Fitting for custom Calfee?: Bikefanclub.com

Here is how I got my custom fit: Through my LBS. Let me give some background. Some time ago I had read an article in some bicycling publication on the importance of proper bicycle fit. From reading that article I made a search of local bike shops that offered custom fitting (meaning more than moving the seat up and down for you when you buy a stock bike). A shop near my working place offers custom fitting for a $65 fee.

I decided to go with it. At the shop through more than an hour of time my body dimensions were measured, including the use of a large protractor for measuring angles and such. The LBS guy has credentials in exercise physiology and uses a program and database into which my numbers are entered. I had a stock 2003 Giant OCR2. I was fitted with a short stem because my uppper torso is proportionately shorter than is typical in my height group. My leg lengths set the seat height and standover which defines the frame size for me, but a typical frame has too long a top tube for my torso.

I have put over 2000 miles on my Giant in about one year's time. In that time I have gone back to the bike shop numerous times where my dimensions and bike setup where checked. To make a long story shorter let me say that in riding 40 and 50 mile rides regularly the consequences of improper bike fit became obvious to me. My LBS guy knows my riding style, knows the aches and pains I get and understand s the causes and solutions.

I now have sprung for a full custom Calfee Tetra Pro based on my body dimensions. Spending that much money once again the day after my order was entered my LBS guy set up a bike with my dimensions and did more measurements of my posture on the bike to make certain the dimensions he and Craig Calfee are working with are correct.

I will only be able to confirm the difference a custom-fitted bike will make when I get my Calfee sometime near the end of March 2005 as it is tentativly scheduled for delivery. That said this will be the first time in my life (I'm over 50) where I predict I will have a bike I am totally happy with the fit. In my years of recreational riding I've never been totally happy with any bike I've had before because of compromises in fit on a standard frame.