Bike Fitting

[mraitchison]

Anybody tried the bike fit service at bike zone with - Andrew Gerking?

Fed up of tweaking by bike, and would prefer to just get someone to help me set it up for me.

[h90]

I wrote an email about an appointment, never got any answer.

[moonoi]

I got a free fitting from Andrew when I bought a Cervelo from them a few years ago. I have no complaints, and have used the setup as the basis of my other bikes since. He also offers free tweaks to the setup for the 6 months after your first consultation, or at least he did back then.

Also interesting to note, but bit more expensive, Sport Bicycle now offer the full Specialized BG Bike Fit service, utilizing cameras and computer analysis to do a bike fit, have no idea how it compares though.

[chiangmaiexpat]

Seriously, bike fitting is not the rocket science that some laser-equipped shops pretend it to be. A tape measure and a bike fit calculator is all you need to get started. Then try out different frames.

[steveromagnino]

Friend of mine did the bike fitting with Andy/Andrew (the bike zone guy).

From what I understand it was both some measurement and a series of 'better or worse' questions and review, rather than a measurement only and 'this is what you should ride' fitting. My friend has ridden for quite a long time and was super happy with the result, says it is the most comfortable he has ever been. On a tri bike you have a lot of tweaking, so being comfortable is pretty important; I think a road bike or a mountain bike the fit might be slightly less important.

When you consider the bike is worth say 50-200k, a free fitting (if you buy it there) or 3000b for any old bike is a great idea.

[Felt 35]

https://www.retul.com/what-is-retul/

I have tried the retul fitting but still end up riding with my Allen key in the back pocket......but so did Eddie Merckx without other similarities...unfortunately

[h90]

https://www.retul.com/what-is-retul/

I have tried the retul fitting but still end up riding with my Allen key in the back pocket......but so did Eddie Merckx without other similarities...unfortunately

I think if someone loose the screws and reset my fitting (even it is not perfect), I would consider murdering him

[moonoi]

https://www.retul.com/what-is-retul/

I have tried the retul fitting but still end up riding with my Allen key in the back pocket......but so did Eddie Merckx without other similarities...unfortunately

I think if someone loose the screws and reset my fitting (even it is not perfect), I would consider murdering him

Lucky for me, my current bike has an integrated seat post, so no one can play such a dirty trick on me [emoji6]

Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-UL10 using Tapatalk

[h90]

https://www.retul.com/what-is-retul/

I have tried the retul fitting but still end up riding with my Allen key in the back pocket......but so did Eddie Merckx without other similarities...unfortunately

I think if someone loose the screws and reset my fitting (even it is not perfect), I would consider murdering him

Lucky for me, my current bike has an integrated seat post, so no one can play such a dirty trick on me [emoji6]

Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-UL10 using Tapatalk

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

[MaeJoMTB]

I watched a few of the fitting videos on youtube,

Looked like a scam as they always seemed to be fitting a bike they sold that was clearly too small for the customer.

Would have been more sensible to sell them the right size bike in the first place.

I guess they sold what they had in stock then tried to make it fit.

A bike that's the right size for the rider needs hardly any fitting.

[MaeJoMTB]

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

Seat for a road bike should be level and at hip height.

Can't get much easier than that.

[moonoi]

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

Seat for a road bike should be level and at hip height.

Can't get much easier than that.

Not really that simple, yes it should be level, or sometimes very slightly nose down.

In terms of height, it also very much depends on the BB height. So if you use the hip height rule, you might be OK on a road bike with a lower BB height, but it be too low on one with a higher BB (like a more endurance orientated road bike or cyclocross bike).

It definitely isn't a scam, but once you've done it once and understand what works for you, you can do it yourself from that point.

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[moonoi]

In fact the best way to get a similar fit between bikes is to measure from the BB to the saddle, and replicate that across your bikes as a starting point and tweaking as necessary to get it perfect.

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[MaeJoMTB]

In fact the best way to get a similar fit between bikes is to measure from the BB to the saddle, and replicate that across your bikes as a starting point and tweaking as necessary to get it perfect.

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I would disagree, as bike frame size is calculated using manufacturers tables and your inside leg measurement.

Which of course, takes into account the BB height.

[moonoi]

In fact the best way to get a similar fit between bikes is to measure from the BB to the saddle, and replicate that across your bikes as a starting point and tweaking as necessary to get it perfect.

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I would disagree, as bike frame size is calculated using manufacturers tables and your inside leg measurement.

Which of course, takes into account the BB height.

But this contradicts your previous statement of setting the saddle height at hip level. If this were correct, then if you have bikes with differing BB heights, the fit will be different, as the distance from the BB to the saddle will be different, even though the overall height is the same.

This is why some manufacturers actually suggest when looking a CX bikes to size down a frame from your road bike, as you can also end up with not having enough top tube clearance.

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[h90]

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

Seat for a road bike should be level and at hip height.

Can't get much easier than that.

Good luck with riding with the tribar and level seat.....That hurts.

hip height, approx. yes...but than for having it perfect you need to adjust it exactly and 1 cm more or less makes a difference.

And than you can move the saddle more to the front or more to the back which changes all the angles on your legs and you need to adjust the height new.

If that is all wrong, no problem for 20 km, but at 40 km things start to hurt and at 80 it is very painful....changing the settings and nothing hurt after 80 km.

[puukao]

I've had the BG fit and about 4 other fits. let me try to sum up what i've learned:

1. the rider knows best....IF you have knee pain, move up saddle, or move back saddle. or both

2. if pain behind knee, lower saddle or saddle forward....or both

3. i recommend STARTING out with seat to handlebar drop of 1.5-2 inches. then go on back pain, etc..

4. seat is about 2 inches behind bottom bracket.....no more than 3, no less than 1 . see how your balance is

5. ride without hands....see if ur body shifts forward or back

6. standover.....i never cared

7. hoods position.......start with level pointing straight to ground, then mess with it

8. stem length.....THIS IS THE KICKER........if young, racing, super flexible, on a bike likely small, go 120. if you keep moving your hands back, try smaller. i have ridden from 100 to 120. now on 110, but i can see riders changing this the most. i don't have a hard fast rule on this....if lower back hurts, maybe try smaller stem.

ah....i forgot some things......it's free advice.

i do like the "sit on bike, pedal WITH HEELS BACKWARDS....move seat until you can barely do this"

Edited October 8, 2015 by puukao

[MaeJoMTB]

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

Seat for a road bike should be level and at hip height.

Can't get much easier than that.

Good luck with riding with the tribar and level seat.....That hurts.

hip height, approx. yes...but than for having it perfect you need to adjust it exactly and 1 cm more or less makes a difference.

And than you can move the saddle more to the front or more to the back which changes all the angles on your legs and you need to adjust the height new.

If that is all wrong, no problem for 20 km, but at 40 km things start to hurt and at 80 it is very painful....changing the settings and nothing hurt after 80 km.

My post was about Standard road bike as sold by manufacturer.

Which is what the vast majority (99.99%) of road bike riders will be using.

Not talking about freaky modified stuff for new age hippies to weird out on.

PS

Only ever seen nutjobs on the road in Thailand with a tribar.

Edited October 8, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[h90]

Well I guess you can move the seat (saddle) up and down, change angle and put it forward/back.

It needed an embarrassing amount of time (and pain) till I figured out that I must angle it a bit different....

Seat for a road bike should be level and at hip height.

Can't get much easier than that.

Good luck with riding with the tribar and level seat.....That hurts.

hip height, approx. yes...but than for having it perfect you need to adjust it exactly and 1 cm more or less makes a difference.

And than you can move the saddle more to the front or more to the back which changes all the angles on your legs and you need to adjust the height new.

If that is all wrong, no problem for 20 km, but at 40 km things start to hurt and at 80 it is very painful....changing the settings and nothing hurt after 80 km.

My post was about Standard road bike as sold by manufacturer.

Which is what the vast majority (99.99%) of road bike riders will be using.

Not talking about freaky modified stuff for new age hippies to weird out on.

PS

Only ever seen nutjobs on the road in Thailand with a tribar.

Friend of mine used tribar 1989, that is 26 years.....Are you still riding a high-wheeler? And if you ride the bike like sold by the manufacturer and ride with at the lower position on the handlebar you'll most probably also need to have the saddle slightly angled down. My saddle has markings on the horizontal position for adjustment........I guess they didn't put the marking for me alone, so there might be plenty people who like adjust that.

There are a respectable amount of stock triathlon bikes in the shops in Thailand. Not that many but sure more than 0.01% of the road bikes so someone will ride them.

[moonoi]

I've had the BG fit and about 4 other fits. let me try to sum up what i've learned:

1. the rider knows best....IF you have knee pain, move up saddle, or move back saddle. or both

2. if pain behind knee, lower saddle or saddle forward....or both

3. i recommend STARTING out with seat to handlebar drop of 1.5-2 inches. then go on back pain, etc..

4. seat is about 2 inches behind bottom bracket.....no more than 3, no less than 1 . see how your balance is

5. ride without hands....see if ur body shifts forward or back

6. standover.....i never cared

7. hoods position.......start with level pointing straight to ground, then mess with it

8. stem length.....THIS IS THE KICKER........if young, racing, super flexible, on a bike likely small, go 120. if you keep moving your hands back, try smaller. i have ridden from 100 to 120. now on 110, but i can see riders changing this the most. i don't have a hard fast rule on this....if lower back hurts, maybe try smaller stem.

ah....i forgot some things......it's free advice.

i do like the "sit on bike, pedal WITH HEELS BACKWARDS....move seat until you can barely do this"

Did you try the new BG Fit at Sport Bicycle, with all the video analysis etc?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[puukao]

I've had the BG fit and about 4 other fits. let me try to sum up what i've learned:

1. the rider knows best....IF you have knee pain, move up saddle, or move back saddle. or both

2. if pain behind knee, lower saddle or saddle forward....or both

3. i recommend STARTING out with seat to handlebar drop of 1.5-2 inches. then go on back pain, etc..

4. seat is about 2 inches behind bottom bracket.....no more than 3, no less than 1 . see how your balance is

5. ride without hands....see if ur body shifts forward or back

6. standover.....i never cared

7. hoods position.......start with level pointing straight to ground, then mess with it

8. stem length.....THIS IS THE KICKER........if young, racing, super flexible, on a bike likely small, go 120. if you keep moving your hands back, try smaller. i have ridden from 100 to 120. now on 110, but i can see riders changing this the most. i don't have a hard fast rule on this....if lower back hurts, maybe try smaller stem.

ah....i forgot some things......it's free advice.

i do like the "sit on bike, pedal WITH HEELS BACKWARDS....move seat until you can barely do this"

Did you try the new BG Fit at Sport Bicycle, with all the video analysis etc?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did it in America. Yes, all the little dots they put on your body for a 3D image.

I wasn't that impressed. They really just go for KOPS...knee over spindle....and the rest is flexibility

i have no idea what the cost is there....i spent 100 in USD at a discount and it was worth about 75.

so if it's more than 2000 baht i would pass.

but, again, if it makes you ride more.... do it

Edited October 8, 2015 by puukao

[moonoi]

I've had the BG fit and about 4 other fits. let me try to sum up what i've learned:

1. the rider knows best....IF you have knee pain, move up saddle, or move back saddle. or both

2. if pain behind knee, lower saddle or saddle forward....or both

3. i recommend STARTING out with seat to handlebar drop of 1.5-2 inches. then go on back pain, etc..

4. seat is about 2 inches behind bottom bracket.....no more than 3, no less than 1 . see how your balance is

5. ride without hands....see if ur body shifts forward or back

6. standover.....i never cared

7. hoods position.......start with level pointing straight to ground, then mess with it

8. stem length.....THIS IS THE KICKER........if young, racing, super flexible, on a bike likely small, go 120. if you keep moving your hands back, try smaller. i have ridden from 100 to 120. now on 110, but i can see riders changing this the most. i don't have a hard fast rule on this....if lower back hurts, maybe try smaller stem.

ah....i forgot some things......it's free advice.

i do like the "sit on bike, pedal WITH HEELS BACKWARDS....move seat until you can barely do this"

Did you try the new BG Fit at Sport Bicycle, with all the video analysis etc?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did it in America. Yes, all the little dots they put on your body for a 3D image.

I wasn't that impressed. They really just go for KOPS...knee over spindle....and the rest is flexibility

i have no idea what the cost is there....i spent 100 in USD at a discount and it was worth about 75.

so if it's more than 2000 baht i would pass.

but, again, if it makes you ride more.... do it

If I ride more than I do now, think the wife might leave me ;-)

I was just interested in the process and whether you thought it was worth it. Over here they charge 6500 baht, but you can get a 15% discount. Still doesn't seem worth it. Seems it's better to use Andrew at Bike Zone if you need a bike fit then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[h90]

I've had the BG fit and about 4 other fits. let me try to sum up what i've learned:

1. the rider knows best....IF you have knee pain, move up saddle, or move back saddle. or both

2. if pain behind knee, lower saddle or saddle forward....or both

3. i recommend STARTING out with seat to handlebar drop of 1.5-2 inches. then go on back pain, etc..

4. seat is about 2 inches behind bottom bracket.....no more than 3, no less than 1 . see how your balance is

5. ride without hands....see if ur body shifts forward or back

6. standover.....i never cared

7. hoods position.......start with level pointing straight to ground, then mess with it

8. stem length.....THIS IS THE KICKER........if young, racing, super flexible, on a bike likely small, go 120. if you keep moving your hands back, try smaller. i have ridden from 100 to 120. now on 110, but i can see riders changing this the most. i don't have a hard fast rule on this....if lower back hurts, maybe try smaller stem.

ah....i forgot some things......it's free advice.

i do like the "sit on bike, pedal WITH HEELS BACKWARDS....move seat until you can barely do this"

Did you try the new BG Fit at Sport Bicycle, with all the video analysis etc?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I did it in America. Yes, all the little dots they put on your body for a 3D image.

I wasn't that impressed. They really just go for KOPS...knee over spindle....and the rest is flexibility

i have no idea what the cost is there....i spent 100 in USD at a discount and it was worth about 75.

so if it's more than 2000 baht i would pass.

but, again, if it makes you ride more.... do it

If I ride more than I do now, think the wife might leave me ;-)

I was just interested in the process and whether you thought it was worth it. Over here they charge 6500 baht, but you can get a 15% discount. Still doesn't seem worth it. Seems it's better to use Andrew at Bike Zone if you need a bike fit then.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or the wife thinks you have a girlfriend.....because no sane person would ride the bicycle in the heat if he has a car with aircon.....

[bobfish]

I think we've covered some of this before . Road biking has less dynamic body shifts than say downhill, so the benefits are more apparent on the fixed geometry type bikes.

Again, there's various methodologies from the digital scientific approach - I guess retul etc - and the more analog Steve Hogg school of thought. If I could spare the time and money I think I'd get on Steve's waiting list.

Meanwhile, I get by through knowing my basic measurements of seat height to BB, reach and bar drop. It gives me a fairly consistent setup across various road bikes, and when renting.

[puukao]

6500 baht, to me, seems crazy. IF you don't have pain, I would simply experiment with everything.....the only thing that will cost money is stem length. Sure, maybe your handlebar width is wrong, but a 42 or 44 can be held off for last. and a different seat is usually not the real answer.....usually. sometimes it is.

search youtube, google bike fits, keep moving things and riding the same up and down section.....and then, after a month of doing this, if you still want to spend the baht....go ahead.

[puukao]

I think we've covered some of this before . Road biking has less dynamic body shifts than say downhill, so the benefits are more apparent on the fixed geometry type bikes.

Again, there's various methodologies from the digital scientific approach - I guess retul etc - and the more analog Steve Hogg school of thought. If I could spare the time and money I think I'd get on Steve's waiting list.

Meanwhile, I get by through knowing my basic measurements of seat height to BB, reach and bar drop. It gives me a fairly consistent setup across various road bikes, and when renting.

i experimented with Steve Hogg's cleats WAY back.....seemed like i got a little more power at first (I have a power meter), but then it jacked up my knees.....i would just lower your seat A LOT and move cleats as far back as possible and start there....then drill holes in shoes if you love it after a few weeks......he is smart, just didn't work for me.