Do you need a bike fit?

The quick answer is: it depends.

Some folks are good at knowing exactly which size bike they need and getting a good fit. Others depend on the shop staff to help and happened upon someone who knows what works for the cyclist vs what is in stock that they can sell.

Then we have people who don’t know what fits and or combined with shop staff that also don’t know.

My first road bike was a Trek Domane and it was totally the wrong geometry for me. The shop was trying to push out the door what they had, vs what I needed and when I called with issues they tried to sell me “a bike fit”. This all ended up being an expensive mistake as I didn’t get back nearly what I paid for the bike. Obviously, I was pissed off so spent more hours than I’d care to admit researching the topic.

This resulted in me buying a new bike, online so sight unseen and crossing my fingers it would fit when it arrived. A week later I had a shiny new Cannondale Super Six Evo and then the real fun started. First off I HAD to change the saddle (amazing how much money you can spend on a bike to get the cheapest bike saddle known to man!) (It’s taken a few saddles (and lots of money) to get to my current setup)

Next, I increased the stem length to give me more stability (80mm to 100mm)  and then swapped it for smaller handlebars. (38 to 34)

Some things were a bit of playing around with to get right. Adjusting here and there. I tried putting my saddle lower/higher, forward and back.

(there was also the introduction of the 2nd Super Six Evo after a car hit me with the first, 2 weeks into owning it, and obviously replacing all of those parts I had just replaced, for the 2nd incarnation of the bike)

I had guys from club rides mock my set-up and whatever I did, as a girl what did I know?

I still have people (or should I say men) on Twitter arguing my saddle is too low *insert rolling eyes emoji here*

I did have a pro bike fit done in 2022 and you know what? Totally messed up my setup.

Whatever I did something kept nagging at me, the bike was always still a bit big for me. I’m tiny if you looked at  A little about me

There was a lot of talk about 650c wheels, which are not stock these days, and obviously, you’d need a bike made to run them. So about 10k to give them a go. I looked at 650b which you can buy and is more affordable but it took a while to take that plunge.

When Loki came into my life, it was a whole new game of tweaking this and tweaking that. He didn’t like the 34 handlebars so had to buy some 36s and cut some off. (no idea why but the SRAM shifters wouldn’t fit on the 34 bars, the Shimano shifters fit on the Cannondale with the smaller bars, but alas Loki wasn’t having it.) Also swapped the stem to a 90mm, they didn’t have a 100mm in stock and so far I’m ok with the 90mm. A fiddle here and there but from the start, the bike just felt like it “fit better”.

Now interestingly the geometry of the 2 bikes is very similar, just a tad different here and there. Those little differences, different carbon etc can make a bigger difference than you’d imagine. And I still can’t pinpoint the exact reason!

And then I finally tried 650b wheels, and a new world opened up! I’m still playing with tyre options but I’m so much happier. Besides just falling in love with Loki (yes my Cervélo has a name) it just rides so much better. I sold the Cannondale if that tells you how in love I am!!

The 650b wheels brought me lower to the ground and the wider tyres made everything more stable. Wind at my size isn’t fun, even a twig could just about throw me off on the Cannondale with my 700c tyres. The 650b’s roll up to speed faster and maybe they are slower on the flats, but the stability and increase in speed downhill matter to me more.

Now back to bike fitting. There are a lot of people in the bike fitting market who know nothing about bike fitting. They are just going off rough ideas and trying to sell you a service, then products they recommend during this service. A good salesperson should be able to tell if the bike fits properly before selling you the bike, but again, from my experience and many others, it is often “just sell the customer what they have and get them out of the door”. (Covid and supply issues exacerbated the issue)

There are a few very qualified bike fitters in the world, but finding who is legit, can be a bit difficult. Also, are they used to fitting men? Women? Racers vs commuters? I totally recommend doing research on your own and asking knowledgeable friends as a starting point. You may find this is all you need. Then if you need to pay for help, seek out someone who has good reviews and isn’t in the biz just to sell you stuff.

GCN has asked the pros if they had bike fits and you may be shocked to know this, but several have never had a proper bike fit. The shops trying to sell you their expensive bike fit, saying it’s “essential” likely won’t tell you this important tidbit of information.

I’ve spent a lot of money on parts, even 2 bikes that didn’t really fit properly, wheels that were good but too big for me, you name it and I’ve wasted money on it in this journey. To add to the difficulty I’m also a unique size so the bike industry isn’t really making products for people my size. In the end, besides finally having a bike I love, I’ve learned loads in the process. if you get an off-the-shelf bike that fits perfectly, keep this to yourself! No one wants to know! Especially not me!

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