i made a fit app't!!

[beccaB]

So how do you find out where to get fitted? Do I call the bike shops and find out who does that? When I bought my bike it seems like all they did was watch me ride it around the parking lot. My legs are long, and my knee got too close to the handlebar when I turned a corner, but that's the only technical thing they looked at. I had no idea that a professional bike fit involved a lot more than that. I didn't get a very expensive bike, but I do have some aches and pains, and would like to keep doing this forever. Does anyone have a recommendation for getting properly fitted in somewhere near Lansing or Ann Arbor, Michigan?

[elk]

exactly....

i might start a new thread called fitter in Lansing? or something and the MI gals will respond.

[aicabsolut]

So how do you find out where to get fitted? Do I call the bike shops and find out who does that? When I bought my bike it seems like all they did was watch me ride it around the parking lot. My legs are long, and my knee got too close to the handlebar when I turned a corner, but that's the only technical thing they looked at. I had no idea that a professional bike fit involved a lot more than that. I didn't get a very expensive bike, but I do have some aches and pains, and would like to keep doing this forever. Does anyone have a recommendation for getting properly fitted in somewhere near Lansing or Ann Arbor, Michigan?

I pretty much just went around to every LBS I could think of when I couldn't resolve pain in the backs of my knees. I'd had a preliminary fit done when I bought my bike, and then after a few weeks, that shop gave me a full fit, once I had ridden for a while and gotten a better idea about the changes I wanted to make to the bars and saddle. After I started riding more and my knees were hurting, I went back to that shop and tried a (free) refit. Nothing helped. Luckily, I told my sob story to the other (2) shops and no one else charged me for a fit service either. The next LBS I tried after the place of purchase did a lot for me. My shoulders had started hurting after the refit, because my reach was now too short. They worked on saddle position some more but gave me a more aggressive position that improved handling a lot. The pain behind my knees (especially the right, because I'm crooked) returned after hilly rides, though it was better. So I next went to my new team's sponsor shop (hoping they'd give me a fit for free--which they did). The guy noticed that I was kind of crooked and recommended a place that is more medically based with PTs and physicians on staff, where they do extensive bike fits based on an analysis of your biomechanics, and they also do fitness testing there. I never made it to that 4th place, though, because my sponsor shop noticed that my bike had been built with the wrong size crank arms for the spec of that bike (they sold the same brand). I took that information back to the place of purchase and got the crank arms swapped out for free. Then I played around a tiny bit with my saddle position based on the information I'd gotten at the last shop about proper KOPS position. From then on, I have gotten no pain that I can link to my bike fit.

It can be one helluva process, but I think if my bike had been built up right from the start, I would've had an easier time of it.

One thing I can recommend to new riders is to get a bike fit when you buy a bike but then go back months later and get re-fit after you've started adapting to the new position. I started out in a very relaxed setup, and I wound up changing my stem angle and seat position a lot. I also have been slowly getting rid of spacers on the head tube. While some things should stay the same, probably, (like bar width and saddle--if you get the right one the first time ) your comfortable posture and position for maximum (pain-free) power output may change over time. There's not much use in spending the $$ for some of the really in-depth fittings right off the bat for newbies.

[Jiffer]

I just posted all about my recent bike fit and all the benefits it gave me. I HIGHLY recommend it!