Saddle Height.

[Alan O]

I fiddle with bars, seat height (Seat not bloody saddle; I am riding a bike not a horse!) until it feels right.
In a few weeks, I may fiddle a little bit again.
Takes seconds to do.
Paying someone to fit me on a bike when I could spend that money on an upgrade seems like a big waste of time and money.
Snake oil indeed.

I feel pretty much the same way myself - when I came back to cycling in 2016 after a long absence, I was surprised to learn that there was such a thing as a bike fit, and a younger me would have shaken my head in incredulity.

But having said that, I tend to forget that I started riding 'proper' bikes when I was 11 (I'm 59 now), and knowing how to set one up to feel right is instinctive. And I've recently come across people new to cycling who have absolutely no idea whatsoever. I recently lent a bike to someone who's about six inches taller than me and with longer legs, and it came back with the saddle seat about 2 inches lower and he couldn't understand why I had it set so obviously too high.

 

[SuperHans123]

I feel pretty much the same way myself - when I came back to cycling in 2016 after a long absence, I was surprised to learn that there was such a thing as a bike fit, and a younger me would have shaken my head in incredulity.

But having said that, I tend to forget that I started riding 'proper' bikes when I was 11 (I'm 59 now), and knowing how to set one up to feel right is instinctive. And I've recently come across people new to cycling who have absolutely no idea whatsoever. I recently lent a bike to someone who's about six inches taller than me and with longer legs, and it came back with the saddle seat about 2 inches lower and he couldn't understand why I had it set so obviously too high.

What with everyone just staring at rectangles all day, I am not surprised at the lack of basic knowledge when it comes to bike comfort.
I think we will devolve to the point where babies coming out of the womb will be staring at their hand wondering why there isn't a phone in it.

 

[Alan O]

What with everyone just staring at rectangles all day, I am not surprised at the lack of basic knowledge when it comes to bike comfort.
I think we will devolve to the point where babies coming out of the womb will be staring at their hand wondering why there isn't a phone in it.

Or we'll turn into Teletubbies.

 

[Milkfloat]

I think that those who knock bike fits have either not had a fit, or not had a good fit. Despite cycling for years, after a back injury I could not tweak my fit myself to be able to cycle pain free. I went to a recommended ‘snake oil salesman’ who got me comfortable and thus riding again. For a triathlete friend of mine he ‘found’ considerably more power with some fairly minor tweaks.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

What with everyone just staring at rectangles all day, I am not surprised at the lack of basic knowledge when it comes to bike comfort..

i think we can extend that to other things like basic maintenance, and general practical skills. I'm amazed at how many younger people are incapable of fixing a fault on a bike, changing a wheel on a car, doing simple household plumbing or electrics, or any number of everyday repair activities that most people my age take for granted.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I blame Lego.

 

[vickster]

i think we can extend that to other things like basic maintenance, and general practical skills. I'm amazed at how many younger people are incapable of fixing a fault on a bike, changing a wheel on a car, doing simple household plumbing or electrics, or any number of everyday repair activities that most people my age take for granted.

I go out to work so I don't have to fix things, paint things etc. I can pay people who will dona better job than me having been trained to do so. I'd rather spend my non working time doing this I actually enjoy, i.e. None of the things you mention. I'm not especially young

If you enjoy/get satisfaction from such tasks, crack on. Even better if it's your job and you get paid to do them

On the bike fit question, I have had two fairly recently from physios. Done after joint surgeries, to make sure the bike set up wasn't going to exacerbate injuries or hinder recovery

 

[SuperHans123]

I think that those who knock bike fits have either not had a fit, or not had a good fit. Despite cycling for years, after a back injury I could not tweak my fit myself to be able to cycle pain free. I went to a recommended ‘snake oil salesman’ who got me comfortable and thus riding again. For a triathlete friend of mine he ‘found’ considerably more power with some fairly minor tweaks.

I've not had a bike fit as I have always managed to adjust stuff on the right sized bike to never entertain the idea.
Never even heard of it until a year or two ago.

 

[Slick]

I go out to work so I don't have to fix things, paint things etc. I can pay people who will dona better job than me having been trained to do so. I'd rather spend my non working time doing this I actually enjoy, i.e. None of the things you mention. I'm not especially young

If you enjoy/get satisfaction from such tasks, crack on. Even better if it's your job and you get paid to do them

On the bike fit question, I have had two fairly recentky from physios. Done after joint surgeries, to make sure the bike set up wasn't going to exacerbate injuries or hinder recovery

I've always had the same opinion regarding fixing things. One of the few things I ever excelled at in life was doing my own job. I used to try and either fix or maintain things when I was younger and cash was tight, but I soon realised there was more money to be earned than lost by paying a professional to do it better than I could anyway. As for the fit, do it don't do it, just don't moan about the choices of others.

 

[bpsmith]

I do enjoy some of the posts on here, where people get ridiculed by not knowing how to do manual stuff. I also enjoy the posts about people condemning anything overly technological or electronic. Strangely enough, those posts tend to go hand in hand, along with the assumption that anyone who can use a computer cannot do anything manual based.

I suspect that said posters would have no clue whatsoever, should they be asked to do something with modern technology. I wonder if they can see the irony in that.

 

[screenman]

I fiddle with bars, seat height (Seat not bloody saddle; I am riding a bike not a horse!) until it feels right.
In a few weeks, I may fiddle a little bit again.
Takes seconds to do.
Paying someone to fit me on a bike when I could spend that money on an upgrade seems like a big waste of time and money.
Snake oil indeed.

Some of us have all the kit we want it need already. Out of interest how long have you been cycling, for me it was 40 years before I paid a few bob to spend a couple of hours with one of the countries great cyclists, money well spent.

 

[screenman]

I've not had a bike fit as I have always managed to adjust stuff on the right sized bike to never entertain the idea.
Never even heard of it until a year or two ago.

Thinking back I used to have all my bikes made for me after spending an hour or so on a jig, this over 25 years ago. So nothing new in bike fits.

 

[SuperHans123]

Some of us have all the kit we want it need already. Out of interest how long have you been cycling, for me it was 40 years before I paid a few bob to spend a couple of hours with one of the countries great cyclists, money well spent.

Since I was a kid.
Tellingly here, I have never been remotely interested in road bikes, preferring to look around and stop when I want as opposed to staring at an inch of tyre with my back doubled over.
Perhaps this is why I have never been uncomfortable enough to even entertain the idea of a bike fit?

 

[SuperHans123]

Thinking back I used to have all my bikes made for me after spending an hour or so on a jig, this over 25 years ago. So nothing new in bike fits.

This is highly uncommon though.
The vast majority of people who own bikes buy them from shops and try them out for size there as opposed to having them bespoke made.
A bit like the 1% of men who have a fitted suit.
Source:-https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cnbc.com...n-go-for-a-bespoke-suit-around-the-world.html
Not pointless, certainly but definitely niche.

 

[Slick]

The original question from almost a year ago was not about fit it was about the options available when choosing height between comfort and efficiency. If it was as simple as throwing your leg over a bike in a shop and finding the perfect bike for everyone, there would be no need for any adjustable features on bikes. Anyway, I now have a better understanding of how to set up a bike to suit me but it's mostly thanks to asking questions on here, which was the whole point of the thread.