Steve Hogg and Jerry Gerlich transformed my cycling experience

Jerry Gerlich (Hogg certified bike fitter) and Steve Hogg teamed to deliver transformational results to my overall cycling experience. I owe them both a debt of gratitude. First, I’ll cover down on Jerry’s fitting and then transition to how he and Steve meticulously teamed to NAIL my new bike’s geometry definition.

My praise of Jerry aligns VERY similar to Bradford Karn’s as outlined in his Sept 2017 testimonial, “Transcendent Bike Fit from Jerry Gerlich”. I too am the oldest guy in my group. I have plenty of legs and lungs to keep pace, but I began getting dropped due to the need to dismount in mid-ride and tend to aching feet. I could gut-out the back pain, but foot pain was unbearable. So I turned to Jerry.

My first fit session with Jerry (summer 2017) delivered far beyond expectation. I brought new shoes to the session where he painstakingly customized the G8 insoles with a variety of shimming techniques. He shimmed after observing me ride the trainer and assessing my hip and pedal stroke irregularities. I have not had a single foot issue since. Not one. To address the lower back pain issues, I needed to replace my ill-fitted bike. I committed to return the following summer so that he and Steve could go to work to map out a custom frame.

In summer of 2018, I had my second bike fit with Jerry, who by this time, is intimately familiar with who I am as a rider, my strengths, weaknesses, and cycling goals and objectives. This information (of course along with my on-bike measurements) were put into Steve for consideration. Poor word “consideration”. Better defined as pain staked analysis, design, and detailed back-and-forth debate between Steve and Jerry about what bike geometry would be best. These two guys were determined to deliver perfection. Ultimately their bike CAD geo was delivered to the wizards at Boston’s Seven Cycles and I could not be more pleased with the end product. I feel measurably more comfortable, powerful, and ride with more endurance than I have in years. Positive feedback from my riding group confirms my feeling to be true. I give Jerry and Steve immense credit to this transformation.

Others deserving kudos in this story include my Seven Cycles buyer rep (Chris Balser), Seven’s sales and service rep (Nel Doshi), Seven’s frame construction artist who sadly I’ve yet to ID, and Gordon Yang at Austin’s Castle Fitness who installed all the components.

Bradford Karns lays down sound wisdom in his aforementioned Hogg testimonial: “Before you consider spending your hard-earned money on that new superbike or trick wheelset, go visit Jerry, or the other Steve Hogg approved fitters and get value where it matters most—on yourself, the engine”. That’s awesome advice!

P.S. It’s the little things that total pros do…like Jerry leaving hand-written notes as final parting reminders. Love that guy!

G’day Mark,

I’m glad that you’re happy with the whole bikefitting / acquiring a Seven experience but feel like you’re overstating my role in this. All I did was design the frame based upon info supplied by Jerry. I think Jerry and the rest of the Castle Hill crew like Gordon deserve all of the credit. I trust your Seven gives you years of cycling enjoyment.