A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure .
I just wanted to get a sanity check (and maybe some minor grief from the forum for getting myself into this). As quick background, I get numbness in my left foot sometimes and shooting pain in that foot on long hot rides, and was having some right hamstring discomfort.
Bike fit 1: I got on a waiting list to see a very well respected bike fitter about 2 hrs away. Went in a few weeks ago, spend about 2 hours with the results being a slightly lower and more rearward seat plus he suggested a 10mm longer stem. He never looked at my insoles (brought several types I’d been trying out including G8’s) but noted I had some tightness and asymmetry in my hips that could be helped by PT. OK, fine. Hamstrings felt better but did nothing for my foot issue.
Bike fit 2: Another very well respected place makes custom insoles. They had a winter sale and basically said the labor for the insoles is included in their fit, so might as well schedule a fit. I figured a second opinion can’t hurt. He spend alot of time checking mobility, flexibility, feet (pronation etc). This session was 4 hours and he recommended coming back for a follow up. He noted my right leg was 1 cm shorter and had recommendations such as shorter cranks, cleat spacers for the shorter leg, 0 offset seat post to bring the seat forward (and much higher), 10mm shorter stem, wider saddle (have done 6+ hours fine on current saddle). I didn’t get the impression he was trying to upsell me per se, but that each of these little changes could add up to stability in the saddle.
I know I could have done a follow up with fitter 1, but I’d have to get back on the waiting list and was a bit put off my him not even looking at feet considering the issues I mentioned. It seemed like he thought PT was the answer.
The second fitter was very knowledgeable and thought lots of the small adjustments together would be a bit help (not that PT was a bad idea, but not really necessary). I kind of have sticker shock though so I haven’t made those changes …$300 for cranks, $200 seatpost, saddle (?) etc. Still not sure if this will solve the foot issue
If you made it this far, I appreciate you! What would you do?
I’ve made more gains working with a strength/pt coach in 6 months than I ever did with bike fits. Of course, finding the right one can be a challenge.
Definitely not ruling out PT. The one I was recommended is a cyclist himself and insurance will help cover it. I sit at a desk all week and then ride my bike…not the best combo for being a well rounded, functional human
If you can, give PT a try. And ask the second fitter if it is possible to sort the recommended changes by bang-for-buck. Then start going through them. If you are just playing around, trying second hand components might also be a way to reduce the initial cost. If it works, you can still upgrade later.
If the two fits vary a lot, just go with which one feels better or fits your plan on the bike better (race fit vs comfort fit).
Covered by insurance is nice but definitely consider out of pocket ones who will rehab you past being able to exist as a human.
With the person I work with, we’re in PT mode right now because I have a broken collarbone but the majority of the time we’ve been focused on correcting strength imbalances.
Just get some shims to start and see how that helps. Other than that how is the new fit compared to the first?
I like the fact that the second fitter was way more detailed in the assessment. But what really matters is how you feel on the bike. As for swapping cranks I’d hild off on that and start with the less expensive items. I personally have purchased the same items of Amazon and Aliexpress for way less than any name brand without any issues. Seems like you’ll be more upright and hips a bit more open as well.
His point about the shorter cranks was to open the hips a bit and he did send me home with the 3mm of cleat shims for the shorter leg. Everything felt fine at the fit session but weird when I tried to do a workout when I got home. The saddle is now slammed forward and reach feels too short (and he wanted me on a slightly shorter stem).
I think there’s a range where I feel fine on the bike and both fits are sort of in that range. My gravel bike for example was shorter and taller with a more forward saddle vs my road bike and I was fine on both.
While shorter cranks have their place and can help solve problems, they are 100% “on trend” right now and I think a lot of fitters are simply reflexively recommending them. IIRC, you are on the taller side, so if you are currently running something like 175’s, there may be a benefit to shorter cranks, but if he could not point to something specifically in your fit that was being caused by your current cranks and just defaulted to “it will open up your hip angle”, I’d do some more investigation.
Yeah, I am not buying the “everyone is on the wrong crank length” calls. Definitely seems like a fad to me with marginal if any real difference for most riders. Crank length DOES matter for some riders but it is a minority vs a majority IMO. I’ve seen and done some testing with different lengths (including different length per side on the same bike) and it’s enlightening to see how some people can’t even detect the deltas.
I’m 6’5" which made me scratch my head a bit with the 170mm crank suggestion. He swapped them on for me to try and I honestly didn’t feel much of a difference.
I think he forgot to lower the seat when putting my stock 175mm cranks back on so I immediately got some back of the knee discomfort when trying a ride after I got home
What chad just said…I saw that and just thought “Well, skip anything that guy says.”
It is also somewhat odd that neither fitter talked to you about your shoes…given your foot symptoms, that would seems to be the logical place to start vs. bike fit.
Fitting is like any other human to human interaction, subject to variability. Despite any/all tech & training, some combos don’t work well while others exceed expectations.
It takes open and good communication between each involved so be as descriptive and helpful with your issues and reactions to any/all changes. And I can nearly guarantee that stuff you aren’t even thinking about now may come up in discussion and potentially shed important light on the fit needs. I have this all the time when a person comes in with one specific issue covered in pre-fit discussion. But as the fit proceeds, things I see and mention or they bring up when riding will go beyond those initial moments. They frequently improve the results as it’s easy to overlook some aspects of fits since it’s hardly ever a 1:1 input:output sort of thing.
I don’t think you described where exactly your foot pain manifests itself, and it could of course be due to other causes, but what fixed my problems with forefoot pain/metatarsalgia and numbness was insoles with a metatarsal pad (n=1, YRMV, etc. )
I can’t rule out tight shoes (finally got wide shoes this winter so haven’t ridden them in the heat) but I’m going to look into metatarsal pads I think. It’s tricky finding good insoles because I wear a 49 but have a really long arch
Yes, adhesive metatarsal pads, which can be attached to your normal insoles, are pretty cheap, so it’s easy to check if it helps.
I developed metatarsal issues in my right foot after going from recreational weekend rides to training much more regularly. My forefoot got more flat and wider in the process, which also caused issues with my shoe width, but the metatarsal pad has basically fixed it.
Yeah. Shoes can be too narrow or the sole concave across the forefoot squeezing the distal end of the metacarpals together. This can cause hot foot, numb foot, and pain. Wider shoes, and soles with a “metatarsal” button can really help. The metatarsal button is a slight increase in thickness of the insole under the central metatarsals that counteracts them getting squeezed together. Along with wider shoes, this can solve the related problems.
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