Is a Bike Fitter Enough?

[DieselnDust]

1 minute ago, Jeroen Swart said:

Seems some were very virtuous and not like me. Hence the judgement 20 yrs later

Welcome to Bikehub, where those without sun do indeed cast the first face brick.

 

[Ncayi]

So I finally saw my snake oil salesman (insert sarcasm font) and boy did I get a shock.

It turns out what I thought was a dialed in fit was not even close to where it needed to be.

1. Saddle height went up by 4.5 cm. 

2. Moved from a 142mm wide saddle to a 155mm.

3. Setback, yeah it moved back a lot.

It's still early days but the results are as follows.

My knees are tracking straight and I can feel my hamstrings and glutes working instead of just my quads.

I feel stable on the saddle and I can feel that I am sitting on both  my sitbones.

I'm sure we will make a few tweaks over time but my position on the bike has changed a  lot and feels weird in a good way.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ncayi

[NotSoBigBen]

1 hour ago, Jeroen Swart said:

You're not wrong. I was a very cocky youngster.

Have you spoken to me in the last 15-20 years?

 

 

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Who wasn’t a cocky youngster…?

Was about to say, having been around a while,  it's quite a common trait when one is young and full of @#£

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, NotSoBigBen said:

 

Was about to say, having been around a while,  it's quite a common trait when one is young and full of @#£

For the record, I’m not young any more. 😊

[peetwindhoek]

That sounds like quite some movements!

4.5cm higher saddle is interesting and I imagine you with your knees knocked out like on a kids bicycle :). During one of my fitments at Epic Sports they mentioned that the majority of saddles needs to be lowered when they doing a fitment. Mine was also one of those, but not by almost 5 cm. 

Here's to you getting used to the new position soon and adding like 50 free watts!

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, Ncayi said:

So I finally saw my snake oil salesman (insert sarcasm font) and boy did I get a shock.

It turns out what I thought was a dialed in fit was not even close to where it needed to be.

1. Saddle height went up by 4.5 cm. 

2. Moved from a 142mm wide saddle to a 155mm.

3. Setback, yeah it moved back a lot.

It's still early days but the results are as follows.

My knees are tracking straight and I can feel my hamstrings and glutes working instead of just my quads.

I feel stable on the saddle and I can feel that I am sitting on both  my sitbones.

I'm sure we will make a few tweaks over time but my position on the bike has changed a  lot and feels weird in a good way.

Glad you see the value of a fitter. 

Did they mention that you might feel a few aches and pains as your body adjusts to the new setup? Ease into your rides and don’t try do high volume (lots of long rides) immediately.

[Ncayi]

24 minutes ago, peetwindhoek said:

That sounds like quite some movements!

4.5cm higher saddle is interesting and I imagine you with your knees knocked out like on a kids bicycle :). During one of my fitments at Epic Sports they mentioned that the majority of saddles needs to be lowered when they doing a fitment. Mine was also one of those, but not by almost 5 cm. 

Here's to you getting used to the new position soon and adding like 50 free watts!

Yeah when I first saw how much my saddle went up I was a bit sceptical at first. I even had a rouge thought that I would drop it when I get home.

My fitter reassured me and I decided to trust the process. I also double checked with MyVelo Fit and it confirmed that I was within the correct range.

It feels great though.

21 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Glad you see the value of a fitter. 

Did they mention that you might feel a few aches and pains as your body adjusts to the new setup? Ease into your rides and don’t try do high volume (lots of long rides) immediately.

Yes he mentioned that it would take some time to adjust. My one sitbone was painful for 2 days and now no pain. Reach still feels longish but not painful. And that's probably just a flexibility issue that will get better with time. And if it doesn't we will make adjustments.

Keeping my rides short and flat for now to get used the fit, new shoes and also rebuild my engine after being off the bike for a month.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ncayi

[dave303e]

On 8/24/2023 at 6:34 PM, Ncayi said:

Seeing that this is linked to my bike fit story I thought let me just ask it here instead of creating another thread. 

I need some easier gears for the numerous climbs I have to do. I currently have a 52-36 chain ring and a 11-28 cassette. I want to increase my average cadence from 78-83 to 85-90 rpm which I used to manage with 50-34. 

• Would I be best served changing just the chaininrings or is it worth it to change to 11-30 cassette as well?
• If I slap on a 50-34 and 11-30 will I be sacrificing too much speed on the flat? Not a deal breaker but I still want to be able to keep up with the bunch on flat terrain.

I tried to figure it out but the tables below didn't really make too much sense to me. 

Thanks

That is one of the beauties of electric derailleurs. You can analyse your gear usage and use it to decide on what cassette/chainrings to run.

[SwissVan]

4 hours ago, Jeroen Swart said:

You're not wrong. I was a very cocky youngster.

Have you spoken to me in the last 15-20 years?

 

 

Hello Prof, please don't confuse cocky with rude.

No, and tbh I have no desire to.

 

4 hours ago, Jeroen Swart said:

Seems some were very virtuous and not like me. Hence the judgement 20 yrs later

 

20 yrs later, its not a judgement.... my wife says i cant remember what happened last week, which shows the kind of impression you made on me all that time ago.

 

[Lynskey]

5 hours ago, Jeroen Swart said:

Hi Jacques. Nice to meet you. 

I've gone through your posts and it seems you have had a very negative experience with our service. You seem to also have strong opinions about me.

However, I am unable to find any record of you ever having visited us. You are not on our electronic database of fittings. You are not on any of our email records or billing records.

Can you maybe provide some specifics on when you saw me for a fitting? 

If you didn't have a positive outcome, did you provide any feedback regarding your fitting? We generally aim to ensure the client is happy and will gladly re-assess and correct if they experience any problems.

Best wishes,

Jeroen

 

Not going to waste too much time here. My name is Greg Squires. I don't care what you find. 

[Jeroen Swart]

1 hour ago, Lynskey said:

Not going to waste too much time here. My name is Greg Squires. I don't care what you find. 

Thanks Greg.

I see we did a bike fit for you 15 years ago.

Long time to keep such a strong opinion.

All the best.

[ChrisF]

6 hours ago, Frosty said:

Glad you see the value of a fitter. 

Did they mention that you might feel a few aches and pains as your body adjusts to the new setup? Ease into your rides and don’t try do high volume (lots of long rides) immediately.

 

@Frosty is 100% correct.

 

It will take a bit of time to get used to the new body position.  Keep up with the stretches and core work during this period.

 

Please go back in 3 and 6 months for those final tweaks.  You will be surprised to see how your body adapts ....

[Ncayi]

2 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Please go back in 3 and 6 months for those final tweaks.

Definitely. That is the timeline we set unless something drastic happens before then. But for now it feels like money well spent.

[Murrob]

Tough crowd @Jeroen Swart. So just for the sake of variety, I only have good memories of our interactions, in particular how generous you were with you time and knowledge back in the day with us wannabe elite riders. I also spent a significant time with you in the lab for testing and remember you as a scholar and gentleman always. 

Getting back to the topic, a good bike fitter is critical I reckon, and has solved a good number of niggles of mine, especially now that since the after 40 switch was flicked and my body seems to actively fight me with my old injuries coming home to roost. But at least I am super comfortable on my bikes and do believe a bike fitter should take the time to know you in order to be able to assist better as is the case with mine. It’s also an ongoing process as things do change, so I consult often when upgrading/fiddling.

[carlheinz]

Sorry to resurrect this thread. 

Do you have any recommendations for fitters in CPT? I’m out in Hermanus. 

Road and Gravel setups (read tuning). 

Just haven’t felt comfortable on my road bike, saddle swaps, shoes, MyVelofit etc.

Hard pressed hands, sore feet, and discomfort in the saddle to name a few. Seemingly I thought road riding should be uncomfortable because of the “speed” my friend of cycling yonks indicate it should not be so… 

I remember seeing a thread long ago with a bunch of fitters recommendations and kudos but damn I can’t find it. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Carl

[ChrisF]

9 minutes ago, carlheinz said:

Sorry to resurrect this thread. 

Do you have any recommendations for fitters in CPT? I’m out in Hermanus. 

Road and Gravel setups (read tuning). 

Just haven’t felt comfortable on my road bike, saddle swaps, shoes, MyVelofit etc.

Hard pressed hands, sore feet, and discomfort in the saddle to name a few. Seemingly I thought road riding should be uncomfortable because of the “speed” my friend of cycling yonks indicate it should not be so… 

I remember seeing a thread long ago with a bunch of fitters recommendations and kudos but damn I can’t find it. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Carl

 

Many bikeshops can do the generic setups ....

 

And this is good enough for most people.

 

Add in some medical issues, muscle imbalance, weak core, etc, and the generic setup may need some tweaking.

 

 

This is where people like Irma adds value to cyclists - IrmFit.

 

But she is in Durbanville.  Also, tweaking often result in a few follow up visits, which is not practical from Hermanus to Durbanville.

 

Maybe reach out to Irma and ask who she can refer near you.

 

 

PS - sent you a DM