Most people buy a bike in this order: pick a frame, pick a size off the chart, ride it for a while, then book a fit to sort out whatever hurts. By the time a fitter sees you, the expensive decisions have already been made. The fitter can move the saddle, swap the stem and change the bars, but the frame stays the frame.
If you get fitted first, the fit becomes part of the purchase. Here's what that changes.
The size question gets a real answer
Size charts work from height. Two riders who are both 5'10" can need very different bikes. One has a long torso and tight hamstrings, and the other has long legs and plenty of flexibility. The chart puts them both on a 56.
A fit before you buy gives you numbers to shop with instead: where your saddle sits relative to the bottom bracket, and where your hands need to land relative to the saddle. Choosing a size then becomes a geometry question you can check against the manufacturer's numbers.
It's often close between two sizes. On paper, the smaller frame might need a 120mm stem and a tall stack of spacers to reach your position, while the larger one gets there with a 100mm stem and almost no spacers. Those two bikes will handle differently. It's worth knowing that before the frame is ordered.
Some frames come off the list, and some go on
If you come in with a shortlist, good. We'll check each frame against your position. Sometimes your first choice works fine and the only change is the size or the cockpit. Sometimes a frame you liked can't reach your position in any size without compromises you'd feel four hours into a ride, and it's better to find that out now.
Sometimes the answer is a made-to-measure frame. Sarto, Mosaic, and ENVE Custom build to the rider's numbers, so the frame has no size because the geometry comes straight from the fit. That isn't the right answer for everyone, and a stock frame that matches your numbers is a perfectly good outcome. Either way, you need the numbers to make the call.
You choose the parts around the fit
A complete bike comes with whatever the manufacturer specced for that size. Those parts suit an average rider of that size. When the bike is built to order, each one becomes a decision:
- Stem length and bar width, set by your reach and your shoulders
- Bar shape, meaning reach and drop, matched to how you hold the hoods and the drops
- Saddle, matched to how you sit
- Crank length, which usually scales with frame size rather than with your legs
Plenty of stock parts turn out to be right. What matters is that someone checked.
What to ask before you order
Whoever fits you, you should be able to answer these before any money changes hands:
- How does this size get me into my position, and with what stem, spacers and saddle setback?
- Which parts were chosen because of the fit?
- What are we carrying over from my current bike, and has anyone checked that it still works?
- Is anything still undecided?
If the answer to any of these is a size label and a shrug, keep asking.
How it works at Alpha
We don't keep a wall of bikes in sizes S through XL. Every bike is built to order, and every custom build starts with a New Bike Fit, which is a fit and a build consult in one appointment. You leave with your position on paper and a shortlist of frames that can get you there. Then we spec the build around it.
Buy the bike through us after your New Bike Fit, and you get a $250 Fit-to-Finish credit toward the build. Riders come in from all over the country for this appointment, and it's worth the effort.
Every build at Alpha Bicycle Studio starts with a conversation about fit, terrain, riding style, and what the rider actually wants from the bike. Book a New Bike Fit, and bring your shortlist.
