Why is it that a store so revered in my area has the crappiest “3D bike fit” ever? I spent over $4000 in that store getting my wife all set with a new P3 (48) and part of the deal was getting this “3D bike fit” that consisted of…
Touch your toes, no measurements whatsoever, eyeballing the seat height and rail position. OK your done, looks good.
BLAH!
She is more uncomfortable now that she was on the bike that didn’t fit at all and would never fit no matter what you did.
Not impressed.
So I guess what I am asking is…Is it really that hard to get a good bike fit? Even a close one?
If it were all about seats and stems, than I would agree with you. But since there is a lot more science that goes into it, I would venture to guess that “learning to do it ourselves” would take a lot more time than most of us can spare these days.
My problem is that when someone charges you $250 for 3D fit and does what I have described, it’s a bit disconcerting. I could have faked that fit for a lot less. And I think when someone says 3D fit, you think that there will be much more to it.
Set the seat to ~1 cm behind the BB to start.
Set the seat height so that her knee angle is at 145 to 150 degrees
Have her sit with a hip angle of 100 degrees with her foot at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Have her put her arms out at 90 degrees from her body to figure out where the pads go and adjust the stem length to get ebows in a comfortable position on the pads. Look at the length as well as the height.
Adjust seat forward or back to whatever is comfortable
Adjust stem and/or pads to whatever is comfortable
Take pictures along the way as well as measurements.
You’re pretty close to being right. That’s why you see both fast and slow riders with set-ups that are all over the map. Just look at how many pro cyclists that have been slammed for having poor positions. And look at how many slow cyclists there are with what a lot of people here would call a perfect position. I think it’s pretty safe to say that there are far too many variables that come into play for bikefitting, to have one bikefitting system that works for everyone.
Nice bike. Now let’s see some pictures of your lady positioned on the bike so we can help out.
You might think about asking for your $250 fitting fee back.
And I wouldn’t let your wife ride the bike outside until you figure out whether the bike needs to be returned if it’s the wrong size.
Seriously, what Jackmott described is pretty much the fitting process because after getting that ‘starting point’ you adjust based on rider comfort and needs and/or wind-tunnel data if you’re really serious.
Not sure. Like many things in this sport it can be as hard and as complicated as you want to make it or as straightforward and easy.
Bike fit is one of these things that falls into this category. A tape measure is all I need. Set the seat height at 77cm from the BB on a 58cm road frame and I am usually good to go - throw a leg over it and away I go. I ride a lot of different bikes in the year - loaners when away on business trips mostly and other demo bikes. For such short trips I don’t bother taking my own bike. And that’s what I do - seat to 77cm on a 58 road frame and I am good-to-go. Just did this in Tucson for 5 days of riding on a loaned 58cm Klein Quantum Pro.
Now on the other hand, bike fitting can be very involved and complicated and I know that people can and do invest a large amount of time and money into this.
