Calnago wrote:@Kwalker, I don't get why a cyclist with as much riding experience as you seem to have would go for a Retul fit no less than 6 times, each with unsatisfactory results. At some point there is no better judge of proper fit than yourself, via experiment, trial and error, and knowledge gained over the years.
Which is why with the exception of my now custom orthotics and some tweaks to my cleat position it is precisely where I set it up myself.
The issue is that the Retul "assessment" only measures a few parameters of balance and flexibility. My recent and final fitter (who has fit dozens and dozens of current World Tour riders) has a background in physical therapy and kinesiology and had a far more extensive battery of tests including a way to measure bone lengths. Well, I had always said my right side felt a bit strange and turns out he was the only one that was able to locate which bone my LLD was in and adjust my shoe accordingly. Moreover he was the only one who actually had methods for diagnosing the source of my arch collapse and actually had the proper knowledge to fix my orthotics. Uncomfortable shoes went to awesome and changed my joint alignment and muscle recruitment, which required alterations in stance width and a lot of off the bike work to balance some muscular issues that had emerged from years of riding this way.
So basically since those fitters had zero background other than being bike shop guys who went to a class and applied some basic principles from said class they had no idea why my right side pedaled differently, why certain pains emerged out on the road, and why some of their metrics did not necessarily make sense given the tweaks they made. The difference was a 1cm higher higher saddle, 1cm narrower stance width per side, 1cm lower bars, 4mm further forward cleats and 5mm further rearwards saddle position. So, right where I put myself in the first place, but the Retul guys would see that my right side knee wasn't over the spindle and was overextending and would just move the seat down and forward until it fit, then widen my stance width to make my knees stable and inevitably raise my bars to match their perceived magical torso/joint angle. It resulted in a loss of power, knee injuries, and back issues.