Seriously. As much time as I’ve spent perusing the LBS’s and talking to non-triathlete bikers, I’ve never seen or heard of any competitive road cyclist shelling out hundreds of dollars on a bike fit.
“Well, red_and_black, roadies don’t need to be seated in an aero position to the extent that triathletes do, and…”
Bullshit. If a fit made a competitive cyclist more aerodynamic, he would NEVER say “Oh, no I don’t need to be aerodynamic; it really wouldn’t benefit me at all. You see, you don’t deal with wind resistance at all when you ride a road bike”
“But you see, red_and_black, if triathletes don’t get professional fits, it can cause stress injuries to their nu…”
You’re going to tell me that a triathlete riding 250 miles a week TOPS (feel free to pat yourself on the back if you do more than this. I’ll be drinking a beer), has more at stake in terms of physical discomfort, fatigue and stress injuries than a cyclist doing twice the mileage? I laugh haughtily at that, sir.
Seriously. As much time as I’ve spent perusing the LBS’s and talking to non-triathlete bikers, I’ve never seen or heard of any competitive road cyclist shelling out hundreds of dollars on a bike fit.
“Well, red_and_black, roadies don’t need to be seated in an aero position to the extent that triathletes do, and…”
Bullshit. If a fit made a competitive cyclist more aerodynamic, he would NEVER say “Oh, no I don’t need to be aerodynamic; it really wouldn’t benefit me at all. You see, you don’t deal with wind resistance at all when you ride a road bike”
“But you see, red_and_black, if triathletes don’t get professional fits, it can cause stress injuries to their nu…”
You’re going to tell me that a triathlete riding 250 miles a week TOPS (feel free to pat yourself on the back if you do more than this. I’ll be drinking a beer), has more at stake in terms of physical discomfort, fatigue and stress injuries than a cyclist doing twice the mileage? I laugh haughtily at that, sir.
Haughtily.
From what I have seen, roadies really tend to help each other out. They work out together, a lot whereas we triathletes tend to work out alone and don’t get to learn from each other. So roadies will help each other to fit each other whereas triathletes generally know very little about bike fit. Myself included. But I know about enough to be dangerous.
you didn’t get properly/professionally fitted on your road bike ?
Your loss !
Admittedly, a road position allows for a lot more shifting and adjusting while riding ( than an earo position) to keep the rider comfortable. I know it took me a lot longer to dial in my tri bike than my road bike.
Road racing is not triathlon. I don’t give a damn what roadies do or don’t do. My sport is triathlon and I know that a proper fit is crucial when you want to run your best afterwards.
Just for giggles though, look at the huge amounts of money the top pro TT racers spend getting fit.
Ask any roadie that has been properly fit on their road bike and they will likely tell you it was money well spent.
From what I have seen, roadies really tend to help each other out. They work out together, a lot whereas we triathletes tend to work out alone and don’t get to learn from each other. So roadies will help each other to fit each other whereas triathletes generally know very little about bike fit. Myself included. But I know about enough to be dangerous.
Hahahaha, isn’t that kind of like saying that triathletes throw their money away because we don’t have friends?
Ask Paul Levine (Signature Cycles) if roadies “don’t get bike fits”.
I had my road bike (ok, with clip-ons, as it was also my first ‘tri bike’) fitted by him. In his lovely big house.
He seems to be doing OK fitting (mostly) roadies.
$500 seems like a lot. I recently paid $100 for an hour and a half FIST fitting, 2 something with the new extensions. Actually, I also recently got a coupon for a free FIST fitting in a race swag bag. As to whether you should get a fitting in general, go to any race and watch people ride by. A hell of a lot of them look like their bikes fit like crap.
Not that I really care what roadies do but I certainly like my properly fit road bike a hell of a lot more than the one that did not fit me very well.
No, a $500 fit is not worth it. Nor any dollar amount down to about $50. Fitting is the snake oil division of bicycle sales when they charge ridiculous amounts of money. Let’s say you figure your time is worth $50 an hour. For someone like John Cobb, I’ll pay my $50 and go home happy. If slowman offered to fit me for $50 I’d pay that too. Car repair places charge you $50 an hour and you can bet they have a lot more training than the average bike fitter. Sooooo:
Why do fits take more than an hour?
Why do they cost more than $50?
IMO, it is because the snake-oil salesman/fitter wants the customer to feel like they are satisfied. If you only take 30 minutes and only pay $25 you are going to doubt the person knows what they are doing. Or at least, the modern triathlete will because he or she has more money than sense. Fitter have figured this out and see a cash cow with lots of potential.
A fit should not take more than 30 minutes and then the “fitter” should say, “Go ride that and call me in a couple of weeks.”
What in the world are you doing if you take more than 15-30 minutes?
you didn’t get properly/professionally fitted on your road bike ?
Your loss !
Admittedly, a road position allows for a lot more shifting and adjusting while riding ( than an earo position) to keep the rider comfortable. I know it took me a lot longer to dial in my tri bike than my road bike.
I’m not saying that a person shouldn’t pay attention to their position on the bike and tweak some things to make themselves more comfortable. If you can “fit” yourself, all the more power to you. I just don’t understand taking your wallet out of your pocket and just throwing it at some guy because he’s a fit “professional”.
Tri bike fitting isn’t rocket science even though the industry wants the consumer to believe it is. People who have an even basic understanding of biomechanics, anatomy and a mechanical aptitude should be able to figure it out for themselves if they do a bit of research. Others will never get it and should pay for a fit, but you have to be a bit of a sap to plonk down $500. for an in shop fit. Most fits are around $150. or so and if I had bought a new bike from the shop I’d expect the fit to be thrown in with it.
That’s funny, because a lot of pro teams, and many of them that do the TDF, are begging Dan to come do their fits… And many have personally come up here to get them done…Of course it is not on their road bikes, but their TT bikes. I bet most triathletes with a road bike do not get fits either, so I see no difference in that we want good fit on our tri bikes, and they want good ones on their tt bikes…
The road position has been around for what now, over a 100 years. I think it has been figured out, and that info passed along pretty nicely. There are however many road bike fitters for the folks that are not serious racers, and do not have acess to guys and shops that will help them out for free. As someone else stated, ask Paul Levine if there is a market out there, but I think he probabably does more tri than road fits these days…
And yet, if you go to any triathlon HIM or greater in length you will see surprising amounts of people on $3K+ bikes riding the hoods at mile 10. They all probably saved a couple of hundred bucks by getting your 30 minute fit from the guy at the LBS.
Fitting is the snake oil division of bicycle sales when they charge ridiculous amounts of money.
Yep. The thing that seems to be going on is that a lot of new people are completely clueless… and they have lots of money. You can look up bike fitting online (or in a book) and figure it out for yourself. If you have particular biomechanical issues, then a good physiologist might be able to help you.
Road racing is not triathlon. I don’t give a damn what roadies do or don’t do. My sport is triathlon and I know that a proper fit is crucial when you want to run your best afterwards.
Just for giggles though, look at the huge amounts of money the top pro TT racers spend getting fit.
Ask any roadie that has been properly fit on their road bike and they will likely tell you it was money well spent.
This mentality has reached pandemic proportions in the sport.
Think about that statement. You don’t care about being able to ride like a competitive cyclist?
Ok, I think we should ask Craig Alexander if he wishes he could ride like Contador. You think he’d say “no”?
There is definitely a value to being fitted to your bike from a comfort, injury-prevention, and power-creation perspective.
There is also definitely a plethora of idiots out there selling “bike-fitting” services which range from our right thieving to just basically a bike sizing with some bells on it. I’ve seen my share of bullshit at the local LBS’s around.
It’s definitely something you can do for yourself if you have the time and inclination. There’s lots of resources on the web and you can buy books about fitting, not to mention just tinkering around to see what happens.
As to #3, there’s a value to me of just paying someone who’s knowledgeable to do the fit for me than take the time to learn myself. I have enough hobbies including wrenching on my car (I avoid mechanics 99% of the time). But for me $500 would be WAY too much to justify. I paid $100 for my fit. Before I got the fitting I talked to the guy for a 1/2 hour about how long he’s been doing it, how long it’d take, what’s his fitting methodology, and other simple questions like can I come back in if the fit doesn’t feel right. I made a point to understand a little about what bike fitting is by reading up but didn’t go all the way to read about it.
Mine was $100 (about 1.25 hours) and in the course of that fitting I got a new stem and new seatpost for $80ish. I thought the guy who did it was honest and reasonable. $150 is the most I’d spend on a fitting. That’s just me.
Oh and by the way, I don’t know where you live but if you find a mechanic charging $55 an hour, you better get good insurance for when the wheels go rolling off your car on the highway. Around these parts skilled labor is $75/hour+ (northeast).
