What kind of fit?

I really need to get a bike fit. I ride an older bike, 1987 Cannondale touring bike, and I am not sure of the fit. I recently had to replace the handlebars and I got some with more reach and switched stems while I was at it. Now with my hands on the flat bar of the bars the view of the front hub is blocked. If I move to the hoods, I can clearly see the front hub. I am just under 5'8" tall and I have relatively short legs. I think this bike gives me good stand over, but I worry that I have extended the reach to make up for the top tube being to short for me. It makes the steering more sensitive, I assume because the longer reach gives you more leverage to turn the front wheel. And of course this is just some the basics of fit. I am also interested in crank length, pedal position, saddle position, etc.

So should I look for someone who has fancy fitting gear like this:

Or can a knowledgable fitter get good results without all this equipment?

Tags: bike, equipment, fit

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Ploch on August 7, 2011 at 2:42pm

Hey Jack,

Now that looks like a nifty machine right there. I think the fit can be good without a bunch of sophisticated equipment, however it would be great with the right fitter and the right equipment as well. One of the issues of a good fit without the machinery is the element of trial and error, tweaking here and tweaking there. With systems like this or something like Guru makes, the fitter can fine tune the fit almost exactly to what suits the rider. The Guru system that I used measured actual power output throughout the full process and changes could be made while I was still peddling with worm gear servo motors tweaking the measurements as needed. The good people at St. Pete Bicycle and Fitness, in St. Petersburg Florida have the Guru system like this one. Our member Roy Foley is the fitter at St. Pete Bicycles, maybe I can get him to weigh in on this.