F.I.S.T. Bike Fit Workshops Have a New Home

March 16, 2024

F.I.S.T., which stands for Fit Institute Slowtwitch, is a bike fit protocol taught in a workshop setting to bike fitters. The first of these took place in 2002 and 22 years later they'll move from Valyermo, California, to Lincoln, Nebraska.

F.I.S.T. was the first of a new breed of bike fit systems that featured fitting as the rider pedals. This is known as dynamic bike fit and F.I.S.T. started it. This fit system was best executed using a fit bike purpose-built, with the notable elements being saddle and handlebar changes that occurred along an x/y axis.

Fit bikes for this process were made first by Exit Cycling specifically for the F.I.S.T. system. GURU, Purely Custom, Shimano, Retül and others followed suit with fit bikes of their own.

Half the system centered on finding the rider's ideal fit coordinates, a fancy phrase meaning where you place the saddle and handlebars on a rider's bike. The second half of the F.I.S.T. system is prescribing a "complete bike solution" which is the answer to, "I like this position, now which bike do I need to buy and how do I set it up?"

The answer to that question required identifying and naming of a pair of bike geometrics not previously a part of cycling called "stack" and "reach." These refer to the rise and run from the bottom bracket to the frame's head tube top and stack and reach have now become ubiquitous in cycling. Not only do all modern dynamic systems use stack and reach, many bike companies now design their bikes using stack and reach as design inputs. Stack and reach were first named and described here on Slowtwitch more than 20 years ago.

This is the history of F.I.S.T. and everything in cycling that has flowed from it. The workshops will move to a new location but the system remains unchanged as do the instructors teaching. Learn about the new workshop location, here’s where you sign up for workshops.

The most likely difference with this move to Nebraska will be less rustic lodging, world class food, and arguably better gravel riding (depending on what gravel means to you).