Bike fit

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Moodyman

Legendary Member
The best fit is your body. If it causes aches and pain, make small adjustments until you can ride without niggles. Take set of hex keys with you on every ride.

What's fine for half an hour might be excruciating for half a day.
 
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steven1988

Veteran
Location
Sheffield
How far into Yorkshire are you? My lad has just been to get his CX bikes fitted, with Andy Bishop in Worksop. Amazing bloke and an amazing job done by him. He took nearly 4 hours getting them right whilst we chatted
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
The best fit is your body. If it causes aches and pain, make small adjustments until you can ride without niggles.

I've always regarded the concept of bike fits to be frankly ludicrous for 99.9% of riders. When most of us had bikes as kids, we simply kept tweaking things until we optimised them, and had to keep doing it as we got taller. You soon cottoned on to the fact that a low saddle killed your legs in half the miles that a well set one did, and it explained why you were knackered after ten miles but your mate was still up for riding a bit further!
If you cared enough about your cycling to want to get the most out of it then you empirically achieved a good set up through repeated small tweaks. We didn't need to go to a professional bike fitter for this, it was done by trial and error.
 

taximan

senex crepitu iuvenis cordi esse
Like a lot of cyclists I have never had a bike fit in my life. my belief is that if a bike feels right, it probably is. I reckon anyone with a modicum of common sense will know if a bike they are considering buying is too large or too small for them, the rest as has already been stated can be sorted by tweaking over the first few rides.
 

Kajjal

Guru
Location
Wheely World
It is a good idea to learn about setting up a bike correctly and experimenting yourself to learn how things work. That way if you do decide on a professional bike fit you understand more and will get more from it.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
For some spending money is worse than extracting their own teeth, whilst others are happy to do so. After 50+ years of cycling I feel the £185 I spent with Adrian Timmis was well worth it.
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
all my bikes start of with the saddle at 39" and bars at 36" then fine tune same goes for reach .
My body tells me what feels right not some bloke I am paying.

My standard rough and ready set up is pedal spindle to saddle top distance at 37" and I get the bars as close in height as possible to the saddle, ideally level if there's enough stem adjustment. I like to have the seat post coming up in a line through the centre of the saddle, as regards fore-aft. If I start out with that ball park, I never have to move anything more than a quarter of an inch, if that, after some test rides.
I don't buy the argument that bike fit changes with age either. I haven't got any taller, or my legs any longer, since I was about 18, which means a bike that fitted me as a 18 year old will still fit me now. I've never been interested in masochistic discomfort-inducing aggressive riding positions, so I have not had to change anything because of bad backs etc. Discomfort in return for going faster is not a price I have been willing to pay, then or now.

For some spending money is worse than extracting their own teeth, whilst others are happy to do so.

I'm quite happy spending money so long as I'm getting good value, enjoyment, or a tangible benefit in return. What I'm not prepared to do, is hand over money to "experts" to do something I am perfectly capable of doing for myself, at little or no cost. There's a lot of truth in the old saying about fools and their money being soon parted. I manage to enjoy my cycling, and a lot of other things, without shelling out large wads of cash on them.
 

screenman

Legendary Member
I did not consider it a lot of money for the benefits, in fact the hourly was way less than I charge. Of course we all know if your feelings towards spending money, you have made it very clear many times.
 
Location
London
I did not consider it a lot of money for the benefits, in fact the hourly was way less than I charge. Of course we all know if your feelings towards spending money, you have made it very clear many times.
Can I ask how many bikes you have?
(no - it's not a money related question)
 
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