The Bike Fit Experience

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Ride the Rockies pre tour clinic at Wheat Ridge Cyclery. Not only is there free food and beer, but you get to hear all about the route. At the end of the evening they have a small raffle where you can win various prizes. For whatever reason, I’m extremely good at winning raffles. As they were calling out the number for the last prize, I knew I had the winning ticket. Sure enough, I was right. Best part was it was a free bike fit. Something that I’ve been wanting to do forever, and something worth $250. Not a bad deal. I was ecstatic and quickly scheduled my fit.

The bike fit experience was a little more involved than I had thought. It consisted of a lot of measuring of various parts of the body. Flexibility was checked, walking and all sorts of little things I would have never thought about. I found out my hips were rotated. The arch on my right foot is higher than on the left (which is starting to become problematic). After going through all the measurements, I rode on a trainer and they video taped me. It was interesting to see. There were some obvious things that we were able to fix.

The first adjustment was to raise my seat. This is something that I kind of knew needed to be done, but had neglected to modify myself. Next, my cleats were adjusted. This made a huge difference in where my legs were positioned. Because of the difference in my arches, I got some insoles. I’m still not so sure about these and might need to make another adjustment. Probably the biggest changes was a new stem. This part was a little expensive, but after two rides I can tell a major difference.

Most of these changes are subtle, and given the cost I’m not sure how I feel about the experience. When you ride a lot I can see the value in the proper fit. It will avoid injuries in the long run, and being comfortable is well worth it. So my advice is, if you are serious about riding, it’s well worth the expense. But expect to pay a couple hundred dollars for parts on top on the price of the fit.