Bike fit - Worth doing ?

Had one after Covid and work from home bad posture, well worth it IMO. make sure you budget for any required changes after.

Lucky enough that I was able to find a physio that was also a bike fitter after a recommendation on here. Mid range in terms of depth of analysis / price.

Changes for me were: Shorter cranks, pedals spaced further outwards, cleats slammed back, longer stem if I wanted (rejected for comfort). Saddle and it’s position lowered. Apparently most ride too high for hip mobility and should get a Selle SMP. Added some mobility / exercises for areas that could be improved too. Less discomfort after long rides and more watts.

Pedal technique work and gym alongside also made a massive difference to power output.

If you are having a bike fit it is better to have a bike fit before you order the bike so you can then order a bike which best fits what you need so you'll have to hope you ordered one that is close. For example you can put a really long or really short stem on a miss sized frame but be better if you didn't need to by starting with correct frame size.

Now you have the bike on the way then just see how you can get it to fit you by adjusting, replacing parts etc,. until it feels comfortable by testing each change with a long ride.
That is all I have ever done and my bike is very comfortable and causes no aches or pains.

kerley got to it before me - bike fit before bike purchase.

I reckon if your bike fits reasonably well and you have no biomechanical issues, you can probably make most of the adjustments yourself by being patient and watching videos.

However if you're like me with a bad back and walk with feet at "5 to 2", then it's definitely worth getting professional advice from a recommended fitter. I find the subtle tweaks make a difference

More important with a road bike as you end up on the same position for extended periods of time.

Round here they seem to start at £150 and upwards, but a lot of club mates travel to Andy Bishop in Worksop, £75 I think now.

Money well spent for me - relatively minor tweaks to the position made me more comfortable and efficient on the bike, but the proper cleat set up was a revelation.

Yes and no, I think they are an important and useful step in the right direction, and can certainly flush out some big, obvious issues, but most of the improvements I've felt and experienced have been self taught and experiments with e.g. stretching/foam rolling/strengthening etc.

Most recent bike fit felt quite radical in terms of dropping the bars a lot. I think the theory was sound but of course making such a radical change just resulted in tendonitis issues in my arms as they weren't used to it and I didn't back off intensity or hours on the bike, so even if your fitter doesn't mention it, allow for time to get used to any adjustments and don't think you can just continue as you were pre-fit.

I had a bike fit years ago, came free with a new bike. When I got home and lined the new one up with my old one, which I'd just tweaked over the years, it was identical - so I'd got the 'right' fit just by feel.

Hence never bothered since.

Bike fit is useless (imo) without a biomechanical analysis by a qualified physio at the same time. If near Sheffield then Richard at fit4velo or fit4physio is well worth looking out for.
I have a session (Friday just gone) and was super impressed with his professional nature, clarify, and in depth analysis

Bike fit is useless (imo) without a biomechanical analysis by a qualified physio at the same time.

This times one million!

I actually think all my 'fit' issues have just been muscular imbalances/tightness or inactivity, and whilst the bike fitter has been able to identify symptoms e.g. squint on saddle etc. they haven't maybe been able to go into detail as to how to fix it (in fairness to my fitter he made several good suggestions/guesses but not confidently enough for me to go away with a course of action).

Bike fit is useless (imo) without a biomechanical analysis by a qualified physio at the same time.

My feeling too.

If you are a total noob, and have no more experienced (and sane) friends to help a cheap bike fit might be a good start in making you look like an biker rather than a sack of spuds plonked on a bike. IMO a lot of people who come the leisure cyclist -> keen mountain biker -> buy a road bike route are ****ing useless at setting up a road bike position without assistance.

But it only really starts to make actual sense if you go all in with someone who is able to assess you biomechanically for range of motion etc. And then it helps the rider wannabes with too much ego and too little flexibility who want to set their bike up slammed and just like the kids on the tour de france so they look good propped up against the cafe wall the most; that they are not all that and might need a tweak if they are to enjoy riding it and want to progress.. If it's just a cheap bike fit to an anthropometric assessment of your limb lengths....not so much.

And again, if the bike is mostly to live in the shed or a 5 mile bimble once in a while to where you are going to photograph your bike for insta, the fit can be appalling with no issue 🙂

Thanks and agree would have been a good idea before the purchase. But when I ordered it, I had no idea it was going to be recommended. So that ships sailed, but all my Scott’s are medium, so I do feel that’s going to generally be ok.

Will revert this back to the physio, as I’m comfortable that I can get to a good riding position unaided. It’s the whole biochemical analysis thang, that I can’t do and could be the most insightful and helpful.

I had a two part bike fit. First one on the jig for sizing before I chose frame size, then a second one once I got the bike to adjust it all. Worked for me, second fit resulted in a stem swap and it’s been a comfy bike for long rides. And as mentioned before, your mobility is key. First thing that was done when I had a bike fit was throw me on a table and check out my ranges of movement. The right fit is the position you are comfy in, not necessarily the “ideal performance fit” - unless you are some sado to hell with comfort, it’s only speed that counts type of person.

So I had a bike fit by a proper cycling physio and to be honest I didn’t find it that useful.

It was mainly my fault as I said to him I wasn’t comfortable on the bike and to be comfortable needed a short stem with lots of rise that doesn’t exist. Then I told my friend who’s road biked for years and he said to me do the opposite and put a longer flatter stem on as road biking just isn’t comfortable and you need to work on getting it the best you can with yoga etc…. Did that and it’s made such a difference, I even do TT’s on my roadie now.

I think they’re very useful if you’re struggling though I’d just let them get you how you should be and don’t dictate too much in case you’re really uncomfortable

I’m in the yes and no camp. I had one, lots of small tweaks to cleats, dropping of saddle and recommendation for a +35 degree stem short stem. Felt like I was riding a shopping bike made a material difference to the speed I rode at, after a few months changed it back to a longer and lower stem.

I just compare to my old bike and tweak now.

I wouldn’t bother for mtb unless you are doing all dayers regularly

I had one it has mostly solved some knee pain.

A couple of times a year I ride the 130 miles to my in-laws. My next longest rides on road bikes are about 80 miles, I might do 100 once a year.

I got terrible knee pain about 100 miles in.

The fitter dropped 3cm from my saddle height, flipped the stem down and took out some stem spacers. At this point all my mates told me they had always thought my saddle was too high. I was absolutely sure that my saddle height was fine. 9 months on it still feels alien to have the saddle so low.

I did the 130 mile ride in may, got knee pain at 100 miles, dropped it some more and it was tolerable. I rode down last week with the even lower saddle no knee pain. It's still a very hard day, but not in the knee.

It was £200. The other solution would have been to stop doing the long ride. I'm happy that I've avoided doing myself a long term mischief.

And again, if the bike is mostly to live in the shed or a 5 mile bimble once in a while to where you are going to photograph your bike for insta, the fit can be appalling with no issue 🙂

No, just no.

Thanks for the feedback, it’s purely for the new roadie machine, mtb is all ok, for when I can cope with the bumps again.

Interesting about lowering the saddle, I’ve previously raised mine to feel better mobility in the hips, then had knee ache after 40-50 miles, that I can look at myself.

I know the basics that I need, so may deal with those, as there goes £200 easily and mess about lowering and raising the saddle.

Never bothered what length cranks are on a road bike, but I have 165mm on the mtb, will look into if you can get shorter cranks for the new bike, if they do, if there’s stock, if they’re not a squillion quid.

I've been tweaking my latest road bike position, lowering the stem 1cm at a time and waiting a few weeks to check that there are no aches and pains, then cutting down the steerer. It's now as low as it can go and steerer cut right down. Now experimenting with stem length, to see if I can push that out a bit.

Just trying to get as aero as possible whilst still being comfortable.

It’s now as low as it can go and steerer cut right down.

Then

Now experimenting with stem length, to see if I can push that out a bit.

Doah!

Just to be clear, my objective here is not the most aero position possible, or max speed etc, or looking insanely good for insta.

It’s to not have a relapse of my last 18 months of spinal hell, which I’m reliably informed if I get this right and continue with the exercises blah blah blah then I stand a good chance of not ending back in theatre and being able to get out on 2 wheels.

Which would be unbelievably good.

Based on that I would say getting a road bike and testing out different changes over long rides is not going to be the best thing to do. They can be comfortable once you get it dead right but by default I would say they are less good on your back than the position of an MTB, hybrid etc,.

If your MTB is already comfortable and causing no issues what is stopping you riding that for fitness?

Road bikes are inherently bad for you back flattening you lumbar curve and hyperflexing your neck.

Hybrid position is better

Do you mean, that a lower and more stretched out position is worse than a more upright position?

A good bike fit is well worth doing.

However the training/knowledge/experience/skills/opinions of fitters is very variable.

Do you mean, that a lower and more stretched out position is worse than a more upright position?

I think it is more difficult to get a perfect (read most comfortable) position when lower and stretched out. You can pretty much sit on a hybrid/town bike and it is comfortable straight away. Not the most efficient, but comfortable. That is not often the case with a road bike.

Good to see several people suggesting a physio/bike fit combo.

I had an effective assessment and fit from NJD Sports in Clitheroe.

I am a bike fitter, so take my bias there. ;-).

I am not a physio or personal trainer.
Any person should be treated by a doctor and physio for actual health issues they have, and a long, healthy riding career also requires off the bike strength and mobility work.
In other words, you need to take care of your body, but that is a separate issue from a bike fit. Even the fittest, strongest, most flexible rider will not feel good on a bike that doesn’t fit them. They might be able to deal with it for longer though.
Conversely, a bike fit can make your bike the most comfortable to ride that’s possible with the way your body is right now, but long term (riding) health still requires taking care of your body.

I do a physical assessment of range of motion and muscular weaknesses before I get the client on their bike on a trainer.
Any Bikefitter that does not do this, is performing a ‘sizing’ or an ‘adjustment’, but not a real bikefit.

If you are currently riding long, hard rides, with no discomfort, than a bikefit would be a bit of a luxury, perhaps optimizing something like performance or even a touch more comfort.

But if currently something is hurting when you ride, then a bike fit is the absolute best investment you can make.
I am in the US, so not sure how pricing compares to the UK, but I charge $200, or about the price of the very cheapest rear wheel you can buy.

I don’t see how most people can address their fit issues on their own.
For example, leg extension needs to to be measured under load, while actually pedaling. Bike fitters use video or motion capture for this.

Handle bar positioning relates to saddle choice and posture, core strength and flexibility. I have not come across many riders (including ones I see out riding) who have good knowledge of what to aim for, let alone how to achieve it.

What a bike fitter can offer is both the knowledge of what to strive for (based on their assessment of your body), and how to achieve it with all the degrees of freedom offered by saddle choice, saddle positioning, bar width, height and reach.

This is where the suggestions of: ‘adjust one thing (like bar height), then the next’ (like bar reach) fall apart.

You need to adjust all those thing either simultaneously, or in a specific order.
In a fit session, we do this by working in the correct order, and using a fit stem that can be adjusted for both length and height rapidly.

I also disagree that road bikes are less comfortable than mtb’s.
If we are comparing apples to apples (casual road riding posture-uprright enduro mtb, or performance roadbike with XC bike) the road bike is typically more comfortable due to more natural hand/wrist angles and loads.
Of course, this does vary a lot based on personal strength and flexibility of the specific rider.
What is true is that most people move around a lot more on the mtb, thus avoiding the prolonged, identical posture and repetitive movement that make road biking so exacting for bike fit.

I also disagree that road bikes are less comfortable than mtb’s.

I didn't say they were less comfortable, I implied they were more difficult to get right for the average consumer with no bike fitting knowledge and it is not an apples to apples comparison I was making as it was specifically for a person with back issues.

Some people swear by them, I've never felt the need.

I can see the uses for them, when combined with a physio / fitness / movement assessment as well. Otherwise as mentioned, it's simply "sizing" rather than a formal fitting process.

The trick is finding someone decent - there are half a dozen different systems out there, a lot of which simply offer half a day's training to then call yourself a bike fitter.

A few years ago, I was ride leading on a multi-day tour; a rider turned up having flown there with his bike. He'd had a bike fit a week or so before, £300. Then when he'd packaged the bike for the flight, he'd taken off bars / stem / seatpost etc... and he had no idea of where they'd been set to as a result of the fit.

£300 completely wasted.

… and he had no idea of where they’d been set to as a result of the fit.

This annoys me, I've had a couple of fits and they always seem really reluctant to provide you with a printout afterwards, I've received them either grudgingly, months afterwards, or not at all.

I realised recently that I've slipped into a habit of adjusting my saddle every other ride, I think I've become TOO aware of pressure points and have started adjusting it depending on my flexibility on any given day 😂

It's always with a sort of 10mm and or +/-1° window of adjustment, which I suppose means I should just set it midway and leave the Allen keys at home, or get better at doing the same mobility and strength drill before each ride!

Thanks @tjaard

I am a bike fitter, so take my bias there. ;-

That’s really useful info.