Cyclefit

At bespoke they set your bike up for you, all of my fitting was done on my bike over 2 sessions. I was monitored with the retul thing and he suggested making some changes, my stem was too long so we tried others and gave me a 110mm but I also needed to change the bars too. I bought the bars myself and went back the next week after using the stem and initial setup over the week. I put on the new bars before the 2nd session and then during that one I changed stem length again to a 120mm stem. I bought the stem from him but there was no presure to buy things from him, he doesn't mind if you go and get parts online which I did for the bars. I also got a inline post from him. Overall I changed bars, seatpost and stem and my cleats were adjusted, he measured me and tested my flexibility. I also got alot of good advice about what I should get for my next frame as certain things suit me better.

Good info guys, cheers.

I'll call them today.

i've started to get some lower back pain, but £200 is a lot of beer to forego. are there any slightly less scientific but almost as useful recommendations out there that you would trust: e.g. bikeshops that can check your position on a bike and make suggestions?

i've started to get some lower back pain, but £200 is a lot of beer to forego. are there any slightly less scientific but almost as useful recommendations out there that you would trust: e.g. bikeshops that can check your position on a bike and make suggestions?

please read some of the other threads on this topic

lots of information is available

simply put you spend the money now in one go, or spend the money piecemeal slowly tweaking your bike and have the additional costs of physiotherapy until you get the bike to fit you

you get what you pay for

there are various rules of thumb to setting up bikes but if you cannot get it right yourself then you may wish to pay a professional

This

http://www.prodigalchild.net/Bicycle6.htm

is the link to the Dave Moulton fit chart.

Not bad for size,stem lenght etc - other parts such as saddle height and saddle set back need to be done by feel . Possibly a bit on the small side. I don't think it works as well with the Lemond measurments

+1 Cyclefit is great - phil is a top bloke and has forgotten more about bikes than most know - helped massively with physio advice

I had my geared road bike set up and changed the stem & saddle there - ps they run a saddle library for try before you buy

simply put you spend the money now in one go, or spend the money piecemeal slowly tweaking your bike

quality word

Can they sort out my position on this kitchen chair? After a long posting session I find my buttocks are numb. Maybe I need a custom cushion? Or some inserts in my undies?

If you have physio issues then book for a Wednesday morning when Graham Anderson is there so that the Cyclefit guys will be able to seek his expert guidance as they do your fitting

(Graham runs the Balance physio in Clapham and is excellent)

Can they sort out my position on this kitchen chair? After a long posting session I find my buttocks are numb. Maybe I need a custom cushion? Or some inserts in my undies?

A couple of weeks as an ex-enger and he is already moulding his growing arse into the furniture. Get riding young man.

Thinking back to Furtwangler's original question and expanding on my comments above it is worth highlighting that the Cyclefit guys focus almost uniquely on the shoes/pedal interface (and rightly so given that it is the link between you and the bike).

So they will:

• Mould you some insoles to get your feet fitting correctly in your shoes (accounting for the general profile of your feet as well as specific such as varus/valgus tilt)
  
• Add any wedges to your shoes to compensate for leg length discrepancy etc.
  
• Position the cleats to ensure your knee is over the pedal spindle (or rather the tibial tuberosity which is the bump just below the knee cap)
  
• Also align the cleats to allow for any natural lateral foot rotation etc.
  
  

As for the rest of the fit I get the sense that they plug your measurements into their Serotta sizing system and then set up your base position using that information. Obviously as time permits they will tweak that base position to try to achieve a balance of optimum comfort and performance.

Inevitably most of the time for your session will be spent on the shoe/pedal interface, which will leave less time to fine tune those other aspects of your fit. If you have specific physio issues then I would definitely recommend going for the Wednesday morning session. And if your physio issues are complicated you may need more than a single session at Cyclefit, or perhaps a separate follow-up session with Graham (their physio).

As an aside it was quite interesting to hear Phil (at Cyclefit) says that they were seeing more and more fixed riders :-)

My missus bought me a cyclefit session for my birthday.. only worry is that i'm currently in the throes of getting a road bike through cyclescheme.

Am i better getting the new bike first and taking that along to get set up....

or should i get measured up on my current bike (in case they suggest i completely different sizing for the new frame)?

Utfb

Get the fit done and then buy a bike

Get fitted before buying the new frame. Best to explain what type of bike you want and take the specs / geometry with you so that they can see what's what an ting

Oh, and don't put custom footbeds in the washing machine :-(

They can do a fit with your current bike too. I know as it's what I did with them.

I'm thinking of going the whole hog with clipless pedals/shoes on my current bike, getting my riding position etc properly analysed, and getting my shoes/pedals fitted by them.
It will be interesting to see how they deal with me as I think my legs and my pedalling motion may come across as a bit odd to them, I have major damage in my right lower leg in the muscles used to stabilize my right ankle, plus my left femur bone is just over half an inch shorter than my right femur bone, this also creates a slight imbalance making my left quadricep about 20% stronger than my right.
I'll let you guys know how I get on!

I would be interested in hearing comments about this as well

Be careful CJ, they might lop your lower leg off and sell you a perfectly aligned prosthetic for a large fee. :P

Do you think they've got one in carbon fibre?

Titanium only.

Haha, my legs are so fucked up its ridiculous, much like the rest of my body, i've had so many injuries in my time i'm amazed I can still walk let alone ride lol.
Titanium sounds good, it'll match my hiking socks better, ooh lala.

i recently got fitted by somebody who is a specialized BG trained bikefitter.
made some small changes but they made quite a difference to my riding, removed one shim from my right footbed and added another to my left and increased my saddle height by 5mm. small changes but my pedalling is no more even and feels much more efficient.

crazyjames i'm surprised you haven't been fitted for footbeds/shims sooner with such a large leglength discrepancy, hopefully you will see a significant improvement.
i guess if you are using trainers/clips and straps you get a less solid/rigid pedalling platform so you can get away with the set up being not quite right compared to road shoes

i recently got fitted by somebody who is a specialized BG trained bikefitter.
made some small changes but they made quite a difference to my riding, removed one shim from my right footbed and added another to my left and increased my saddle height by 5mm. small changes but my pedalling is no more even and feels much more efficient.

crazyjames i'm surprised you haven't been fitted for footbeds/shims sooner with such a large leglength discrepancy, hopefully you will see a significant improvement.
i guess if you are using trainers/clips and straps you get a less solid/rigid pedalling platform so you can get away with the set up being not quite right compared to road shoes

Well I do have footbeds, some very expensive ones actually, but they were made specifically for back when I was powerlifting as the kinda weights I was moving were crushing the standard plastic ones, so I have some fancy pants carbon fibre/kevlar composite things, they are paper thin but can withstand around 300kg of load per foot, the wedges/shims they use (or posting as the feet people call it), is made out of a similar stuff to hockey pucks so is equally stupidly tough.
Now the problem is, I have to use these for snowboarding also, and smart shoes so I have to try and keep them in good nick, they cost the best part of £600 to get fitted for/made.
A couple of months of cycling and because of where they sit on my feet the surface seemed to develop a few chips at the toe end of the inner sole from impacts doing tricks etc, and knowing the cost and hassle/waiting time for the fitting of these things, I really don't want to risk damaging them further.
So.... I started wearing my crappy generic wedge just in my left shoe, in a pair of crappy very unsupportive trainers, but this just isn't cutting it for medium-long distance/general riding comfort.
Plus i'm starting to get fed up with the whole clip/strap/trainer thing, I want something more efficient these days for bombing around on, now that I have a seperate bike for tricks etc.
Excuse the long post, but there is a lot to explain I guess!

i would suggest some proper cycling footbeds to fit your cycling shoes.
the specialized ones sorted out my knee mistracking immediately. getting the fitting just tweaked the amount of shims. they are quite cheap only £20 for a set. i found them very comfortable and now use them in all my shoes. they have a bump in them that feels a bit odd at first but once you get riding them they are very comfortable because they support the whole of the foot.