Quote Originally Posted by seychelle View Post
Yet another question (without having read all the links, etc). Shouldn't the bike shop guy have done all the measuring/adjusting ZenSojourner mentioned? Hmmm.
Yes, they should have, but they almost never do, especially for women. They should have put the bike on the trainer and you on the bike at the very least, and done all this adjusting with levels and plumb bobs calipers and what not.

There are actually special not-bikes that are just for fitting (do they still have the Fit Kit?), someone specially trained in their use puts you on this thing that isn't really a bike, but IS set up to take all sorts of measurements and angles and what-not so you can figure out what kind of bike geometry fits you best (as opposed to trying to make you fit the bike they have on the floor to sell to you).

This usually costs money, on the order of $150 10 or 15 years ago, it may be more now.

But at the least, bike on the trainer, you on the bike, bike tech with a level and a plumb bob adjusting everything to standard if not optimal settings/positions. That's why I say you need to check this because in my experience, noobs buying a bike almost never get this done because they don't know to ask for it and most sales guys either don't care or they don't know how to do it. Or both. Especially with that steep seat tube angle, seat height and position (and level) is really important.

The last time I went through this with a new bike, I ended up having to take the bike to a different store than where I bought it to get it fitted. NOTHING was in the right place because the first shop had just eyeballed it and called it good. Heck, they hadn't even installed my brakes properly! They came loose and were flopping around 2 miles into my first ride.

Once things were adjusted to "standard", I could ride around on it and see where changes might be needed, it only had to be "tweaked" once, then I had to go back when I replaced the seat. But that was it, just get it into "standard" shape and you probably won't have to tweak much.

Well, dang, you won't have to tweak much if the bike fits you pretty well. If it doesn't you could be tweaking for awhile, but you won't know that until you get all the adjustments set up properly.

You said you didn't get what you expected - what did you go into the bike shop looking for, and why did you not end up with that?

Just wondering, not to pry.