Online bike fit

[Cycleops]

This came via my Google feed. It's a bike fit app which asks various questions to ascertain which might be the best bike size etc for you.
Might be worth exploring and you can try out how it works before you buy, the cost being £12.50.
https://bestbikeadvice.com/int/en/b...7h5-SpgE-8m-mNbGzqDdsz8sdSwqvOJxoCiDwQAvD_BwE

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning

I am cynical about the whole bike fit industry, once you follow a few basic rules

• Knee over pedal spindle at 3 o'clock
• Slight bend in the knee at 6 o'clock
• Place you elbow against the front of the saddle and with forearm horizontal the handlebars should touch or almost touch your fingertips
• Handlebars level with saddle, up a bit for comfort and down a bit for speed

The rest is trial and error, which is why you see so many reviews along the lines of after many different bike fits xyz found my ideal position in one visit.

I might have been more interested if the site didn't also have a section designed to sell you a bike, unfortunately I can't say how good that advice was as after entering my details the next screen was the one shown below.

I commute with this setup and am frequently told that my bars are too low.


Bye

Ian

 

[Drago]

I'm very cynical too, having been there and not been impressed.

After all, the various systems contradict themselves in detail, sometimes quite significantly, and they can't all be right.

 

[sevenfourate]

As someone who’s ‘outside’ the box regarding my normalised body measurements; and what I actually need to be comfortable and reasonably efficient - I find the notion of doing these online via a few questions fairly laughable. For anyone semi serious at least.

If you’re buying a £50 bike off Facebook to bike a mile to work it likely doesn’t matter a damn. If you’re spending good money on a weekend toy you might aswell get the fit right then not. And if you’re remotely interested in eeking extra performance / comfort from your rides - and you’ve already Googled ‘Bike fittings’ - then going in person, with your bike and you sitting on it - would be best I’d suggest.

So an online fitting wouldn’t be for me as you might have guessed 😎

 

[derrick]

Waste of money.

 

[cyberknight]

it would be a generic by the numbers fit that wouldnt be any better than numerous free websites not taking into account your own personal body and requirements

 

[PaulSB]

I had a bike fit some years ago with a local physio who is also a very good triathlete so I feel he understands cycling more than many. It was £80 for two hours and I came away with a better, more comfortable position. Since then I have transferred the basic measurements to other bikes and with a few tweaks have always quickly achieved my desired position. A couple of years ago a new to cycling friend approached me with a basic question "What am I doing wrong?" Over three months we worked on many aspects of her riding including bike fit/position. She later chose to have a bike fit with the same guy I used, she came back complaining "You cost me £80!!!!" I quizzically asked why? "My fit was perfect, he didn't change anything." I had helped with her bike fit purely by eye, not a single measurement, and mainly by riding behind and alongside her as we made adjustments on the road or later in the garage.

From the four guidelines @IanSmithCSE suggests the first two for leg and foot position match my position exactly but the other two are way off. My fingertips are 2-3cm off the bars, on two bikes the saddle is 7-8cm higher than the bars and on another it is level. No, I can't explain this. They could provide a start point but a long way from the finish point for me.

To directly address the question all my experience suggests an online bike fit would be no better than the four guidelines above. I feel the best way to approach bike fit, without using a specialist of some sort, is to get the foot and leg positions correct and then work on reach, straight back, minimising weight through the arms and overall comfort. Once the rider has this approximately right asking a friend, ideally a cyclist but not essential, to take a side on view, even a photo, would then offer some help on the "does it look right/comfortable" question.

No, I wouldn't spend any money for an online bike fit.

 

[AgentOrange76]

I struggle with reach and excessive saddle to bar drop.
On most road bikes with an "endurance" geometry my saddle bar drop resembles that of the pro peloton.
Short of a 50mm 17 degree stem and a raise on the bars theres little option for getting comfortable and I ended up not riding it.

Just picked up ridding the MTB again with a similar issue although the shorter stem 17 degree stem is a better fit.
Would like a gravel bike but reluctant to buy one with previous issues so a fit that would give me an ideal geometry and one that might suggest id be best with a custom frame may be cost effective long term. I dont think its always cut and dried.

 

[figbat]

Whilst I also think you can do it by your own research and trials, there are pitfalls. I rode one of my old bikes for ages, all good. Then I had a new saddle fitted to it by a LBS (it was in for something else so they fitted it whilst there). They were careful to match the existing saddle’s location but within 10 miles of riding it I had a knee problem that lasted weeks. I raised the saddle 5mm and it all went back to normal.

If a trial and error approach means potentially injuring myself on each trial, I’d be happy to have at least a good place to start. However, I think in the case above I simply assumed it was all OK because the LBS had done it - had I fitted it myself I may have taken more interest in the details.

 

[T4tomo]

I haven't clicked the link but how the hell could on online fit look at you pedalling and sort out cleat alignment, shims if necessary etc.
If you are having any knee / leg pain / discomfort that is definitely worth paying for and need doing before you start on getting the correct saddle width for your sit-bones and then saddle position (CSE Ian's first two bullets are a good start point) and then reach - which is best done by trial error / feel than CSE Ian's two bullets. A lot depends on one core strength, body length etc, but what feels most comfortable is correct, there is no point being "more Aero" if its uncomfortable after an hour of riding.

 

[stephec]

I'm very cynical too, having been there and not been impressed.

After all, the various systems contradict themselves in detail, sometimes quite significantly, and they can't all be right.

I thought you had to go to the other place if you wanted to talk about religion? 😂

 

[DogmaStu]

I damaged my knees racing in my younger days and had over a decade where I didn't cycle at all. When I returned to cycling, I did my own bike fit following the time-tested basics that worked for me in the past but my knee's were still not happy on longer rides or with high intensity training.

I had a few sessions with a physiotherapist who specialised in cycling injuries and he suggested a bike fit. I duly went, willing to try anything, and was very pleased with the result.

The changes over my own bike fit were small but very significant in terms of my performance. Not only did my knee's cope far better, but I was more comfortable generally too and importantly, in my case being a competitive cyclist, faster.

I've had a few bike fits since - we change over time plus new bikes - and the initial one I had with the chap who set up a Pro team was very accurate given my performance after but so too was a far cheaper option by LBS did involving taking all my measurements, plugging them into a computer programme that had my bikes geometry details and then the use of a laser to get the result accurately adjusted.

I'd recommend a bike fit to anyone but I'll caveat that by saying I'm dubious about the online version and if I was just cycling to the shops, socially or even leisurely touring, I probably wouldn't have bothered since my own bike fit would be 'close enough' to not highlight any issues.