I’ve seen some online bike retailers have “fitting charts” where you fill in the form with your measurements and they determine your size and fit over the phone.
How does this work? In otherwords how do those numbers relate to the bike size?
Do you mean like this one? Never used one mysef, but the better ones are probably reasonably accurate since they take in a variety of measurements including flexibility testing. I’d rather be with a good fitter in person, but if ordering online, there may be no other choice. http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO
i found this one interesting for road bike fit. i tried it out some years ago. turns out i had the right bike all along. cool.
We have a form that we ask people to fill out, which gives us a plethora of information. The goal is to make sure we have all of the essential measurements that we would obtain during a fit, but also gain more information about bike habits, flexibility, etc. In the majority of cases the fit is done over the phone and/or we are going over the specifics of the fit information they have given us so far. From that its pretty quick to find the right bike for your goals, but also the right size. The fine tuning (seat position, extension length, etc.) of the fit can also be done over the phone, that’s one of the many reasons our bike manager, Rudy, is FIST certified. Thus the the bike is spec’d and positioned during the build prior shipping it out. However, this isn’t a substitute of getting on a fit cycle at a shop, which can be accomplished using the Fly and Fit program.