Frame Sizing

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JimNicho

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Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum, but here goes...

All the guides I have read suggest that, at 6'2" tall I should be looking at 58cm + frame size for a road bike but, here's the thing.

I tried out a road bike and a cyclocross bike today in a 54cm and it "Felt" perfect. It's years since I had a road bike so I'm out of practice but, the saddle height in relation to the pedals was perfect, and it didn't feel like I was leaning TOO far forward.

Am I just doing it wrong, or could this potentially be the right size for me. I know it's kind of an impossible question to answer on a forum, but it was a TOTAL bargain, and I'm looking for some pointers.
 
Seems unlikely but you rode it and it was comfortable so it does appear to be the right size for you.

Was the frame compact geomtry? Was the seatpost up very high? I would think that the top tube would have been too short tall on a regular 54cm. Do you know the name and model of the bike?

For someone 6'2" I'd generally suggest about a 60cm.
 
I didn't ride it, just sat on it. It was a VooDoo Limba.

The seat post was a fair way out, but the bars didn't feel too low in comparison, and it was displayed with the saddle at that height
 
My Modern sloping top Basso is a 56cm and I'm 6 foot 1", even then it could be a couple of cm smaller and be made up by saddle and bars up.

Way different to my steelies from the 70's which were 23-24 inch LOL

Shaun
 
I've just bought my first roadbike in years and at 5'7" I find a 54 perfect. I could have gone for a 52 but I think I would have had to go for more seatpost and given myself a bit too much reach down to the bars. I want to do miles on it and a hardcore head down arse up position wouldn't be comfortable after a while of being in the same position. I can handle that on an MTB as I'm constantly moving in the saddle and stopping a lot more often.

THough I did find it really hard to get away from the mountain bike mindset of lots of seatpost is a good thing.
 
Midlife":5113gs8w said:
My Modern sloping top Basso is a 56cm and I'm 6 foot 1", even then it could be a couple of cm smaller and be made up by saddle and bars up.

Way different to my steelies from the 70's which were 23-24 inch LOL

Shaun
Click to expand...

That's a really interesting comment Shaun.

I'm also 6'1" and I have just built up my first road bike in over 30 years.

The bike's a 1999 RSP 853 in 56cm and it fits really well without miles of seat post exposed. I then see 23" plus frames for sale, and wonder what kind of giants rode such bikes.

My feeling is that the more modern carbon and sloping top tube type frames are designed to be a lot shorter in the seat tube and have much more of the seatpost exposed (like mtb's), this is where the length of the top tube becomes all important, due to the reach.

I ride 17.5 to 19" mtb's, but they must have a top tube of at least 22.5" or I end up either hunched up (back ache time), or with an overly long stem, which pushes me too far forward (arm / neck ache time) and makes for a pretty unpleasant ride.
 
NeilM

Have a look at my Avatar..........that's me on my Road bike (Falcon San Remo) 1977 "powering" up a hill climb on a frame which is a 24" or might be 24 1/2 "

I put "powering" in inverted commas because for a race I don't seem to be putting a lot of effort in !

We used to sell quite a number of Carlton Longfellow's at the bike shop which was a 25 and a half inch.

My TT bike was 23" to get a lwer position LOL

That's just how it was BITD.......not much seat post on show.

Shaun
 
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