You Can Rest Assured
the Fit Kit System Works

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cycling"
by Vic Armijo and published by Alpha Books

Another avenue to bike fit is to visit a bike shop equipped with a Fit Kit™ system. This system consists of a set of measuring devices and procedures for taking a series of size measurements of a rider's legs, feet, torso, and hands. An angle-finder is used on the knee joint to help compute optimum saddle height. All these figures are run through a series of formulas (or fed into a computer) to calculate every variable in fitting a bike to the customer. The system determines frame size, stem length and how high it should extend out of the frame, handlebar size and width, saddle height and tilt, crank length, and more. A Fit Kit™ session takes an hour or so. Most shops charge about $50 for a fitting, but they will often deduct that if you buy a bike.

I went through a Fit Kit™ session 15 years ago when I was ordering a new bike. I had already spent several years riding a bike that had been sized by the straddle-the-top-tube method and had fine-tuned the riding position myself. The Fit Kit™ determined that the frame I had been riding was two centimeters too big and that my saddle was set too high and too far back and that my stem was also adjusted too high. My new bike was ordered, assembled, and built to the specifications of the Fit Kit™. The very first time I sat on it, it just felt right. I still have that bike, still ride it regularly, and haven't adjusted its position one iota.

VIC ARMIJO is an experienced cyclist and cycling journalist. He has cycled all over the U.S., France, and Spain, and he has ridden competitively in the disciplines of road racing, BMX and three mountain-biking categories: downhill, cross-country, and dual-slalom. He is the former associate editor of a popular mountain bike magazine, and his freelance pieces have appeared in virtually every other cycling publication. Throughout his life, he has owned 30 bicycles, 12 of which still hang in his garage.