For the budget-tight riders out there: any tips to ensure that you’re in an appropriate fit for the tri bike? Experiencing neck tenderness often (short rides included).
If you have an iOS device, you may try “Bike Fast Fit” (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bike-fast-fit/id710935084?mt=8).
Review here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/automated-measurement-review.html
I don’t 
but thanks for the post!
There are a lot of videos on YouTube. Search for the"TT bike fit" channel. No easy guides but if you watch a lot you’ll learn quite a bit of theory which helps when making tweaks down the road.
With regards to your neck, get used to looking “up” with your eyes. When in aero I can see the bottom of my eyebrows.
For the budget-tight riders out there: any tips to ensure that you’re in an appropriate fit for the tri bike? Experiencing neck tenderness often (short rides included).
I can appreciate the $$$ issue, but if you take funds from just 1 race or piece of equipment to get a decent fit, it will be worth it. Then you can play with the IOS app Bikefit (which is great) but get a baseline to start and then fine tune it.
As for whats online, tons of great stuff out there, but I’m assuming your experience is little so don’t get caught following the online agressive fitting from the onset. Build to it from your initial fitting.
Trust me, it will be worth it.
Read the online fit guides around angles (TTbikeFit, Slowtwitch, etc.), take video of yourself and use Kinovea (free software) to measure those angles. This was advice from the great Cody Beals, and it’s worked amazing for me.
I used Bike Fast Fit to do my initial fitting on a new bike earlier this summer. It took quite a bit of time to get setup correctly as I made singular adjustments, shot video rinsed and repeated till I got a desired comfortable fit. I rode like this for a month or so and then went in for a RETUL fit. The fitter made 2 adjustments to my fit, shimmed my left cleat 5mm (left leg is a bit shorter than the right) and raised the saddle 5mm. He was really impressed that I had gotten myself dialed in as much as I had. However, the changes he made did a world of difference for me. My left foot no longer goes numb and I’m even more comfortable than I had been.
I think if done correctly Bike Fast Fit is a good tool to do a rough fit, for $5.00 you can’t go wrong. However it can’t replace a fit done by a knowledgeable professional. With the amount of money that we spend on our bikes I think the price of a RETUL (or a comparable system) is cheap and makes one of the biggest differences on the bike.
Read the online fit guides around angles (TTbikeFit, Slowtwitch, etc.), take video of yourself and use Kinovea (free software) to measure those angles. This was advice from the great Cody Beals, and it’s worked amazing for me.
Just checked that out, will be testing it this weekend. Looks awesome.
flip/slam the stem, move seat forward, adjust back/up for comfort.
I use Ubersence, which sounds like it basically does the same thing as the other apps.
flip/slam the stem, move seat forward, adjust back/up for comfort.
+1
I really don’t get the ST obsession with bikefits. it is really not that hard to do yourself. I would also allways start at the largest drop (especially considering the “modern tri geometry”) unless your upper arms are leipheimer kind of short.
can be usefull to see yourself while on the trainer. What I did is to put my phone on the side pointing on the hip and than have the video steamed to my laptop in front of me (I used 2 skype accounts but there might be other options". than you can play around with head, back and saddle possition.
if it looks fast chances are that it is quite fast as well. comfort will come over time!
if you have a powermeter you can also do some chung aerotesting which no bikefit will give you unless it happens to be in a windtunnel 
Bike fits are great for pro/elite and first timers BUT you will refine your fit for different races so it might be a good idea to read up on it. I have had the pro fit and it was a great starting point but I have tweeted a little not much but some.
Mirror on wall by trainer.
Why would you change your fit for different races?
I personally am way to lazy but a bunch of people I race with slam their bikes for sprints and go a little higher for full IM. I don’t know if it makes a different because power will be different between 12 miles and 112. But I have tweaked my fit several times and as the season roles in my flexibility changes and little move make me more comfortable. I feel that you should be able to ride the whole race on the aero bars( even if they have to be a little higher). Getting off the bike in pain before running is not fun. It’s going to hurt but not “bad” hurt
It’s highly reasonable to do a bike fit without measuring a single angle.
OK thanks
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You don’t need a great bike but you should have a great bike fit. It is the best money you can spend in triathlon.
So you don’t understand the obsession yet you post here and video’d your position… Seems like you might care about fit too
Oh and the if it looks fast it probably is fast sadly doesn’t always pan out… Tunnel or indoor track with power and speed/distance /time metrics only way to know… A fast aero position is worthless if you can’t function in it… And plenty can’t.
And to the OP
if all of the facilities are beyond your means currently then you can still make very worthwhile gains with good bike set up and kit selection…
oh sure I do care about a good possition but what I wanted so say (and I am guessing most got the point) is that you don’t necessarily have to pay for that. a fit bike might be a nice tool to speed up the process but the end results can be the same.
and that it doesn’t ALWAYS pans out might be true but it doesn’t mean that it is not true in most of the cases. if people would just get to 95% of their optimal possition there would still be alot gained doing it.
A fast aero position is worthless if you can’t function in it… And plenty can’t.
yeah I disagree with that. doesn’t need to be as comfortable as your couch just needs to be fast and sustainable. the pain and adrenaline of racing dulls most of the discomfort anyway or rather covers it up