Compare your Stack/Reach to the size Shiv you are looking at to see if you are within range.

I'm not sure I understand how to do that. In my fit report, it shows my reach as 638 and I assume I need to subtract the saddle fore/aft value which leaves me with 612. The frame reach numbers[1] are significantly below that. I've been trying to read some of the articles on ST and make sense of my fit report numbers, but I don't get it yet.


[1] https://www.specialized.com/...-mid-compact/p/38075

your prior fit was for a tri bike?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Yes. I bought a used Felt B12 (54cm) when I first started triathlons and went to a fitter with the bike.

do i understand correctly that you went in with pads lower than your saddle and you went out with pads higher than your saddle?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

The pads have been below the saddle before and after the fit.

Here's a link to a before and after picture of the fit. https://imgur.com/a/tr0Oh

then, i don't understand the fit report. because, the "drop" numbers, before and after, correspond to nothing i can recognize.

let me ask you this. are you comfortable in your current position? because if so, the thing to do is accurately measure the pad x/y on your current bike and then calc out the config on the shiv you're looking at. or, also get the pad x/y of that bike. and compare. with the pad x/y of your desired position the world is your oyster.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

But just looking at your saddle height, because most of the rest of it doesn’t make any sense, it is highly unlikely that you would need a large shiv. But as dan already said your drop goes from a negative value before fit suggesting a drop and after fit it is a positive value.

What issues did you have that you needed 2 and 3 pedal washers. 3 on the right side means not a lot of pedal axle left in the crank. You didn’t try a shorter crank during the fit?

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I'll give it a try.

I was going to measure the bike on my own, but then I decided to reach out to the fitter at least as a matter of principle. I'm glad I did. He was nice enough to invite me back in to update my fit and measure the bike for me. We got my stack and reach numbers and took a look at the bikes I'm interested in to dial in the size I should shoot for, had a good talk about what to look for in a cockpit, and discussed a future fit update. All in all it was a good experience and I now have some more usable numbers and understand a little more about how to apply them to bike shopping.

here is where you are, if you assume that adding 40mm or so to pad x/y (rear) gives us pad x/y center. you're that lavendar square.



this is not anything i'd be surprised about considering your saddle is 15cm behind the bottom bracket.

i'm really at a loss. i don't know what to say. i ride well back, rearward, on my ROAD bike and my saddle nose is maybe 90mm behind the BB. yours is 152mm behind the BB. okay, you get extra distance if you're riding a split-nose, like an ISM. but, really! do you have T Rex arms? i know guys like that. when the check arrives. are you that guy? just, are you REALLY that guy? because, unless there's something alarmingly wrong, i don't understand these fit metrics.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

In your photos, that ISM saddle is not 15cm behind the bottom bracket (not even close), nor are the pads higher than the seat. Something isn't gel'ing here. Did I miss something? Looking at the wrong photos?

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

Yeah, looking further at those numbers more closely, something was way off during the measurement. If you take the nose of the saddle to the back of the pad, and then subtract the saddle setback, the actual bb to arm pad reach should be around 453, not 316. From the photos, clearly the saddle is not -15cm, nor are the pads above the saddle. Yowza! Never seen anything like that before.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

i suspect it was mismeasurement, not necessarily a problem with the fit. tho, not by any means saying the fit is good. just, hard to imagine anyone ending up with those numbers.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

LOL. I assure you I have normal, non-T-Rex arms.

Thanks for taking a look guys. I guess two things need to happen, 1) I need to go ahead and measure the bike and 2) I need to find another fitter.