Anyone recommend a reputable bike fitter in the Chicagoland area?

Are you looking to be measured for a new box bike or custom build OR do you want to make sure your current bike is set-up correctly for you?

try chicagoland bike great bunch of guys . Freddie Richards is the owner and they have a serotta fit bike there, that should get you what you want. cbike.com

Are you looking to be measured for a new box bike or custom build OR do you want to make sure your current bike is set-up correctly for you?

Correct bike set-up is my goal.

Cheers,

and our shop? Turin Bicycle, in Evanston. We have a "fit to bike" service, where we look at you on your current bike, discuss issues you have and suggest changes.

We also do custom fitting, or "pro" fitting, which are a little more detailed and involve getting the drawing back from the framebuilder and setting it up on the SizeCycle.

Hope to meet you!

Anne Barnes

www.turinbicycle.com

Hey, I have a CD from you guys... 66 Tips to Riding Better or something.
I have no idea how it got into the house, I found it one day sitting on the dinner table and my parents thought I'd brought it in...
Anyways, I thought I'd say it's a very good CD for beginners, I wish I'd seen something like that before last week. Good job :thumbsup:
I liked everything you guys covered, and I don't think there was anything missing. Maybe more stuff on riding in a group would have been nice. Anyways, I really commend you guys on doing that
Although your cadence recommendation of 70-90 caught me kind of off guard. I personally feel like the tendons in my legs are getting ripped out if I'm going over 20 at a cadence of 85 or less, and quoting Robbie Ventura "Nobody's efficient below a cadence of 80." I thought 80-100 was the norm in terms of recommendations? (Personally do 98-107)
-estone2

And is available to us as we are a Trek dealer. We have no input on the content :blush2:

The content is geared towards the casual suburban rider, and I agree with what you say about cadence reccomendation. Good point too about the group riding, but again, the content is not geared towards club riders or racers.

Hey, I have a CD from you guys... 66 Tips to Riding Better or something.

I liked everything you guys covered, and I don't think there was anything missing. Maybe more stuff on riding in a group would have been nice. Anyways, I really commend you guys on doing that


Although your cadence recommendation of 70-90 caught me kind of off guard. I personally feel like the tendons in my legs are getting ripped out if I'm going over 20 at a cadence of 85 or less, and quoting Robbie Ventura "Nobody's efficient below a cadence of 80." I thought 80-100 was the norm in terms of recommendations? (Personally do 98-107)
-estone2

Anyone recommend a reputable bike fitter in the Chicagoland area?

I'd give the Pony Shop in Evanston a try. Great staff... everyone is helpful & knowledgable, personable & responsive.

I've am also looking into getting a good fit as well here in Chicago, so I went to the difinitive source:

http://www.serotta.com/pages/grads.html

Looks like the best shop in the area for bike fitting is Get A Grip Cycles on Irving Park Road. Two of their guys, Kevin Carsello and Adam Kapla, have completed the Serotta Advanced Bike Fit course. I went over to check them out the other day and they have a really nice set-up, they even video tape you as you pedal. Really nice guys.

Good luck.

wow, I was just going to ask this very same question, I've got the answer before I even asked it!

But to be clear, the best place to go to get professionally fit with the bike I already have (just got) is where?

I don't have a recommendation for the Chicagoland area although be prepared to spend some serious money since when I did my fitting not only did they make many recommendations to fit my frame correctly but I wound up going to another frame to make it perfect. Their recommendation would have kept me on the same frame but I didn't like the stubby stem to make it fit and also what it did the streering on the bike. BTW the fit on my new bike is awesome and I just feel more powerful on the bike and it shows in ride statistics.

My two reccomedations are Turin in Evanston and Get A Grip In Irving Park.

I bought my Waterford from Get A Grip and it is superb! Turin handle a solid range of custom manufacturers and their staff are excellent.

+1 for the Pony Shop.

Sorry to those who love Turin, but everytime I've walked into Turin, I have had to ask someone to help me - rather than a salesperson automatically offering assistance. I've had the same thing happen in most other bike shops in Chicago (Kozy's and Performance immediately jump to mind...).

When I walk into the Pony Shop, I am always immediately greeted by an employee. Even when they're busy, someone at least looks up to say hi and "I'll be with you in a moment." Service is hands down a huge plus for the Pony Shop.

I had one bad experience at Turin with a manager during bike show week. The guy buying a bike in front of me had a bad experience too. I had just found out my Bianchi frame was terminal and this guy was not listening. (Trying to sell me a Moots Ti frame, despite my proestations that it was way outside my budget.) Their mechanics are stellar however and when I was debating IF Vs Serrotta Vs Waterford their folks were great.

Get A Grip is a small shop but Kevin and Adam are great fitters and mechanics. They are very thourough and if you call either Serotta or Waterford you will be directed to this shop. They know their stuff.

I have never, ever felt better on a bike. I can attest to the caliber of fitting using the Serrotta fit system. I can also attest to the new Aline shoe insert system that they fitted me with after I had had my Waterford for a few months. I had foot pain and was thinking of going to the Look road pedals. They solved the problem for considerably less money. If I have any complaint, it would be that they are so well regarded that they can be a tad stressed out at certain times of the year and not so great at follow up. They are great however at keeping appointments so I highly reccomend that approach.

A good fitting service is one you will pay for. These shops and Alberto's in Highland park, another good shop will kick a percentage of the fee towards a bike purchase.

Thanks everyone for the info. I have an appointment at Turin on Friday. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Cheers,

On the same general idea, has anyone used a local Chicago fitter to buy a custom that the store didn't sell, e.g., Strong, Curtlo, you name it and have the local store involved in the design, etc.?

What did you pay for that service?

My understanding, having had a custom Waterford built last year is that builders want their dealers to do the fitting to ensure that they are getting accurate data. Thus when I went to other shops with my fitting data, I was told that I'd have to have them do another fitting. They did however offer me a discount on the fitting.

I can understand the reluctance of a builder to accept fitting data from someone other than their dealer. Now if you were shopping for a particular brand and comparing dealers, I don't see why a fitting from one would not carry over.

I however was shopping Serrotta, Waterford and IF. It was the IF dealer who would not accept the Waterford/Serrotta dealer fitting I had.

Here are my observations regarding my recent fitting at Turin in Evanston. I waited 3 weeks to post it so that I could spend some time on my rig to make some informed observations. I had hoped to ride it more than I have, but the weather here in Chicago has been Baltic as many of you know. The majority of my time has been spent indoors on my rollers and fluid trainer.

First, I met with one of the fitters, Serotta trained, for approximately 1 hour. Very cool guy, professional, and he really seemed to know his stuff. He seemed to take his time with me and explain everything he was hoping to accomplish with my "fit to bike." Initially I was worried about bringing in my own bike, not purchased there, and having them be disinterested since I wasn't purchasing a bike from them. This was not the case! The fitter was genuenly interested in getting me fitted to the bike I already had. The fitting began with various measurements of my body off my bike. Next, proper placement of my cleats on my shoes. From there I saddled up and warmed up on a fluid trainer for 5 minutes. The fitter watched as I warmed up. The next step was adjusting seat height, then seat for and aft, and seat balance. Fortunately for me, my frame and crankarms were the proper size, so all the various fine tuning put me in a good position on my bike. The fitter discussed all the various measurements, seat to handlebar drop for instance, and various measured angles, elbow bend for instance, that constitute a good fit. After all was dialed in and my postition on my bike looked good, I rode for another 5-10 minutes on the trainer. So far so good, but the only real way to know if all this was worthwhile was getting on the road for some miles. So off to the road...............

Given the cold weather here in Chicago lately, my longest ride on the road has only been 30 miles. Not enough to be absolutely sure, but so far so good. I feel much more comfortable on the bike and just as important, I feel more powerful and fluid in my pedal stroke. I can't wait to see how I will feel on longer training rides, spring can't get here soon enough. Indoors on my rollers and trainer, I feel great. I usually do Spinervals on the trainer from 45 minutes to 1 hour. On the rollers I ride 1-2 hours, too boring to go any longer even with good music or TV. I feel comfortable with no real complaints. Prior to my fitting I would notice numness and tingling in my hands (3rd,4th,5th digits) and neck pain on any ride over 20 miles. So far on a couple of 30 milers outdoors, as well as the indoor training, no more problems! The changes have evidently been successful.

I am now a firm believer in getting your fit just right. Prior to getting fitted, I did have a pretty good idea of what proper fit should be, but there is no doubt that getting someone with experience to dial you in is a worthwhile investment. I race cross and plan on going back for a cross fit as a result of my experience with the road fitting. I have started training for TT's and will definitely get a fitting for this too. You can probably read alot and get close with most fits, but there is something to be said about getting fitted by someone with experience. Kudos to Turin! I can strongly recommend them due to my recent experience. The $45 cost for this was, in my opinion, money well spent.

P.S. Thanks to Rollo Tommassi for the Turin plug!

I had the same experience as Fatty at Turin and with the same fitter, I am pretty sure. To make matters better, I got a new seatpost and foolishly didn't record my measurements from the old one and Turin helped me with that as well. They know there stuff and it shows.