Do Not trust inside-out sports even though they are close to you. They wanna sell bikes regardless of fit.
I ride with four Ironman triathletes all summer who will gladly tell you the past failings they incountered there.

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Slow down or Go Around.

I will have to disagree with the last guy. I have purchased two QR bikes from Inside Out in Raleigh. The owner is a good guy who is a triathlete himself. They have very good service and want the best fit possible. I have also gone to the extreme of going to Louisiana and did not get any better fit than what I got at Inside Out. Besides, they are close enough so that if something needs to be tweaked you can have it done fairly easily.

Jason,

I know we are not real close, but come on down to Wilmington for a weekend. We have a huge selection of bikes to ride and good experience fitting.

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"Nothing in life ever just happens. Calculated progression insures your strength."
Shawn Spencer
Bike Cycles
Wilmington, NC
http://www.bikecycleshop.com

Jim O'Brien at Right Gear in Concord. No question about it. If you don't mind someone that is positive that his way is right, and someone that has worked with George Hincapie as well as two of the best amateur Time Trialists/road racers in the nation (Pat McCallion and Chris Harkey), he's your man. Very opinionated, very smart, very clever. He certainly got me on the right track, and speaking of the right track...you will find him helping out athletes at the Lowe's Motor Speedway time trials held by the local cycling club. I've been to a couple of other places around...Jim was the best for me.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Without doubt you need to go see Jim O'Brien at The Right Gear in Concord. I have also dealt with Inside-Out, but was tremendously displeased. He is not a dedicated triathlon shop like Inside-Out but is knowledge of cycling far surpasses that of Cid and company at Inside-Out. He is located just off I-85 at exit 58( Hwy 29). He is just north of the interstate (on the Home Depot side not the mall side). The website address is www.rightgear.net just make sure you call and set an appointment in advance to make sure Jim is there, and because the fitting will take quite a while as you would expect.

"knowledge of cycling far surpasses that of Cid and company at Inside-Out"

one may or may not prefer inside out, but it isn't possible to have knowledge of cycling that "far surpasses that of cid & co.," at least as regards tri bikes. no shop in NC has sold and serviced as many bikes to triathletes in the last decade as had cid's, and i doubt any shop owner has put as many miles on a tri bike as has cid. in tri bikes, he's probably got twice the number of transactions as whichever shop is in second place.

that doesn't mean you should or shouldn't go there, but whatever it is you might want to accuse inside out of, lack of knowledge and inexperience aren't among them. i'm not saying they have the breadth of knowledge in all sorts of bikes, nor the years of service in selling them, as other shops, but this thread is about tri bike fit.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I have to apologize if my last post came off as a little to anti- Inside Out Sports. I have had a lot of dealings with Cid and company over the last few years and am very grateful to have a dedicated Tri shop run by such experienced people, that supports the local triathlon scene so actively. I still shop there. Slowman I would have to agree that I/O has twice the volume of any other bike store in NC if not double or triple. I also agree that Cid has a tremendous amount of experience on a bicycle (hard to not say that about a man who has participated in RAAM.) However fitting a bike is not the same as riding a bicycle or selling a bicyle. I would dare to say that Lance Armstrong is not the best fitter in the world. He doesn't need to be. That is why he works with Cobb and focuses on and gets paid for riding the best. Cid also is not the one doing the fittings every time I have been in the stores. I/O does twice if not more volume than any other business and has mail order. Cid is always too busy on all the other aspects of the business, from what I have observed. That is why they have Mike as the Bike Sales manager. I have been fit by Mike, and the knowledge he demostrated when fitting me was certainly surpassed by that of Jim O'Brien. Maybe he was in a rush, but I had several thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket and left very un-satisfied, that was when I found the Right Gear. The Right Gear as noted is not a dedicated Triathlon shop, but they know fitting bicycles and work with a large number of triathletes. Last time I was in the store John Schneider (2nd Overall 2001 Great Floridian among other performances) was working on his fit with Jim just before my wife's appointment. Most importantly I would have to say that The Right Gear is a business that has a strong commitment to customer service. One case in point has been with pedal fitting. I went into Inside Out (not on a busy local race or expo race weekend, but on a weekday) and complained about the alignment of my pedal cleats and some ITB/ Knee pain. This is something I have never been able to figure out. I was told by Inside Out that the problem was my cleats were worn from running in them in the transitions (they've seen me race and know I'm not coordinated enough to put my feet in the shoes on the bike) and sold and installed a new pair of cleats. No improvement at all. Shortly later I did the same thing on a busy weekend at The Right Gear. Jim took the time to put me and my bike on a trainer, watched me pedal, then installed the special floating axis pedals on my bike and spent 20 minutes getting the positioning of the cleats so the rotation of my knee and the pedal axle are together. No more knee or ITB pain since. Slowman I think if you were to do a blind fitting test / eval such as you did at Nytro previously of both businesses you would recommend Right Gear. Maybe Inside Out has improved since they got their new spin scan (computrainer) system, but I would still recommend The Right Gear.

Since Inside-Out Sports was brought up in few postings, and since the original posting regarded bike fit, I felt compelled to clarify our bike fitting philosophy. We have been doing bike fits for almost 10 years now and about half of our fits are done on customers who either already owns a bike, or who purchased them somewhere else. We see bike fit as a service that is not necessarily tied to a bike sale, although every bike sale should involve a proper and thorough fit. We are not here just to sell a bike, but rather inform customers of the pros and cons of different bikes so they can make more educated choices.

We specialized in “triathlon fits”, which basically means that the rider is trying to maximize comfort, aerodynamics and power while riding on the aerobars. Our fitting technique has evolved over the years to where now we use a fit kit for taking consistent measurements and a Computrainer for feedback on wattage, pedal efficiency and heart rate.

We have always tried very hard to provide friendly and knowledgeable service, and if we ever fall short, we certainly would like to have the opportunity to make it right. All I can say is that if you can make the two-hour drive, you can experience our service for yourself. In order to provide an uninterrupted fit, we do try to work by appointments, but walk-ins are welcomed as well.

As far as fits in Charlotte, I have heard Jim O’Brien is a great guy who has a lot of experience.

Cid

I appreciate you taking the time to write your last posting clarifying your various experiences at Inside-Out Sports. You make some very valid points regarding your fitting experiences. I just wanted to say that I would welcome a blind fitting test/eval. This would probably be even more productive if the fit was done not by me, but by one of our other qualified bike fitters, since ultimately I take responsibility for their knowledge and skills. I would also appreciate all feedback following the fit (such as yours in this case), since that allows us to ultimately further improve our service and/or expand our knowledge on the subject.

Cid

Henk, I've been to all three places you mentioned. Bicycle Sport does pay attention, and they do a good job. Mike at Inside Out is one of the hardest working patient people that I've ever worked with...and he was quick to ask for Cid's opinion when Mike and I weren't sure about a change, and he will try his darndest to get you comfortable and properly fit. Jim O'Brian at Right Gear is "the boss". He pretty much knows what he knows and is sure of it. Whether or not his knowledge applies to your particular body or not, I don't know...but, he certainly got me set up to go faster. And corrected me when he saw me at a race not doing it the way he told me to do it...so, for me, his approach works extremely well...he wouldn't listen to any of my "reasons" for trying something different. He just made me get in the position that made me go faster.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Jason I'm a little late to the party but I want to put in my two cents for Thad Fischer at Bicycle Sport on Selwyn Ave. Thad has fitted me on two bikes in the past and did great. He has a roadie orientation historically but has studied the TT positions of Armstrong, Ullrich, etc and appreciates what the aero position is all about. He'll ask you about your riding/racing distances to decide about how aggressive your position should be and all takes into account age and flexibility and years in the sport, etc. He deals QR and also Trek tri bikes. He is THE high end road bike dealer in the CLT area if you want to go that way (pinarello, merck, colnago, merlin). Thad himself is quiet and meticulous in his nature but very focused and knowledgable. Service after the sale is good. Thad actually helped me sell a QR Private Reserve I had bought from Inside Out which did not fit me and cause my neck to spasm at exactly one hour of riding time no matter what type of riding I was doing. He cleaned my bike up and lined it up with his new QRs and sold it for me....only charged 10% of the sale price as his commission. Do give Thad a call and tell him Chip sent ya (don't worry, I have moved out of CLT and have no "incentive" program going with Thad!!)

by the way, how long have you been in CLT, and how's the riding?? have you checked out the Mint Hill area for training??