Bike Fit - Do I Need a New Bike?

[HLaB]

I was sitting in a cafe in a lbs last year when the fitter came up and measured my frame and told me I needed a smaller one. Id done LBL on that frame and other longer rides and felt really comfortable. Id also ridden the ful Flanders on its predecessor (same geometry until it cracked anyway). So I was skeptical but I gooled it anyway. It seems that for a sporting fit the frame is about 0.5cm too big but for a French comfort fit its about 2cm too small. So I stuck with it and Iam glad I did. Ive since done the Mallorca 312, a 205 miler and lots of centuries on it no problem. So IME I'd look into it before you make a snap costly decision. That said you might want a new bike

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I'm finding this whole thread bizarre, TBH. Some people's answer to every cycling problem is to pay someone for a "bike fit", rather than actually getting on the bike, riding around on it on real roads, and DIY adjusting it on a trial and error basis.
My latest salvage acquisition is uncomfortable due to having too much reach. It causes my lower back to complain and my arms are too stretched. The frame is fine for height but has a long TT, so I need to fit a shorter stem and possibly slide the saddle forward a fraction, but not so much forward that it makes pedalling feel odd. I don't need either Sherlock Holmes or a "bike fit" to tell me this, it's obvious from having measured my other bikes that I am really comfortable on that this one is stretching my upper body too much. Trying out a couple of other bikes and running a tape measure over them is going to tell you just as much as paying someone a couple of hundred quid to do pretty much the same thing.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Amazing how much cycling costs, even when trying to do it cheap. My bike cost £300, yet I've spent about £100 on clothes, £100 on sensors, £450 on the KICKR, £60 on pedals & shoes, then there's tubes, saddle bags, bottle cages, repair kits, pumps, oh my word.

Reality check:- You aren't really trying to do cycling on the cheap, you just bought a relatively low-priced new bike then started splashing out on loads of other things that are totally unnecessary to actually get you from A to B using a bicycle.
I do do cycling on the cheap; my bikes have mostly either come out of builder's skips, or were bought for £20 each or less. I don't spend anything whatsoever on cycling-specific clothing or footwear, I wear exactly the same things I would use for any other everyday activity. Most of the other people I know who ride bikes do so in ordinary clothing as well. I would sooner buy a car without wheels on it than buy a turbo trainer - and both will transport you nowhere. As for sensors, I might push the boat out and get a £10 ultra-basic cycle computer, which is really just a glorified speedometer. Why would I need to know anything else related to trainer performance? Training isn't even real cycling anyway, its gym exercise!

 

[bpsmith]

Cycling isn’t solely about Transport.

You seem very comfortable in your purchases and I am assuming that you wouldn’t expect to be challenged on the reasons why.

Similarly, why challenge others because their purchases don’t line up with your narrow view of the cycling world?

 

[cybug]

Have a read of this (ignore the stuff about crank length) but the rest is a very good guide to getting comfortable on your bike first and foremost. If you can't do that, you'll never be right.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

Excellent information - just a minor change to the link:-
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.php