My First Bike Fit
As I have been looking for my ‘Next Bike’ (see last journal entry), I heard over and over again how important getting a proper bike fit was. I never concerned myself with it too much as I am young (ish?) and flexible (ish?) and didn’t see much value in it. Things came to a head when I realized I liked the feel of my SL8 more than my Melee, but that my back, arms, and butt didn’t hurt when riding the Melee. So it was settled, I needed a bike fit, but where? I had spoken to Ari, the owner of Bespoke Cycles in San Francisco, a few times about an ENVE or Parlee bike and knew he did fittings. I looked up some reviews and saw that he uses some cool tech with his fittings which was intriguing to me. The other fitters in the area I had spoken too were ‘old school’ and did everything by eye, where I would like someone who uses data to make informed recommendations - so I booked a fitting with Ari.
When I got there I was immediately impressed. The whole process was not rushed, and at some points even felt too slow if anything. We chatted for about an hour about me, my goals, my background, and my body. We looked at my feet, hips, walking, everything all before getting on the bike. He adjusted my cleats, recommended a spacer between pedals, and even showed my why my feet go numb sometimes and what we can do about it.
Then came the main event, getting on the fitting bike. I walked into the room, hopped on and asked what size and fit he put it to - he didn’t know. He explained how he does everything off feel, and then adjusts based on the data. This was reassuring as I was worried we would go into it with him trying to fit me into one of his bikes, and not the best bike for me - it could not have been more opposite. I spun, we looked at the data together and found that I favored my right side by quite a bit - we tried different saddles and to our surprise, this worked.
We made slow and small changes to saddle height, reach, stack, etc. until we got the numbers for my left and right sides to be even (this was the cause of a lot of my problems). At the beginning of the fit I was uncomfortable, and by the end everything felt natural. My hands weren’t tired, my arms didn’t feel the burden of holding up my torso, and I was able to get into a lower more aero position without feeling cramped on the bike.
In the end, Ari sent over not only my fit numbers, with comparisons to the bikes I was considering (my SL8, ENVE Melee, Parlee Ouray, and Fiftyone Sika). He showed me which would fit best stock, and what changes could be made to each to make it fit better. I am excited to partner with Ari moving forward, not only as a fitter, but as a great shop owner. There is something special about a shop where you don’t feel like you are being sold to, but feel like you are being consulted and helped.
Tarmac SL8 Size 56
Switch to 115x38 cockpit (from 100x40)
Switch to 167.5 cranks (from 172.5)
Switch to no offset seatpost
Switch to S-Works Romin Evo Mirror (from S-Works Power Mirror)
