Just posted this in the sports forum when I noticed this forum. Might have more luck here.
Hey everyone. I’m wondering if anyone knows of a shop in Northern Taiwan (Taoyuan would be great, Taipei is OK) that does professional Bike Fitting. I’m talking about the kind where you have an interview, take measurements, and then ride on the fitting machine for a while. Thanks in advance everyone.
– QuincyQ
Specialized, RuiGuang Road, Neihu.
On Ruiguang (瑞光路) close to the intersection of Gangqqian (港墘路) too be more specific.
Yep, Specialized has the BG fit fitting system at their concept shops, it’s a very comprehensive service if properly done and if you plan to buy Specialized gear, but they charge NT$10,000 per fitting. The NT$10,000 is non refundable even if you buy a bike from them based on the fitting.
I also remember another much less lofty fitting service in the basement of a Giant store in NanGang Road, southern side of the road, a bit east of the road that connects to the NanGang MRT stop. Sorry, vague directions are my specialty.
There’s a shop in Mucha close to the main Zhengda gates that will do a free fitting as part of a NTD2000 maintanence. Its an interesting place; they don’t actually sell any bikes. In fact they specialize in maintanence and fitting out of retro steel bikes.
Bump.
I’ve been riding a new Giant Defy 3 XS for a couple of months now and I guess I should try to get the fitting sorted out; when I bought it, the guy advised me to wait a while before getting the fitting done, so I’d have more time to get used to the bike.
Many of the Giant branches have those fitting machines - do those actually help? And if they do help, do the Giant staff in general know how to use them properly?
My main problem with the fitting in general is that I’m fine for the first hour or so, so it’s really hard to tell what needs adjusting. Sometimes the second hour is fine. Sometimes in the second hour I’ll have occasional feelings of numbness in my hands or legs (typically around the knees, if I’m remembering correctly), sometimes not. Sometimes I finish three hours and feel great. Four hours hasn’t happened yet. No back issues at all yet. I feel fine with the two upright positions on the bars, but feel somewhat too hunched over when I’m in the drops. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen people in front of me standing up for hills, and I’ve tried that, but it’s felt both unnecessary and awkward.
Another problem I have is that my body’s just weird - I’m short, but all the shortness is in the legs, with a longer torso. When I look at some of those charts that tell you, based on inseam and height, what bike to get, I’m literally off the chart.
So - at the moment my next move is probably to go to the Giant branch where I bought the bike and use the fitting machine. Any advice for or against?
Thanks in advance!
[quote=“lostinasia”]Bump.
I’ve been riding a new Giant Defy 3 XS for a couple of months now and I guess I should try to get the fitting sorted out; when I bought it, the guy advised me to wait a while before getting the fitting done, so I’d have more time to get used to the bike.
Many of the Giant branches have those fitting machines - do those actually help? And if they do help, do the Giant staff in general know how to use them properly?
My main problem with the fitting in general is that I’m fine for the first hour or so, so it’s really hard to tell what needs adjusting. Sometimes the second hour is fine. Sometimes in the second hour I’ll have occasional feelings of numbness in my hands or legs (typically around the knees, if I’m remembering correctly), sometimes not. Sometimes I finish three hours and feel great. Four hours hasn’t happened yet. No back issues at all yet. I feel fine with the two upright positions on the bars, but feel somewhat too hunched over when I’m in the drops. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen people in front of me standing up for hills, and I’ve tried that, but it’s felt both unnecessary and awkward.
Another problem I have is that my body’s just weird - I’m short, but all the shortness is in the legs, with a longer torso. When I look at some of those charts that tell you, based on inseam and height, what bike to get, I’m literally off the chart.
So - at the moment my next move is probably to go to the Giant branch where I bought the bike and use the fitting machine. Any advice for or against?
Thanks in advance![/quote]
All I can say is that they charge about $3000NT for the fitting.
My advice is try adjusting some things yourself (if you have the tools for it) or better yet, come out on a ride with us and we can help spot some things that you can miss.
It kind of sounds like your handlebar angle is too low or your stem is too long, or both. Did the Giant shop at least take your measurements before you even got on the new bike? They should have at least done that to know what length stem you need.
No idea if the giant stores are any good, but the efficacy of bike fitting is down to the person doing the fitting rather than the equipment they use. So without a firsthand recommendation or lots of reviews it’s gonna be a bit down to pot luck.
Cheaper fittings generally adjust saddle fore/aft, height/tilt, bar height, basic stuff and so on. So probably what you could expect from a giant store.
The expensive ones tend to do everything in more detail. Probably start of with a long chat about what you want to achieve, current fitness, any injuries/niggles etc. Then usually you’d be measured head to toe to check for differences in limb length, asses your flexibility and son on, and see what needs to be done. Stuff like cleat position/angles, wedging, knee tracking, all checked/adj in detail. When I last had a fitting we also discussed a lot about nutrition and I was given a lot of advice on training and also stretching.
Good fitters will spend a lot of time making small iterative adjustments and will take their time. Going to a store that uses a system such as Retul or BG Fit doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good result. I know plenty back home who have been disappointed. As I said its down to the guy using the equipment, so before you spend big bucks try and get as many recommendations as you can, maybe join a club in Taipei or something.
If you have the time and patience, all the information to get you 99% there is available here. Check the blogs mostly:
stevehoggbikefitting.com/
Sorry, but I know no one in TW who I could recommend with confidence, good luck.
[quote=“ShutUpLegs”]No idea if the giant stores are any good, but the efficacy of bike fitting is down to the person doing the fitting rather than the equipment they use. So without a firsthand recommendation or lots of reviews it’s gonna be a bit down to pot luck.
Cheaper fittings generally adjust saddle fore/aft, height/tilt, bar height, basic stuff and so on. So probably what you could expect from a giant store.
The expensive ones tend to do everything in more detail. Probably start of with a long chat about what you want to achieve, current fitness, any injuries/niggles etc. Then usually you’d be measured head to toe to check for differences in limb length, asses your flexibility and son on, and see what needs to be done. Stuff like cleat position/angles, wedging, knee tracking, all checked/adj in detail. When I last had a fitting we also discussed a lot about nutrition and I was given a lot of advice on training and also stretching.
Good fitters will spend a lot of time making small iterative adjustments and will take their time. Going to a store that uses a system such as Retul or BG Fit doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good result. I know plenty back home who have been disappointed. As I said its down to the guy using the equipment, so before you spend big bucks try and get as many recommendations as you can, maybe join a club in Taipei or something.
If you have the time and patience, all the information to get you 99% there is available here. Check the blogs mostly:
stevehoggbikefitting.com/
Sorry, but I know no one in TW who I could recommend with confidence, good luck.[/quote]
I doubt anyone at Giant can do a fit; most of Giant’s staff don’t even ride “competitively”. Maybe Sean in Tianmou. Winston Tam is highly certified and fits a lot of the semi-pros here. No actual experience with him myself. Plus he’ll cost about 20,000 if my memory serves me right. fridayfitness.ca/
Actually my cost is NT$12500.00
i everyone my name is Raymund and I am a professional bike fitter and British cycling coach from the UK and I am going to be in Taiwan for 3 months from the 18th of November, I will be based in Taipei. I wanted to say hello and that I am offering bike fitting and coaching services as well as looking for friends/people to ride with. I’m in Taiwan to train for the up coming race season.
I can cover a whole array of issues ranging from basic setups for comfort to a pro set up for racing. I have worked with a number of bike manufactures such as specialized and Giant as well as top fit studios such as bespoke cycling, giant power fit (wattbike ) in London. I have also worked with teams such as Giant alpecin and a number of pro cyclists.
I look forward to meeting and training with new people.
A little about my self
Favorite bike brand : BMC
Bikes: Bmc Time machine road TMR01 (2013), BMC Team machine slr01 (2011) Twenty shopping bike 20 inch wheels (Victorian times lol)
Here is my strava profile strava.com/athletes/6022569 please feel free to also share your strava profiles on the page and lets ride !
Here is a link to my instagram so you can get an idea of who I am and what I do on a more personal level no one likes a robot lol.
instagram.com/raymundafoakwa12/
My email is raymundafoakwa12@gmail.com if you want to get in contact look forward to hearing from you all cheers
Does anyone know a place or person who does bike fitting in Taipei for less than 2000ntd? I’m using my bike on weekends and to get groceries… I don’t need super professional fit for racing or heavy riding. Just want to feel comfortable. Trying for a while to find good fit by myself but never really satisfied.
Tough to find someone to do an actual fitting for 2000NT.
What I can suggest is heading to your local shop and telling them what’s bothering you when riding. They can make adjustments to your saddle height/position, replacing your stem or adjusting your handlebar angle. Changes in those combined should help. I wouldn’t expect anyone to charge you for the above, but I would be prepared.
Is a bike fitting something that generally evolves?
I’ve had the same bike for a decade, it’s extremely non-aggressive in terms of geometry, but still road bike-esque (difference between the handlebars and top of front wheel still a good eight inches at least) - had no problems with it until this year where i’ve ridden it twice and my neck and between the shoulder blades have been very uncomfortable after just 10km. It feels like I’m struggling to keep my head up to look where i’m going, but it’s so upright compared to proper road racing bikes that I struggle to see how this could be an issue?
Something wrong with me? 
Similar bike for reference…
Something wrong with you: you just have not ridden enough this year. You lose the flex that you develop over years if you don’t keep using it. Plus, like me you’re getting older. Which is not a problem if you keep riding, but once you stop it goes away faster. I am feeling a lot of the same: illness has kept me off the bike for too long.
I’m sorry to hear that, I hope you get up to fitness soon and can start enjoying cycling again. Hopefully the content here helps encourage you to get back out there when you can.
Oh goodness, well that’s kind of good news. I do need to work on my flexibility and my core support, I’m having problems with that as is even sitting working at a desk. Thanks for your input.
Also you’ve saved me the £300 they were asking for a <fancy_european_word> type of fitting
This. On point.
I haven’t been riding as long as urodacus , but I can say that a full week off the bike does set me back a bit more than it used to.
Not saying go out and ride more right now, but can consider easing back into it.
I’ve been having calf soreness lately. More rarely, some front knee (light) pain too.
I’ve always considered my saddle height to be in the lower spectrum. But double checking it, maybe it’s not. I just lowered the saddle 5 mm to check how it goes and what effect has in my calfs.
I was always told rolling level feet off the pedals pointing downward, toe of the shoes should just skim the ground.
I don’t get calf pain but I do have knee pain bad when it’s cold. I accept that as old age.
The sudden cold could be part of your reason.