I’m thinking hard about getting a real tri bike this year. I’ve done a couple of seasons of tris on a Trek OCLV with the seat pushed forward and aero bars attached, but I find the handling a little sketchy. I’ve been a semi-serious roadie for several years now and got a good road fitting a few years ago by Paraic at Bicycle Ranch in Scottsdale. But in searching the archives here, some people say Bicycle Ranch is not the place to go for tri fits in the Phoenix area, which makes some sense to me since those guys aren’t triathletes.
So, I know there are a bunch of Arizona folks on Slowtwitch…who are the best tri-bike fitters in the Phoenix area? I’m willing to travel some (e.g., to Tucson or California), if necessary, but, anticipating some of the standard ST answers, I don’t think I want to travel to Michigan or New York for this.
Thanks in advance for any experiences you can share with me.
-Bill
TriSports.com is located in Tucson, and many people don’t know they actually have a real store there, and are not just an internet locale. They are 100% triathlon-oriented, and they know their stuff.
The best person to contact is desertdude, who lived in Tucson and now lives in Phoenix. If this slips to the back-page, you might send him a PM.
He is a former roadie (sprinter) and caters to triathletes now. He did my initial fit and several touch ups along the way. He knows what he is doing and very thorough.
Give him a call and I am sure he will get you on his schedule very soon too.
He has a nice selection of TT bikes and road bikes, so you could get fit on the bike that you are looking to buy or bought.
Pariac at Bicycle Ranch set me up on my road bike a few years back. Fit worked fine despite my often painful lower back, although seemed structured and formula driven.
More recently I went to Kevin at Tribe- he set me up on my tri bike, listened to me describe my back problems and fit me perfectly in about 5 minutes, mostly by looking at my position vs. measuring everything. He seemed to instinctively know how to mae the bike work for me. Fits perfectly and I recommend him highly. He also helped me select a $2500 bike when Bicycle Ranch was trying hard to sell me a $4500 bike, insisting it was the only way to go.
Jerry at the Scottsdale Landis has done the fit on two road bikes and he did the fit on my TRI bike after a questionable setup by another shop. He is very very knowledgeable and takes the time to understand what you plan on doing with the bike.
Paraic and the rest of the crew there are very good. I can not think of his name but Paraic works with a PT who is awesome too. I highly reccommend them.
Jeff Lockwood is the best I know. He is in the East Valley and, though not cheap…around $200 for a tri fit…he has kept me dialed in for years.
He is very technical, but extremely user friendly, and he does a very thorough job.
Jeff also does bike coaching and is the man responsible for putting me, and more than a few other timid riders…you know who you are ;-)…on rollers. The man is a genius as far as I am concerned!
Landis - I know several people that have been fit there and most are happy with it. Probably a bit better on the road then tri fit, but not bad at all on the tri fit from what I have seen. They have/had a FIST cert person there. There is also a former pro duathlete working at the Tempe location, but i don’t know if he does fits. There are a ton of triathletes that go there, all shapes and sizes.
Trisports - I know five or six that have been fitted there all but one happy. I’d say better on the tri then road fit as they don’t have a large roadie population. Disclaimer: I’ve know the owner for years, am sponsored by trisports.com and they support my athletes a great deal.
There are several coaches in AZ that do fittings both road and tri. I can give you some references if you like.
Your final option is coming over and letting jonnyo and I have a crack at it. We tinker with our positions about 2x per week, we are not experts but we have a ton of collective knowledge. I charge a pretty hefty price in good beer, and don’t accept less than a 12 pack. Jonny will have to name his price when he gets back from Flagstaff in a few days.
There are a ton of bike shops in phx and tucson that do fittings, you will need to ask around. My thoughts are that most of these are better at road than tri fits and the two are dissimilair.
Thanks, everyone. This is all good info. It’ll probably be a few months before I break down and spend the money on a new bike, but it’s good to have more knowledge about where to go.
Re Landis, I’m glad to hear the Tempe location may be better than Scottsdale. I know a guy who went to the Scottsdale store looking for a tri bike recently. He’s the classic case of long legs, short torso, and he is looking for a bike for his first IM. They ended up putting him on a Trek 5200. I haven’t seen the setup, so I’m reserving final judgment, but on the face of things, with that bike’s long TT, that seems like the last bike you would want a short-torso guy on, especially for an IM. So I’m pretty low on the Scottsdale Landis right now.
Re Tribe: That sounds like a good option, though I totally agree that the recent thread on the new Kuota makes me think twice. That setup looks totally jacked up to me, but I have to assume they’ll fix that when he goes back in.
What about Bicycle Showcase on Shea or Triple Sports on Miller? Those two shops seem to cater to triathletes, but I don’t know anyone who’s bought bikes at either place.
Anyway, I appreciate all the info and welcome anything more that anyone has to say.
-Bill
I have been fit at Tribe, I got a FIST fitting on my Trek TT at Landis (which is still for sale, check classifieds) and my GF got fit on her bike at Trisports. desert_dude also did a fit for my son on his TT bike. My first recommendation would be to buy desert_dude some beer and see what he can do for you. If you want your fitting done in a shop, I think you’ll get the best results at Trisports.
Yes… K-Factorfan is a very diffucult fit… so feel free to scratch away. Know that in his particular case, he is lacking in both hamstring flexibility and hip tension. Therefore, I am forced to place his aero and base bar at a “higher” and “closer” position to allow the use of the K-Factor (along with a plethorea of other platforms). His slightly elevated saddle height was due to his irregular/inneffecient pedal stroke. The saddle tilt was to temporarily compensate for “stuff.”
Fitting is a painfully simple process if you are merely looking at bone structure dimentions/body measurements (which is what the majority of Phoenix fitters are currently doing). HOWEVER, if you ignore flexibility as a lot of fitters do, then you aren’t really fitting a bicycle to the athlete/rider… you are merely “forcing” a bike to work.
I have used the Fit Kit and have been certified since 1987. I personally believe that myself and Jeff Lockwood are the absolute best fitters in town. (Granted my English is horrible) I am consistently validated with countless written and verbal testimonials. I also, along with Jeff, find myself having to FIX a ton of other “fitters” set ups. Not slamming them, just fixing their innabilities.
On a completely seperate note: Thank you for all of the compliments!
dug up this old thread searching for phx fitters, wondering if anyone knows where kevin from tribe is?
interested in talking to him about a road bike fit.
thx
dug up this old thread searching for phx fitters, wondering if anyone knows where kevin from tribe is?
interested in talking to him about a road bike fit.
thx
Kevin is working elsewhere, not in the bicycle industry. Alan at Tribe is the guy going bike fits now, and does an equally awesome job as Kevin did.
As I’m an on-again/off-again viewer of ST and recently went into ON-mode again, I just happened to review the Forum’s FAQ yesterday to ensure I play by the rules . Seems this thread is not quite in the spirit of the following section:
COMMENTS ABOUT RETAILERS OR RACES: Neither complaints nor praises belong on the reader forum. They should be lodged as “comments” attached to the profiles of these business entities, which reside on our databases listing them. You’ll find links to these databases on a blue bar across the very top of our reader forum pages. Likewise bike fitters, coaches, and tri clubs.
Oversight? Or is ST culture shifting with respect to the Forum rules? I guess I would have expected that the OP would have been directed to the Fitters section.
As I’m an on-again/off-again viewer of ST and recently went into ON-mode again, I just happened to review the Forum’s FAQ yesterday to ensure I play by the rules . Seems this thread is not quite in the spirit of the following section:
COMMENTS ABOUT RETAILERS OR RACES: Neither complaints nor praises belong on the reader forum. They should be lodged as “comments” attached to the profiles of these business entities, which reside on our databases listing them. You’ll find links to these databases on a blue bar across the very top of our reader forum pages. Likewise bike fitters, coaches, and tri clubs.
Oversight? Or is ST culture shifting with respect to the Forum rules? I guess I would have expected that the OP would have been directed to the Fitters section.
Uh… It’s a six year-old thread (pre-dating that rule because it predates the databases of fitters) that someone dug up because they were looking for info on a particular fitter. Someone gave him a reply answering his question and tossed in a compliment for the current fitter at the old locale. I don’t see the issue. We get enough grief about our rules without locking down threads that “are not quite in the spirit” of the rules. IMO, the thread is well within the spirit of the rules.
Sorry, missed the OP date. Not really sure how it is within the spirit of the rules, but I do understand the problem of staying on top of enforcement and the unusual circumstance of this string. Thanks.
Know that in his particular case, he is lacking in both hamstring flexibility and hip tension. Therefore, I am forced to place his aero and base bar at a “higher” and “closer” position to allow the use of the K-Factor (along with a plethorea of other platforms). His slightly elevated saddle height was due to his irregular/inneffecient pedal stroke. The saddle tilt was to temporarily compensate for “stuff.”