Bike Fitting and Purchasing Clinic

I originally signed up for this when it was to be a Bike Maintenance clinic - with the tagline, "Don't know your top-tube from your derailleur?" - that's right, I don't. But the folks at TTC and Enduro Sport switched it up to a purchasing clinic ahead of this weekend's Spring Bike Show.

Fitter and ex-Cervélo man Chris took us through every part of the bike-purchasing process, essentially repeating a lot of the stuff my friends and Chris himself had told me in the fall before I bought my bike. I still find a lot of this stuff very confusing, so it's hard to relate it all here.

There was a lot of talk of warning signs like a store only selling what they have, telling you they can squeeze you into a slightly off-size bike. Everyone always has a correct size.

For women's specific bikes, he got into a lot of recent studies about how men and women are not much different proportionally, and how if a bike fits you, you should get it regardless of which gender it is being marketed to. Often, the difference is just stereotypical colour choice rather than anything that will improve comfort or performance, while women's lines are also usually much more limited.

The big lesson of the day was that the fit of the bike is the single most important factor in why you should buy it, ahead of both performance and value. I know based on Chris's own recommendation that I'm on the right size of bike, but there was a bit of a mismatch between how he does fittings and how my fitter did mine a few weeks back.

I showed Chris my before-and-afters, and he said that the back of me is alright, but my arms should be resting with the elbows over the pads, to allow for all the weight of my upper body to transfer from my shoulders straight down to the bike, without my muscles having to do any of the work. The hands should be relaxed on the bars. My fitter had me put my forearms on the pads, and wanted me to pull up on the bars. Chris wanted to shorten the stem, while my fitter had warned against that.

Once again, I am stuck between opinions, and as an inexperienced rider, it's impossible for me to tell which way to go! I think given that I have to move forward on the bars to get my elbows on the pads, which would compromise my current angles, it would be okay to then shorten the stem to make-up for this. Still not sure if I need new bars, as I can't reach the shifters.

No time to get into the saddle and shoe choice, which I will have to make very soon (probably at the bike show). I just learned that triathlon saddles tend to be made more for riding right on the nose rather than with the butt fully on the back of the seat. So needs to be comfy in the front.

Oh, the plight of the newbie!