I had my first and only bike fit about a year ago. This summer, I plan to do a fit with help from Slowtwitch experts, and I may go to a local fitter as well. I think I am giving away a lot of speed in my position, and my fit was my first experience on a tri bike in my life. I suspect that I may be able to hold a better and more aero position today than I could a year ago.

So, like all things, I think it is wise to continuously question whether something is optimized and then compare the cost to benefit for an improvement. This is easier for bikes and parts. It is really hard to question how optimized you are in your fit.

Last one was 5 years ago before I bought my BMC TM01. It fit great then; fits great now, so why should I pay $250 a year for some minor JUDGMENTAL tweak? I'm not a freaking pro and this is just a hobby. If I start to struggle to stay in the aerobars for a full IM, or get a new bike, then it will be time.

I don't think it needs to be annually.


If I know what bike will fit I get one after I get a new bike. If I need help finding the right bike I get a pre purchase fit before buying a bike.

I go back for short refits if I experience discomfort (pain or numbness). Depending on your fitter or how long ago you got your fit these should be free or much cheaper than a full fitting.

Other than that I have net felt the need to go back and get fully refit to any of my bikes I have already been fit on.

My flexibilty and weight have been pretty stable the last few years. It is possible that if in a year my body changed significantly maybe I lost a bunch of weight or got alot more flexible it might be worth it to get fit again.

I don't think it makes much sense to put a number on this.
If nothing has changed significantly, why would you bother with a fit? I would view a fit as being an opportunity to find anything significantly wrong. Major issues are not going to appear from no-where just because a year has passed. If for some reason you mess around with your position a lot then it would be wise to keep track of where you started and what you tried along the way. Then after a while, have a look back and see if you're far from where you started. If so, and if you're not happy, a new fit might be warranted to verify if you're changes are appropriate. Otherwise, I'd say minor changes to provide improved comfort actually trump the original fit so as long as you're not doing anything extreme or silly, why go back? If you've gained/lost significant weight or have been working a lot on your flexibility/core strength and think there's room for improvement but don't know how to realise it yourself, then maybe go for a re-fit.

I guarantee my bike fits for as long as you own the bike, so I might be able to provide a unique perspective.

I think a lot depends on where you are in your triathlon/riding career. If you've never had a fit or are relatively new to the type of bike you are being fit on, I would expect (and I encourage) people to follow-up within a few months for some tweaks.

From there, it kind of depends on what you're reacting to - if your body isn't changing much, you probably don't need to change the bike much. An injury or weight change are both very good reasons to revisit your fit. Equipment changes like a new saddle, front end, or different crank arm length are all good reasons to revisit the fit. When I fit people, we often develop a long-term plan that might include those changes in the future. Short cranks is a good example of this - that's a big upgrade that might not necessarily be in the budget at the time of the initial fit, but we can discuss it, consider it, and plan for it in the future.

The fitter you work with will potentially influence your "need" to get fit again, too. My lifetime guarantee is something that opens that door a bit (and I'm surprised how many people forget they have it available to them). I often deal with people who want to experiment with what we did, or maybe have been to another fitter and weren't completely confident that they got the best fit. It's all good stuff, and having a fitter who is open to updates or at least communication in that regard will help (I have customers from 7 different states, so sometimes, I'm guiding changes over the phone, via e-mail, or via their local bike shop. My documentation has really evolved because of that). Sometimes, I confirm what the other fitter or I did and we end up in the same place. Sometimes, we end up in a little bit different place. In either case, it's important that I communicate the hows and whys of that to you. I feel every one of my customers is a student of bike fitting, so it's important to let them know why we arrived where we are and why we didn't go where we might have gone.

I don't know if that really answers your question or not, but I hope it's some useful food for thought!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

It is not necessary to be refit annually.

However, it is a good idea to check that the setup on the bike has kept position: droopy armpads (or wornout armpads), saddle tilt, saddle 'creeping' back in the rails, or saddle height slipping down. That is why you should have your numbers from your Fitter, and that Fitter should provide them again if you've lost them.

As Travis has said, I too guarantee my fits, and am always open to revisit or investigate a change desired by the rider. Sometimes people lose weight, sometimes people gain weight. Sometimes an injury crops up that necessitates an adjustment on the bike.

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Anne Barnes
ABBikefit, Ltd
FIST/SICI/FIST DOWN DEEP
X/Y Coordinator
abbikefit@gmail.com

I see most of my elite clients annually. Many of the others, when they achieved a particular goal. Injuries occur sometimes too. Changes with our fit, this is when you go for a "re-fit"

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Robert Driskell
Certified Master Body Geometry fit Technician
Certified Master Retul Fit Technician
Zipp Service Course Specialist
Bikes Plus Pensacola Florida

It depends, but certainly subsequent bike fits *should* have diminishing returns assuming you are going to the same fitter and that fitter is competent. Frequently when an athlete comes in for a fit a year or two later we'll see that seatposts slip, aerobars slip, etc. and can correct them. We also can work on posture improvements and take advantage of the year or more's worth of data/feedback to make further improvements.

But at some point, once things are dialed and posture is good, as long as the configuration of the bike remains the same, there's not much value in another fit session.

At the end of the day, most long course triathletes ride way too much to allow apprehension of the cost of a fit prevent them from the peace of mind of knowing things are set up like they should be. Most riders don't discern well between the "my fit is off" pain and "this is supposed to hurt" pain, and that's where a good fitter can be of help.

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Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)

I think that's an important point. I was playing around with the idea of upgrading something on my bike this year... nothing major, but maybe some TriRig brakes or something along those lines. I thought about it and decided the best thing I can do is get fit and make sure everything is dialed in... so I'm going to see Anne on Friday. I think there will be a far greater return on investment from a proper fitting in terms of both time savings and comfort compared to just about anything else I can do. Hopefully I won't need to see her for awhile as she's about 3 hours away, but I'm confident that she will help me with any minor tweaks over the phone, email, etc. and if necessary I'll go back and see her next year when I finally get rid of this spare tire I'm carrying around.

What's a bike fit?

But seriously tho'. I got a P2K about 13 years ago so I got a fit. Back then there were no fit bikes or whatever. I went to the LBS with a trigeek on staff. He made all the correct noises and fitted me for free since I'd just bought a road bike there. Freakin' horrible fit, that hurt my body in places I didn't know could hurt. The bike was almost unrideable. I'd hit my knees on the back of the elbow pads when I was riding aero. Every single pedal stroke.

I re-read everything Slowman has ever written bike fit and did it myself, with assistance from a buddy of mine. I don't know how close I got to perfection, but it was safe, stable, comfortable enough to maintain the position for long periods and faster than I'd ridden before. I suspect my seat was too high ;-) but it worked pretty well.

I've broken my back twice (with distortion to several vertebra, as well as disc damage (suffering from that right now) so I'll never be super comfortable on a bike, but my do at home version worked pretty darned well thanks to Slowman. Go Dan!

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Thanks for the replies and different perspectives. I've changed my aero bar positions and seat but all still feels comfortable. I got my previous fit from the bike barn fit studio where they used some program by specialized. I just want to be in the "best" position I can. Anyway I'll probably just tweak it on my own for now.