current fit was (mine was actually pretty good) and the potential problems I might see. I was getting aero bars fitted on my bike so they recommended that I change my body position to get me closer to the handlebars. The seat post on my bike is angled backwards so they turned that around and adjusted the saddle a bit. Put me back on the bike with the aero bars, measured again, moved the bars, measured again. We got all the angles about as good as we could and they gave me fit markings on the bike in case I needed to take it apart. When it was all said and done they gave me two PDF documents with my measurements and bio-mechanics, one for a road fit and one for a tri fit. They noticed one of my feet was flatter than the other so they put insoles in my shoes; which was a nice upgrade. The whole process took about 2.5 hours.

If that isn't broadly similar to what they are selling, look for another shop.

I have had two fits both I thought were a waiste of money. One was the older type with measuring everything. They did okay but don't think it was worth the money. The second one I did a lot of research to find somebody that came highly recommended. I talked to him on the phone and told him what I wanted. So I drove 10 hours to Boulder. It was a retul fit and was looking to get the print out of the possible bikes that would work. I didn't tell him but I had planned on buying a P5 and a S3 from them. They put me on the fit bike and he spent about 10 mins eye balling a road position and and anouther 10 for a tt position and said I was good. Spent a total of 2 or 3 minutes pedaling. When asked for print out of bikes they said they did not have that capability. So I spent 20 hrs driving to receive around 20 minutes of a guy to eye ball me and take the electronic measurement and say I was done. I did not buy the bikes there

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with fitting, especially in Boulder.

A worthwhile fit is completely worth the money, but its hard knowing what a worthwhile fit is. At times even a great place cannot meet the needs or expectations of an individual. The one thing that I'd ask is that everyone is completely up front with everything they want. This helps to facilitate communication between both parties.

To the OP-
In my experience, the "fit" that you receive with the purchase of a bike is barely worth the name. Often these are "sizings" to help make sure you're on the correct size frame, adjust seat height and maybe change the stem. A true fit is signficantly more involved and depending on the person, significantly more important.

I'll echo the individual who said to be fit PRIOR to buying the bike. In our clinic we offer a 2-part "Size Cycle" fit where we utilize our SICI size cycle, help position you appropriately and choose an appropriate bike. After you purchase the bike, we have you come back in for all the finishing touches (stance width etc) that we need to have the actual bike for. Often these 2-part fits are a touch more expensive, but one of the most heart breaking things is to tell someone their beautiful brand new bike isn't going to fit them without significant modifications.

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The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

Agree with others, get a prebuy fit to make sure you buy a bike that is optimal for you. Best money you can spend in the bike buying process but one folks seem most reluctant to do.

This blog post my be informative for you.

I've have fits done buy 5 different folks and use Todd who wrote that blog post last 2.

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I figured that a free fit would be basic, but I guess I thought basic size/bar/seat measurements would be enough. It sounds like that may not always be the case.

To answer a few questions that came up:

• I planned to get fit before buying anything. I was just hoping to get that fit at the store where I could credit it towards the bike.
• Podium's $300 fit is done on a Purely Custom Fit Bike, and all of the reviews & testimonials I have read say that Matt spends a lot of time getting the fit right (plan for 2 hours), he asks a ton of questions, and encourages you to do the same
• To sp1ke's point, my goal for a new TT bike is to get one that I will be as happy with 5 years from now as I am the day I buy it. While I would love to live the n+1 bike mantra, the reality is that I will likely have one bike & one bike only for a while (hence getting a TT & skipping the roadie). I don't want to get a bike that will be good enough for a year & then need to replace it in 2016 with something new. That said, I'm not looking for a top end Dura-Ace Di2 P5 with 808s.
• To patsullivan6630...wow, that's an awesome breakdown of what to expect from a $300 fit. I will definitely lay that out before I do any fitting to see how it compares to what I would actually get.

I agree that is why we talked beforehand and one of the reasons I choose Boulder. Here is the totality of the tt fit. Get on bike use same seat height, lower bars. He lowered them twice to get my back flat. I thought he was going to use that for a base line. He had me get off and he took the measurements. He then said we were done. I said really and he said that was all. Well since there was no questions like do you have any mobility limitations, (I learned later he should ask or I should volunteer info) he didn't know my neck was fused and could not see the ground in front of the wheel in that position I could barely see the front of the wheel. At that point I just asked for the printout we had talked about getting from him and he said they didn't do that after I had confirmed it before hand on the phone. I decided to cut my loses and just leave. I didn't think it was done correct but wasn't knowledgeable enough to discuss it. I know a lot more now, but those were my experiences.

Not a great experience, although I don't believe this is the norm as far as Retul fits go. My experience as far as Retul fits go is more akin to Pats. Although, I had purchased my bike before my fit, it was defintately the best investment I have made. I have a large PDF with all my measurements etc, so can use that to make my decision when buying future bikes.

Same here. My fit experience took about 2, 2.5 hours all told and I have a printout with all the various measurements completely laid out.

marcag has it completely right. If your fit sucks, the aero helmet and wetsuit that the 300 bucks could have gotten you won't mean much.

Heres what you do:
Budget: $4000
Fit - $300
Find $3500-5,000 bike that can match coordinates.
Go back 2-3 years (or even 4ish) and get said 4k bike for $1200. You are riding a mountain bike, anything is going to be a humongous improvement.
Spend 1500-2000 on upgrades, race wheels, powertap, etc.
Enjoy.

As an example, you can get a 2009/2010 B2 pro (top of the line at the time, IIRC Millar won a midrange tour event on one) off of eBay currently for 1500ish. If you go to a 2011 B16, it's the same frame and you can get it even cheaper (I think one went in the classifieds here recently for under 1k sans wheels and pedals).

Edit - There is also currently a 2010 B2 pro with Zipp 404/808 combo for $2200 on ebay right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/...e=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123


John

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That's my plan to somewhat of a lesser extent. Instead of going the eBay or CL route for a 2-4 year old bike, I'm looking to buy in the Fall when the season is ending/over & the 2015 bikes are showing up. Stores looking to dump old inventory of 2013 or 2014 bikes will be my target. Obviously I want the right bike, but to your point, coming off a MTB & being brand new to tri bikes, I don't need the bleeding edge of technology to see a massive improvement. Also, there is something reassuring about buying your first bike (especially as a novice) from a store where you know you are the first owner (no concerns over if it has ever been crashed or if it isn't authentic), you know the warranty is valid for the full term, and you usually get a level of service after the sale (i.e. tuneups & repairs included).

Wherever you get the objective fit at - ask them if you can get a discount on the actual bike fitting when you go back there with your new bike. I'm sure they would love to get the business and that way you're ensuring your fit is consistent from pre-to post bike purchase.

Agree with all the above as I was asking the exact same question on a TT bike fit about 8 months ago. Have put untold miles on the bike so far this year, not to mention a few races and NO biking related injuries. $300 was a lot to swallow then especially facing the multiple thousand I was going to drop on a bike..but as you're being told above..it's absolutely worth it.

Good luck!