In need of advice - regarding bike fit

[[email protected]]

Hi, I recently had a Serotta bike fit done at a local bike shop. We
set me up with a bike, and I rode home. Just for reference I am a
total novice to the bike fitting process.

The front derailleur was not working well, so I took it back in for
adjustments. The bike tech (not the sales rep from before) looked at
the stem and said, "Is this your stem? You shouldn't go below 90!" I
said, "This is what you set me up with..." I'm gathering that he
meant the stem length was shorter than 90mm. Some of the information
on the web suggests that on a road bike that anything under 90mm is
probably a frame that doesn't fit you.

I am trying to figure out if the shop just wanted to take a stock
frame that didn't fit and put me on it to get me out of the door...

Any advice in this area would greatly be appreciated...

 

[Hobbes@spnb&s.com]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:04:08 -0700 (PDT), [email protected] wrote:

>Hi, I recently had a Serotta bike fit done at a local bike shop. We
>set me up with a bike, and I rode home. Just for reference I am a
>total novice to the bike fitting process.
>
>The front derailleur was not working well, so I took it back in for
>adjustments. The bike tech (not the sales rep from before) looked at
>the stem and said, "Is this your stem? You shouldn't go below 90!" I
>said, "This is what you set me up with..." I'm gathering that he
>meant the stem length was shorter than 90mm. Some of the information
>on the web suggests that on a road bike that anything under 90mm is
>probably a frame that doesn't fit you.
>
>I am trying to figure out if the shop just wanted to take a stock
>frame that didn't fit and put me on it to get me out of the door...
>
>Any advice in this area would greatly be appreciated...

How experienced are you and how fit are you?

If you don't have that many miles on you or you're in worse shape than you
intend, your position will flatten and stretch out a bit. It'll be good that you
have some room to go on the stem to adjust for that.

In general, a stem in the 100 - 120 range will handle better especially out of
the saddle. Everybody ignores that in the fit, okay, not everybody, too many;
and while you don't spend a lot of time there, it's important time.

Anyway, that may or may not affect you, what's important is that you're
comfortable and can enjoy riding. If you can check those boxes then all's good
and you needn't worry about what is a matter of fashion. If everything about the
bike fits then an arbitrary measurement of some part is meaningless.

Ron

 

[landotter]

On Mar 24, 4:04 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> Hi, I recently had a Serotta bike fit done at a local bike shop.  We
> set me up with a bike, and I rode home.  Just for reference I am a
> total novice to the bike fitting process.

Which means that your wallet has a bullseye on it. Comfy? Cramped?
Hunched? It's your body, are you comfortable? I would certainly agree
that if you're a novice that a shop can be great help in setting up
saddle height, fore/aft, cleats, pedals, and so on--but for those
things that hang off your shoulders--that's pretty personal. A shop
should basically go: hey, these are some basic jumping off points, but
whatcha like? What feels right vs. what's the defacto norm.

So, if they're fitting you with the bars at an obscene low level, you
may well be needing a short stem--but you may very well fall into the
range of "normal". Who knows? You've not given us enough info.

 

[A Muzi]

[email protected] wrote:
> Hi, I recently had a Serotta bike fit done at a local bike shop. We
> set me up with a bike, and I rode home. Just for reference I am a
> total novice to the bike fitting process.
> The front derailleur was not working well, so I took it back in for
> adjustments. The bike tech (not the sales rep from before) looked at
> the stem and said, "Is this your stem? You shouldn't go below 90!" I
> said, "This is what you set me up with..." I'm gathering that he
> meant the stem length was shorter than 90mm. Some of the information
> on the web suggests that on a road bike that anything under 90mm is
> probably a frame that doesn't fit you.
> I am trying to figure out if the shop just wanted to take a stock
> frame that didn't fit and put me on it to get me out of the door...
> Any advice in this area would greatly be appreciated...

Not enough information to critique the fit but are you comfortable even
on a long ride? I'd go with that as a criterion before a flippant
comment from a guy who read a fit article in 'modern roadie' once.

You are the 3d person in a month who reports an LBS minion's comment
about short or long stems being adversely indicated. Yes, most custom
builders shoot for a frame design to fit with a 100 stem but lengths
from 40 to 150 are indeed quite common.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

 

[datakoll]

zoot

 

[datakoll]

On Mar 24, 10:26 pm, datakoll <[email protected]> wrote:
> zoot

mute

 

[Tom Sherman]

datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
> zoot

Katz?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful