Road Cycling - OCR For Tall Riders?

I'm looking to get a new road bike. I'm 6'-7" tall and the bike shops are not loaded with bikes for guys my size. Giant's catalog states that their XL frame will accommodate people my size. Does anyone have any feedback on tall riders on the OCR?

The OCR frames are a compromise at best. They simply do not fit people at the extremes of their size range. If you're 6'7", then I can almost guarantee that you will never feel comfortable on an OCR, no matter if the numbers say it fits. Look elsewhere.

don't do it. They won't fit you. At your size you should go with a traditional geometery. As you move up the compact frame sizes to the bigger sizes, they start to lose their "compactness" and look more traditional anyway. BTW, I'm 6'3" and I ride a 62 cm trek. Find an lbs that will order the right size in for you so that you can test ride. My lbs ordered a 63 cm trek so that I could compare it to the 62 cm to decide which was more comfortable. You should never buy a bike without riding it first, if that's what the shop wants you to do, go find another shop.

Rick,

At your size I think you need to be talking to either
Leonard Zinn or Ben Serotta, both are known to build
properly proportioned LARGE frames. Ok, you're not
gonna get high zoot carbon fibre, but you will get a good
riding, comfortable properly fitting frame.
FWIW Zinn is over 6 by a good 5 or 6 inches (I'm not sure
exactly).

the links are:
Serotta (http://www.serotta.com/index.html)
and
Zinn (http://www.zinncycles.com)

Below is a pic of a Zinn built for former pro basketball player

Marty

I am 6'4" and ride a 59cm bike (60cm top tube). I show a good 7" of seat post, and a bit longer stem then normal, but the bike fits fine.

I doubt you need a custom solution, but i would not go with a compact frame. Call a few local bike shop's and ask about bike fit or fit systems. Cost is ~$50, but they should tell you exactly what to look for at

You should figure out what standover clearance you want and more importanly, how long the frame (+ stem) needs to be.
There are some good reasons for going custom.
You should probably be riding the longest cranks you can find. I know of 180mm cranks from TA but even these may be considered small on really tall guys. Your bike frame would need a higher than usual bottom bracket to avoid grounding the pedals on corners. You would also be looking at wider than normal handlebars, but these are an easy replacement on any bike.
The frame should be made of stiff wide diameter tube material. This is where a Canondale-style fat-tubed Al frame is advantageous, but fat tubes can be found in other materials.
Giant frames have pretty tight tyre clearance. Large guys often need wider tyres to take their weight.

Custom bikes can be expensive, and not all "large-guy" custom bikes are well designed, but Zinn and Serortta are amongst the ones who can. What kind of budget are you working to ?

Before you mortgage the house, Cannondale makes 63cm frames and will make you a custom size if you ask them to. It won't cost you an arm and a leg, and Cannondales have a terrific warranty and their frames are very stiff and strong. Go to:

www.cannondale.com/bikes/custbike/print.html

Before you buy anything, invest in a good fitting to BE SURE what size you need. FITKIT offers one in better bike shops.

I'm 6' 5" and recently picked up a 65 CM Redwood from Rivendell Bicycle Works. I love the bike and they also make one that is 68 CM. he frames are lugged steel.

Rivendell bikes aren't what you would call racing bikes, they are a bit retro. But the Redwood fits me well, I can ride it all day without any discomfort at all.

Not sure if they've got a dealer in your neck of the woods. You can find info on them at www.rivbike.com

Getting back to the OCR specifically, I'm 6'00" and I ride a size Large OCR. I doubt that only one size higher (XL) will make up for 7" difference between us. I like the OCR, but I don't think it's the right frame for you...