Everyone seem to preach bikefit - bikefit - bikefit when talking about buying a new triathlon bike. Brand, spec, looks and cost are secondary. While I can easily relate to the latter parameters, bikefit is a bit harder to apply in the selection process. In my remote corner of the world, no LBS (or any bike store within reach) stock tri bikes, nor do they have any experience with fitting triathletes. Hence I am left with mail ordering or custom ordering a bike through my non-tri-LBS.
How do I best find a tri bike that fits me well if I can’t get properly “fitted” in a store by an expert, nor take the bike for a test ride?
If I get a general fit (not bike specific) based on either advice from the Slowtwitch site, a personal fit off an internet service or a personal “fitter” (provided I can find one that has a clue). How do I relate this general information to buying a bike? What metrics should I get from my general fit and how should I relate these to the frame measurements of the bikes?
This is quite tricky and I’m sure there are many others in the same situation out there…
I would suggest you send an email with your key measurements to the nice people at Cervelo. They will direct you to the right size in their bikes. From the geometry chart for that bike (on their website), you can get a sense of what basic dimensions you are looking for when you shop for other bikes.
Keep in mind that the only thing that varies from one bike brand to another is the frame. Once you get a frame that is in the right ballpark to your size, you will still need to adjust the components and/or swap them for new ones to get it to fit right. It’s not the bike frame that creates bike fit – it’s how the parts are bolted on. The frame is just a “gear hanger.” A frame that is “close” can be made to fit damned near anybody, and still handle well and ride nicely.
As for swapping parts, I spent a lot of time on Ebay the first six months I had my tri bike. Buying stuff and selling stuff until I got the right mix of parts on my bike and it fit.
I was in the same situation late last year with the nearest Tri LBS ~ 2.5 hours away. I sent emails to both Cervelo and Softride. Cervelo would not measure by email replying that they direct customers to an LBS that sells their bikes. I ended up buying a P2K in person and feel that the 5 hour trip was worth the time. I’m still a newbie (second year coming up) so maybe a more experienced cyclist could buy on the net/phone but from my own experience wouldn’t recommend it. I still have an aero bar setup issue to resolve so even fitting in person can require some further fine tuning. Hope this helps.
Yeah, I was a little miffed at first but now that I have gone through the process I’m glad they did. I think that the relationship I have built with the shop vs buying online (probably not much cheaper if at all) far outweighs the savings plus they sold for less than MSRP and has given out a ton of free advice and suggestions on all sorts of other things.
My advice is to work with your LBS, and determine two key measurements, a top tube length that has been normalised to a seat angle (doesn’t matter which) and a head tube length normalised to bottom bracket height and wheelsize. (This is really the same concept as the stack and reach on Cervelo’s site, except that most manufacturers don’t list those dimensions). Then start perusing the geometry charts to find the likely candidates.