Old Fit/New Fit

I know... It's been a while.

This one has been churning for a while. I don't remember if I've written on this before or not, but, here it goes.

I had the opportunity to call a rather popular online bike shop a couple weeks ago. I called them because I rec'd a cold call from a local cyclist. He wanted me to fit him on a bike that he had purchased online. Immediately, red flags began to fly up everywhere. The prospective client was returning to the sport after being away due to injury. He had also gained approx 20lbs. over this period of time. He had purchased a bike that has a seat mast that required a custom cut. I was disturbed by the whole discussion for many reasons.

First, what in the hell is a online bike shop doing selling this type of frame to someone they don't even know. Someone who's body has changed significantly over the past six months and will likely change significantly over the next six months. Based on the math and the degree of adjustability, it would be quite possible that the bike could not be adjusted to meet the riders needs within six months if he was able to regain his prior fitness. Don't get me wrong. The bike is cool. The situation is/was a disaster.

To date, I haven't had the chance to work with the client in person. After thinking it through, I called him back and tried to explain why this purchase was wrong. The frame he purchased would be great for someone who has had a stable riding position for at least a year. He's not that guy. He was going to contact the online retailer and try to make an exchange. I don't know how it went(good or bad). If he was forced to purchase the frame, I'm sure someone would take his money and do the fit. I just couldn't do it.

While in the process of gathering information about the frame and fitting/cutting information, I contacted the retailer. I asked how they decided a rider should be positioned on the new bike. To my amazement, the guy responded by saying, "We just position riders like they were on their old bike". When I heard this, my head almost exploded!!!! What if the old position was wrong?

I can tell you that I have only had one(maybe two) clients that were positioned properly according to my protocol. For the rest, they are all over the place. Saddle height has been as much as 5 cm too low or 2 cm too high. Saddle Fore/Aft has been as much as 6cm too far forward or 5 cm too far back. This is a huge degree of potential error. The chances that a rider is positioned properly is very low. Riders are out of position in all directions and I didn't even mention foot position or handlebar/hood position.

I want to write more on this but it's getting late. Next time, I'll explain the why old position should not dictate new position.