Hey guys,
I've been hunting high and low for a cross bike that feels right. I'm about 6'3.5", 200lbs now coming out of winter, with about a 36" pelvic inseam. Apparently i have a short torso and/or arms as top tubes are always too long for me. I generally like the seat tubes of 60cm bikes and the top tubes of 58cm bikes. Until now the best fit i could find was a 60cm Spec Tricross w/a shorter and flipped stem.
Today i stepped by a random shop on my way home and they had a 2010 Ridley Crossbow
http://www.ridley-bikes.com/pd/us/en...cross/crossbow. I hopped on it and was like wow, this feels pretty good. The cockpit felt right on, the reach was great. The seat was also in a fine place right off the back, not crazy high or anything. I then checked the size and it was a 56cm!
Basically the geometry boils down to having a 60cm C-T seat tube and a 56cm C-C top tube. Pretty unusual, but it felt great to me. We tried longer stems and it got reachy again. the Stock 110mm was fine.
According to their sizing guide:
http://data.ridley-bikes.com/sizes/sizes-en.pdf, i'm right in the leg and height range for the 56cm so i guess i'm not totally off base.
I plan to use this bike 75% for commuting (26 miles each way, but not every day), riding trails and single track, ~15mile road rides w/ roadies at work. I've never cross raced, but i have a friend who does and i'm super eager to try it this season.
The setup on the bike is SRAM Rival shifters and derailuers, gossemer 46/36 cranks, Avid shortys, Shimano RS20 wheels for $1600. A very nice bike, but def high in the cost range for me.
Do you guys think this bike is too racey for commuting decent distances? Any advice?