Sidi shoes

hippy I've been contemplating a fitting there (actually a fitting anywhere..) I've DIY'd it for years and wonder what they can do for me.
Now that I'm too tight to pay UK RRP prices for roadie kit and buy stuff off ebay, etc. I've done myself a disservice with the Ribble fit (the old: read wrong column, toptube too long problem).

How do you rate their fitting?
Are you actually comfortable over long distance stuff?
Any racers out there feel more powerful, better handling?

Do they provide a full set of measurements that could be used to 1) tweak existing bike 2) tweak new off the shelf bike 3) build full custom frame?

Do they do the hard-sell like Kennedy in Melbourne and push their own bikes/components at you?

The fitting was the first thing I ever had done there.

I didn't know what to expect, but my Cannondale CAAD8 that I was riding at the time was making an old nagging lower back pain problem come back stronger than ever.

It took a couple of hours, with them continually tweaking a size-cycle (custom fitting machine), watching your motions, video taping and playing back the movements of each joint, using a laser to track float at the knees, swapping bars and saddles to improve comfort, handling.

All of this is done to how you say you want to ride. The fitting will work towards a position as close to perfect as possible for how you ride. So your fitting will be different from mine, what you want to gain will be different from me.

At the end of the fitting, they walked me through a few stretches and techniques to help reduce the back pain further. How to engage the glutes during long gentle climbs, negative-spine position to prevent load bearing on a few joints, a few stretches to encourage other muscles to participate in the pedal stroke.

Then the choice is yours. They will email you an Excel spreadsheet containing the measurements you need to make any bike roughly your size match your fitting. But you can choose to leave your bike there, and pay for a very small service in which they dial-in the bike to your fitting.

For me this meant changing the stem, the saddle, the angle of the bars, and a few shims under the cleats of the shoes (different amount each side).

The difference was so extraordinary that my usual 70 mile ride that I was doing went from being mildly discomforting and tiring, to effortless. I felt fresh at the end of it. Knackered yes, it wasn't a cure for having to cycle, but there wasn't a bit of me that had pain or discomfort.

A little later I began wondering. If a fitting could do that to a bike that was stock... what would kind of bike could be produced if the bike were custom and matched the fitting.

That thought was what gave birth to my Serotta. And the thing is awesome. 120 miles isn't a problem at all, I'm still fresh at the end of it. I no longer hurt. My back pain is pretty much under control (gone for now it seems). My shoulders no longer burn after long distances. I have incredible control even at 40mph to 50mph on winding descents.

I made a mistake on my Bob Jackson. I provided the Cycle Fit numbers without taking into account the raised BB. So whilst the Jackson is absolutely perfect when I'm riding, it's a bit freaking high up for stops, starts, feet down.

The numbers they give you wipe out years of expensive experimenting (trying lots of different parts, tweaking everything). Whether you take advantage of that knowledge is down to you.