I’ve decided to splurge for my first TT bike and am scheduled to get a bike fitting at a bike store next week. When I told the person who will be fitting me that I was 6’ 4" and 185 lbs he said that in order to get a good fit I might have to get a custom bike. So, before I meet with him I was hoping to get some unbiased feedback.
Last year I had my road bike (Cannondale R2000) fitted (seat and aero bars) to put me in position similar to a TT bike. As part of the fitting they put me through some flexibility tests and I was told that I am very flexible which should allow for a more aggressive position.
Are there any general rules of thumb about the size of a person and when they should go the custom route? I only plan on competing in Olympic distance triathlons (for some reason I have no interest in anything longer) and last year my 40K times ranged from 1:05 - 1:09. This year I’d like to be consistantly below 1:05.
Hard to say as some 6’4" guys have a 32 inch inseam and others have a 38. They probably wouldn’t be able to ride the same bike without a huge stem difference. Not knowing you , I would think you need to look really close at the head tube length as some tall guys get the seat jacked way up there and the bars are pretty low because the head tube is too short. That makes for a bike that is hard to work with. I am 6 feet with a 31 inseam and my best buddy on the mainland is 6’4" and has a 37 inseam. I can ride his bike because my torso is actually longer than his, I just lower the seat to my fit, and his sloping geometry allows me to reach the ground standing. He has a hard time on my bike as there is a huge drop in the seat height to bar height when he jacks the saddle up another 6 inches. His head tube is around 18cm and mine is 14-15 ish. Good shopping G
I’m 6’7" and 200lbs and have a 38 inch inseam. I ride a 61cm p2k with the seat post flipped forward and a virtual seat tube angle of about 79 degrees. I put 180 cranks and a slightly longer than stock stem but it’s stock other than that. My seat to pad drop is about 6.5 inches so I only need 1.5 cm of spacers under the stem. I would say you don’t need a custom.
Agreed. I’m 6’4", 235 (guess I need to be on the diet thread…), roughly 36" inseam, and also ride a 61cm p2k. It’s amazingly comfortable, and fits like a glove. My drop is significantly less than yours, though. I had 4.5cm under the stem until a few weeks ago, when I dropped it by 1cm.