Road Cycling - Help with sizing

I had my LBS fit me for my new Allez elite and they say that I should go with the 50cm.. I road a sport that was the sam and god did that bike seem so tiny.... granted I am comng from a Hybrid but they say that I am OK on the 50... I am 5'7 and about 28.5 29 inseam. am I OK with this size? they said it is better to go a little smaller then bigger?

Thanks

to me that sounds about right for your inseam, but you also have to consider your reach... straddle the top bar and lift the bike off the ground... as long as you have about 1-2 inch clearance of the tire from the ground, you will be fine... next, look at your reach...

I am also 5'-7"/29" inseam and my road bikes are 50, 52, & 53cm, all measured center to top of top tube. Using different seat post length and stem height and length, they all fit me. But with the 50, my seatpost is extended quite a bit, which is ok.....but depending on your riding style, you may have to raise your stem quite a bit if you're the type who likes to keep the stem and saddle very close to level. The 52, for me, is the most practical size and just 'looks' right. But again, all three sizes work well for me.

You want to make sure of two things:

1)
That you can position the saddle (once it's at the correct height) so that you can achieve the knee-over-pedal-spindle position without resorting to weird seatposts or jamming the saddle all the way in one direction or another.

It's not that every rider will necessarily want KOPS -- some like to get more behind it, other like to get more in front -- but the frame should put you in the center of the range so you can make this adjustment for yourself.

See http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/ for a discussion of "neutral knee position."

2) Once the saddle is in position up/down, fore/aft you can assess whether its top-tube length is appropriate. This is harder to assess, and it's affected by bar height, but if you bend at the hips, holding your arms out at about 90 degrees to your torso with your elbows slightly bent, and your hands fall naturally onto the brake hoods, without you needing to pull your arms in towards your belly or extend them towards your head, you're close. This should ideally happen with an average-length stem, 100mm or so.

These two things -- reach and saddle position -- are what's critical. As long as standover is minimally adequate, don't worry about it.

The danger of too small a frame (and this happens all the time) is that as you become acclimated to road biking, you become more comfortable with the position. And you tend to want to open up and stretch out more, which is hard to do with too small a frame.

RichC

That sounds to be about the correct size to me to.. I ride a 52 and 53 C-T road bikes, and I'm 5'7" with 31" inseam. I know after riding my MTB bike I get on my road bike it seems so SMALL.