Old 08-12-10, 01:34 PM
  #12  
cyclezen
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either should be a great start. Seems it would come down to the shop in which you might have the most confidence in supporting the 'after sale' side of things. If something goes wrong (and sometimes it does...) does one shop give the impression that they might bend over backwards to make things right? Then shop support easily trumps a small price difference.
And the Giant '54' would be their M size, right?
ride em again - note small things like saddle comfort, bar width (good start would be barwidth = to distance between armpits), ask them if they'll set you up to start ridin with KOPS (knee over Pedal spindle) ... if they do that before you;re next test ride, you might notice more differences ... KOPS is not religion, but its always been a good start point for further tuning...
if you want to know more about KOPS, look it up...
seat height - start point
...seated on bike, with heels on the pedals over the spindle, pedaling backwards should have your legs fully stretched to max without need to 'rock' the hips to maintain contact. same, just a good start point (given no major leg or leg length anomalies). then adjust from there...
check each wheel for trueness and bearing spin. Even sealed bearings can be adjusted too tight.
check each wheel by holding at the axle ends and spinning - if you feel 'grab' or 'drag', the hubs should be able to be adjusted.
do for front and back...
a rough and grabby spin means a poor wheel adjustment or just a bad hub/wheel.
make sure the bike you get has a good set of wheels to start... crappy wheels are like draggin an anchor.
a decent wheelset is important
what pedals are you gonna ride? any difference there?
a tough decision when you get narrowed down, hope this helps...
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