Tips for finding the right bike shop

It's a tough situation.  Best to ask around, locally.  Talk to the guys in your local bike and/or tri club.

Look at it from the bike shop's perspective.  If they spend an hour with you going over fitting etc. and you then take your business elsewhere, they have lost a lot of time and money.  The margins at bike shops are thin, so they have to figure a way to keep the lights on.

That's why many shops charge up-front for a fit.

Best strategy is figure out what works best for you and  your needs.

Two words: Educate yourself.

The more knowledge about fit and position you own the better equipped you are to evaluate a fitter's advice.

Read the articles on triathlon bike fit. Do your due dilligence. Tell your fitter you don't want to be stuck with whatever he has the most of. Tell him or her you want what fits you best. Whe a good fitter understands multisport fitting and positioning and you do too both of you can tell.

There are a lot of great fitters out there. There are also a lot of well intentioned fitters who just kind of "wing it" and need to push some bikes. It is relatively easy to tell the difference if you own the knowledge about the basics of triathlon fit and position.

Do the homework. Own the knowledge. Be acountable for it. It's worth it.

Usually knowing someone that has had experience helps.  For example, I know a guy who lives about 40 minutes from me, who has completed 2 IMs in a very respectable time, and has been doing triathlons for almost 20 years.  He didn't push me to go to a particular LBS but provided me the names of 3 or 4 that he had checked in with before, gave me some objective feedback, and then had me go and ask some questions.

The biggest thing was looking at getting fitted by an experienced person (who was quite knowledgable and took the time to do the job properly), then the bike came second due to the fitters experience, knowledge, and willing to take the time to listen.  The fitter did not push a bike, but, because of his patience, knowledge, and customer service, I was convinced to purchase a bike at the shop he worked at.

The Trek sales rep that I met wanted to sell me a carbon bike right off the bat without discussing anything else, because he heard the word "carbon".  Due to his willingness to really not work with me but more interested in selling the bike first, I was less impressed.

Just my opinion.

I started with two bits of information:

1. I dig Cervelo's and I know that they fit a wide variety of body sizes/shapes

2. Look for a F.I.S.T. certified fitter

I got lucky in that the bike shop nearest to me is not only a Cervelo dealer, but also the only certified F.I.S.T. fitter in my region.

Its sort of a little of A and B.

A) It is a very very involved process to get a very good fitting bike.  You can get a guess at a fit or rule some things out from measuring yourself and/or using online calculators.  You can find out that, for example you're more torso than legs you would be better off with a long and low bike like a cervelo or felt rather than a short and tall bike like a cannondale.

The stack/reach database is your friend

http://www.slowtwitch.com/stackreach.html

The problem is when you need to pick between a Cervelo P2 or P3 (they have different geometries) or pick between a 54 and a 56.  "Best guess" fitting may not be accurate enough for this.  As was mentioned you could end up sacrificing comfort, efficiency and aerodynamics.

B)  Not so much a trade secret as a skill.  As such those who have trained more/have more experience will be better at it that those who dont and can charge a premium.  I can give you a free bike fitting, but it will be worth exactly how much you paid for it.

I dunno'.  I walked into Trisports last year with the same question.  Knowledgeable gal spent about 10 min with me taking my inseam measurement, my height, arm length, maybe torso (I forget), scribbled the numbers down, put them in her calculator, and said I needed a bike with a top tub measurement of around 50-52cm and pointed me towards the Cervelo, QRCD0.1 and Felt.

I had a different experience at my 'high end' roadie shop.  the only (reasonably priced) TT bike they sold was the Cannondale Slice.  They didn't have one for me to sit on, but they assured me that if I ordered one through them they'd make it fit me.  They fit everyone to it and never had a problem.  Note: the slice is at the far end of the fit spectrum for what I needed.  I knew this, and knew that they'd need to make up 5 cm.  No problem. Push the seat back, add a longer stem and you're good to go.  I practically got in an argument with them over the issue.

Meanwhile- (after two fitting sessions at Trisports) My Felt fits me beautifully. 

Things I looked for when looking for a bike shop to buy a tri bike was 1. shop that caters to triathletes and 2. carries a wide range of tri bikes.  If you go to a shop that carries 1 or 2 different brands they will tell you they can make one of there bikes fit you.  Although if you go to a shop that carries 5 or more different brands they will have a bike that fits you.

The bike shop I ended up buying from took my measurements for free and then showed me the different brands they had that fitted me best.  They carried Cervelo, Cannondale, Look, BMC, Trek, and Scott so they had bikes that fit a wide variety of body types.