Originally Posted by
Tennessee
How do you know my arms are puny? Actually, they are pretty puny. I only weigh 140.
Anyway, I just like the ride of steel. Honestly, I have never had an aluminum bike. I was a steel guy until I went to carbon with my road bike and I never looked back. Weight is a pretty big issue with me. That is why I like carbon, you can get a great riding bike that is very light. I really am not sure of the weight of the Presidio. I have looked but can not find it listed anywhere. Think it is much heavier than say, a Redline Conquest Team? That is what I was looking at but I just like the look of the Gary Fisher much better. I have great reviews of the Redline but I was looking for some first hand knowledge about the Fisher.
Now onto the fit thing. I am struggling with that one. Do most of you have your cross bike set up similar to your road bike? The geometry of cross bikes seem to be all over the place. I am baseing most of my decisions on the TT length (My road bike is 54.5) but for that length some bikes I would need a 52, some a 53, and some a 54. Also, some bikes have a stand over height issue. Ridley, in my size TT seems to have a huge stand over height, at least too high for my liking.
I am still looking for some first hand info on the Presidio, so if you have some I would greatly appreciate it. Especially on the weight issue.
Us puny armers can smell our own kind. Meant to be more self effacing with that comment, but apparently left it out.
In cross you might not get much out of the steel "ride" as you are rolling on tires with larger cross sections run at the lowest pressure you can safely run for a course, so your tire pressure will mitigate some magical ride quality, and mitigate the perceived harshness of aluminum. No doubt the Fisher is a pretty bike, but I would be afraid of paying a premium price for a steel bike that doesent get you premium performance.
Fit on cross bikes is similar to your road bike, but usually a cm lower in seat height, while bar drop is usually a lot less than your road set up. When looking at top tube length you also have to account for seat angle as steeper seat angles require you to move your seat farther back to get properly positioned behind the BB, which in turn requires a shorter stem to keep the same effective reach, so be mindful of that when looking at frames.
you might check out the simon burney book before finalizing your cross bike.
one quick idea is to check out how the gary fisher compares geometry wise to the steel Lemond cross bike that Trek used to put out. I have a feeling these might be exactly the same bike in a different wrapper.