# Bike Barn Custom fit studio



## BuenosAires

Has anyone gone there for a fitting? I've been seriously considering this as i have a leg length discrepancy and have had trouble with my bike fit. $300 is a bit pricey. Is it worth it?


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## Creakyknees

$300 is a bit high for a fit, but maybe post up the question here (be sure to note your city) and ask for alternatives.

http://www.txbra.org/forum3/index.asp?page=loader&forumID=19


I don't know anything about Bike Barn or their fit services.


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## MerlinAma

If it is a dynamic fit (retul or Specialized BG), then $300 seems to be the going rate.

They take measurements while you are riding a trainer which gives a much better picture of what happens as you ride and all the various angles. Also will show differences in right and left side (at least retul does) in case you are trying so solve a problem there.

I had the Carmichael fit last year using retul and was happy. They tweaked my saddle setback and that was it. It was worth it so I could tell myself to not think about changing a lot of other stuff that I had "imagined" being a possible improvement.

And like everyone else, I was certainly not symmetrical. Their theory was (to some extent) don't try to force that. If you have a problem, that may be the reason and a solution should be found. However trying to be totally symmetrical just for the sake of being that way may introduce a problem. 

Hope that made some sense.


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## ms6073

BuenosAires said:


> I've been seriously considering this as i have a leg length discrepancy and have had trouble with my bike fit. $300 is a bit pricey.


External measurements are not always accurate in identifying leg length discrepencies and it is advisable that you see a a medical professional to have a lower body x-ray to verify the degree of discrepency. I assumed I had one but found that after an x-ray it is only .3mm but I had shimmed my shoe based on the assumption which only made things worse!


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## MerlinAma

ms6073 said:


> .... but I had shimmed my shoe based on the assumption which only made things worse!


I bought one of the Lemond foot measuring devices (valgus - varus?) to determine if I needed shims. I put some in and later happened so see a video of myself riding along. View from the back. My left knee was really going out, mostly because of the way I had shimmed my left shoe.

Needless to say, I took the shim out!


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## GAAP

I'd never shim anything except a severe leg length discrepency. Your foot is not in a fixed plane. Your ankle can and will compensate for the discrepancy. 

Forgive my ignorance, what does a $300 fitting include? Is the fitter limited to off the shelf stem lengths and framesets?


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## BuenosAires

I've had x-rays by my orthopedic surgeon and i have a measured 6mm leg length discrepancy as the result of an open fracture. I have shimmed half of the difference, which i think is pretty standard. I know my left leg is still a little weaker, so this may explain why i feel a little off.

I've been experimenting with small changes in saddle height which has improved the situation. I may try a few more things before forking out that kinda cash.


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## TLud

My wife and I are long-time mountain bike riders who are relatively new to road biking (made the switch after I endo'd down three flights of concrete stairs). Neither of us have a leg length discrepancy problem, but we do have various fit issues from previous sports injuries. When we bought our road bikes, we both did the professional "dynamic" fitting at two different bike shops in Houston, which did far more harm than good. Not only were they ridiculously expensive, but they never solved our various fit issues. It was so bad that my wife gave up on riding for almost a year. I suffered through the pain and made my own adjustments on a trial and error basis and found a setup that was at least bearable.

Purely by chance, I was recently introduced to a guy here in Houston who does bike fittings, among other things. He's spent many years in the industry, mostly working for pro teams in Europe. For half of what these bike shops are charging, he single-handedly made road biking a pleasure for my wife and me. No more pain or discomfort, and the increase in our power delivery is amazing.

In the first session, he started off by asking about our medical history, injuries, biking backround, riding goals, etc. Then he did the basic initial sizing with the fit stick. He then set up our bikes based on these initial measurements. Then he put us on a trainer and observed for awhile and made additional adjustments. Finally, he grabbed his bike and rode along side and did a little more fine tuning as needed. Our adjustments required changes in stems, seatposts and saddles. His policy is to loan you his components for a few weeks. You then ride for a week or two on this setup, come back, and he'll tweak the adjustments a bit depending on your impressions. If you want to try a different saddle or change out some other component, he'll do that and you can try it out for another couple of weeks. This way, you only buy exactly what you need when you're all finished, and you don't waste any money in the process. He will do however many sessions it takes to get you set up perfectly, but he generally expects to do 3-4 sessions for each rider, all for the one initial price (about half of what the bike shops in town charge). Based on his decades of experience, he's got an amazing eye for fitting. He's not just some shop jockey with a measuring tape and computer.

I don't want to post his personal info online without his permission, but if anyone wants any more information or wants me to put them in contact with him, feel free to PM me. He changed our lives in terms of riding, and I hate to see anyone else go through what my wife and I did with these shop fittings.


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## Peanya

From many people, I've heard the one on Kirby (not the studio) has people that do an excellent job of fitting. Someday I hope I can afford one!


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## TLud

Let me first say that neither of the two shops that my wife and I were fitted at was the Bike Barn fitting studio, so I don't want my earlier post to be construed as criticism of Bike Barn at all. Generally speaking, I think a good fitting depends on two things: (1) the fitter must not rigidly adhere to arbitrary formulas or manufacturer standards and think that any one formula is going to be a one-size-fits-all solution; and (2) the fitter must have good knowledge and experience (i.e., know what to look for, be able to spot subtle issues, know how to diagnose various problems, etc.).



Peanya said:


> From many people, I've heard the one on Kirby (not the studio) has people that do an excellent job of fitting. Someday I hope I can afford one!


Again, I think it depends on the specific employee that you work with. A riding buddy of mine bought his first road bike several years ago at that particular Bike Barn location and was fitted to a bike that was FAR too big for him. I went to the same shop a year or two ago, and was also fitted to a bike that was too large for me, but didn't buy it. That doesn't mean that there aren't others at that shop who aren't good at fitting; just that those two particular employees didn't know what they were doing (it could also be attributable to a bad general fitting training philosophy).

It might be helpful for us Tejas folks if those who have had good fitting experiences post them up and make recommendations as appropriate.


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