In honor of Slowman’s most recent article, I was wondering if people wanted to make any public referrals for good fitters they have come across.
After reading Slowman’s article I am now more confused then ever about finding a good bike fitter.
Lessee…goto Deerborne or NYC for Tom or Paul.
Too far.
Goto see the man in his high desert bunker complex.
Too much driving on I15.
Goto see Ves.
Gotta sell the wife on that one.
Goto Nytro, B&L or the Trek store.
…Roll the dice (one of those has fit me poorly twice in the past and will never again get my bike-buying business)
Stay pure road and get a classic by Ves, Tom K., Sascha, Richard S., Bill H., Grant, Dave Kirk, etc.
Great…this IS the riddle of the ages. Thanks, Dan.
For my own personal fitting the three best bike fitters are me, myself and I. Nobody else can do a better job for me.
What I mean by that is nobody can fit a bike to you the way you can yourself since only you understands your own body if you can tune in to what it is telling you. However, this involves a lot of research, reading and then trial and error. And a mechanical aptitude and background in anatomy and bio-mechanics wouldn’t hurt either.
For most people it’s far easier to pay a pro to fit you. However, all any pro can really do is put you in the ball park. From here you ride multiple times with a stop watch and see what changes any minute position changes might have. Takes an effort, but if you’re into it then it’s a fun.
There are far too many individual variations for any “cookbook” method of bike fitting to be the absolute for everyone. You can have any two riders with identical weight and measurements but with large variances in flexibility, etc, so their fitting requirements would be totally different. An astute bike fitter will take all this into consideration, but IMO, the final fine tuning should be up to the rider, as long as he/she has an understanding of why/what they are doing. Read Slowman’s articles and everything else you can find on the net about bike fitting. If you understand it and can put it to practical use, you can benefit from this.
Being your own fitter isn’t for everybody, but neither is putting complete blind trust into somebody else.
But to answer your question, Paul Levine in NYC is somebody to consider.
Is Paul a good choice for someone who already has a bike but is looking to optimize fit? I have a road bike that I use for tris and I am thinking about scheduling a fitting with Paul once I am fully healed.
absolutely! i drove 4 hours to see paul on my 650 cannondale tri bike (he told me over the phone i have the wrong size wheels for my size) but nevertheless put me in the best possible position. i had a pretty big pr in placid and some of the credit must go to him. i have never been more comfortable on my bike. i highly recommend paul.
Dave Bunce of Bicycle Sports Tyler Tx - TT/Road - Got my TT bike fitting done by Dave Bunce when he was running the San Diego store. Highly recommend him.
Dave Letteri of Fast Track Bicycles in Santa Barbara, CA - Road (I was fitted on two different road bikes by Dave with very good results. He spent alot of time, and the charge was very reasonable.
I have spent lots of time with paul levine and grant to get my fit squared away and to get my new christmas present delivered.
I spoke with and visited far too many shops from philla pa-nyc and paul is the guy.
He stocks an astounding amount of stuff in the shop, everything for every contact point.
Paul is completely committed to fit and performance. I ended of with a serotta but it took 4-5 hours of fit cycle and discussion to come to that decision. We set the fit cycle up with every possible frame geometry we could find to try that set up. Every thing from Giant, Kouta, cerverlo, guru and they all had some quirk in the relationship to me.
SO now I am the proud owner of a Serotta Nove serial number 00050. Pics to follow in review.
If you’re in the United Kingdom I would recommend Gary Rogers of www.cyclefit.co.uk
He does after-fit email ‘service’ too…you become friends…always ready to advise you on anything.
Dan Rishworth and Fiona Gray at Endurosport in Toronto
and
Ian MacLean at IMFIT (he’s a member of the forum here and his website is in his profile). Dude has got the goods for a total fit (including a Computrainer to show you live what the changes to position have done)