Numb hands, sore neck, unhappy back....

[Dave Ortman]

"Fred Hall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...

> > my posture. The fit only took about 5 minutes during which:
> >
> > 1. He raised the seat
> > 2. He eyeballed my knees in relation to the pedals at 3:00 and 9:00
> > 3. He asked if my view of the front axle was obstructed by the
> > handlebar.

> Wow...was the LBS busy that day or something? I bought my Trek 1500 a
month
> ago from my LBS, on a Saturday no less - although they weren't real busy -
> and the guy who was there took at least 20 minutes fitting me (seat
> position, seat height, bar position, etc.) and that was after measuring me
> to figure out the correct frame size. He looked at the angle of my back,
> head position, leg position while pedaling with the bike on a trainer,
etc.
> For the price of a Trek 2200, I'd expect a leg massage too

Yeah, they were busy at the time. Still, that's not really an excuse,
though.

-Dave

 

[Dave Ortman]

"Bob in CT" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...

> > IIRC, it has very little rise or drop. It's about level with the
> > ground.
>
> It's level because it's not straight. The forks are at an angle (relative
> to the ground), which means that the stem has to have some type of bend.
> It just looks level with the ground because it has a certain degree bend
> that matches well with the angle of the forks. You can take the stem off
> and reverse it so that it bends up and not down.

Ah, good point. Yes, I see how there is some bend to it now. I hadn't
thought about it when I responded; just recalled it being level with the
ground.

-Dave

 

[Booker C. Bense]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email protected]>,
Dave Ortman <[email protected]> wrote:
>Badger_South <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>
>> If they set it up like that for you they should be ashamed of
>> themselves. What kind of bike again?
>
>Yeah, they did. It's a Trek 2200.
>
>It's really odd; the overall shopping experience was going pretty
>well. They were being helpful as I tested out a few different bikes,
>and pleasant to deal with. Unfortunately, after I actually paid for
>the bike, the guy I was working with had to leave. The person who
>followed up on the transaction put the bike on the trainer and checked
>my posture. The fit only took about 5 minutes during which:
>
>1. He raised the seat

_ Probably this was needed.

>2. He eyeballed my knees in relation to the pedals at 3:00 and 9:00

_ KOPS, yick.... For a long technical explaination of why this at
best guess see

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/kops.html

>3. He asked if my view of the front axle was obstructed by the
>handlebar.

_ This one is just stupid... It's much more important to look at
the angle of back to upper arms and back to legs. It's a bike
shop holdover from the days when top tubes were all the same
length and all forks had the same rake.

_ Bike fitting is neither something that can be dumped from
an spreadsheet nor a mystic art practiced by the high priests
of biking. You really need to be part of the process, in the
long run only you can determine what works best for you. What
you really want from an LBS is a lesson in how to fit your
bike and a good starting point, not a mystic relevation from
on high. If you look around, on just about any question you'll
get diametrically opposite opinions from very experienced
people.

_ Getting it right is well worth it. A bike that's as comfortable
after four hours as it is when you first step out the door is one
of the great advances of modern society.

_ Booker C. Bense


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[Dave Ortman]

"Booker C. Bense"
<[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...

> _ Bike fitting is neither something that can be dumped from
> an spreadsheet nor a mystic art practiced by the high priests
> of biking. You really need to be part of the process, in the
> long run only you can determine what works best for you. What
> you really want from an LBS is a lesson in how to fit your
> bike and a good starting point, not a mystic relevation from
> on high. If you look around, on just about any question you'll
> get diametrically opposite opinions from very experienced
> people.

Yeah, I've pretty much come to the same conclusion. I would have
appreciated a little more help from the LBS to get started on the right foot
(and they may still come through for me; we'll see when I head back). But
ultimately, I think I need to understand what make the bike comfortable for
me so that I can make sure I'm happy.

It's a bit of work though. I can certainly understand why people end up
with bikes collecting dust in their garage.

-Dave

 

[Bob in CT]

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 18:13:56 -0700, Dave Ortman <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> "Bob in CT" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news[email protected]...
>
>> > IIRC, it has very little rise or drop. It's about level with the
>> > ground.
>>
>> It's level because it's not straight. The forks are at an angle
>> (relative
>> to the ground), which means that the stem has to have some type of bend.
>> It just looks level with the ground because it has a certain degree bend
>> that matches well with the angle of the forks. You can take the stem
>> off
>> and reverse it so that it bends up and not down.
>
> Ah, good point. Yes, I see how there is some bend to it now. I hadn't
> thought about it when I responded; just recalled it being level with the
> ground.
>
> -Dave
>
>

If you have any tools, it's really easy to reverse it (assuming the stem
has an "end cap" that pops off -- if you have to remove the handlebar
tape, it's not that easy). I would definitely do this and see what
happens. Stems will have "rise" to them and your stem might be marked
with a rise (like, "10 degrees"). If you reverse the stem and you still
feel too far down, find a stem with a little more rise.

--
Bob in CT
Remove ".x" to reply

 

[Booker C. Bense]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email protected]>,
Dave Ortman <[email protected]> wrote:
>"Booker C. Bense"
><[email protected]> wrote in
>message news:[email protected]...
>
>> _ Bike fitting is neither something that can be dumped from
>> an spreadsheet nor a mystic art practiced by the high priests
>> of biking. You really need to be part of the process, in the
>> long run only you can determine what works best for you. What
>> you really want from an LBS is a lesson in how to fit your
>> bike and a good starting point, not a mystic relevation from
>> on high. If you look around, on just about any question you'll
>> get diametrically opposite opinions from very experienced
>> people.
>
>Yeah, I've pretty much come to the same conclusion. I would have
>appreciated a little more help from the LBS to get started on the right foot
>(and they may still come through for me; we'll see when I head back). But
>ultimately, I think I need to understand what make the bike comfortable for
>me so that I can make sure I'm happy.
>
>It's a bit of work though. I can certainly understand why people end up
>with bikes collecting dust in their garage.
>

_ It's also why most bike shops end up in recievership. Finding
somebody with the patience and knowledge to do that kind of
fitting for bike shop wages is hard. People with dusty bikes
in the garage don't buy the little bike goodies that keep a
shop in business.

_ Booker C. Bense

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