Quote Originally Posted by kitten View Post
another i visited offered to fit me for a price, but discouraged my doing it because if i bought the bike, then they would fit me for free.
I suggest asking them if they are open to you paying for the fitting and then applying that fee toward your bike purchase, should you decide to buy from them? If they are not willing to do that, well . . .

I am so sorry that these shops are treating you this way. For what it's worth, I am quite small and it took me visiting several shops to find a place to do a proper fitting. Like your experience, most said, "just hop on and see what feels good." While that may work for some, for me, when I'm going to spend that kind of money, I want to jump through all the possible hoops first! I ended up paying for a fitting, which lasted at least an hour. The amount would have been applied to a bike purchase, but I ended up puchasing my bike elsewhere (one they didn't carry at their shop). But, I continue to frequent the shop that did the fitting and give them referrals because of their stellar customer service.

Good luck to you!