Road Cycling - I'm in between size, should I go bigger or smaller

I’m a newbie, I’m current looking to buy my first road bike. I saw this deal from www.supergo.com for a CF bike $1249.00, (Scattante CFR). This is SuperGo’s house brand and it seems to have very go components to go with their frame (mostly Shimano Ultegra). I’m seriously consider buying this bike, but my problem is I’m in between size. According to “LeMond Formula”, the best fit for me would be 57cm, but the closest frame size offered that match my fit is 56cm or 59cm. I’m 6’00” and 190 lbs, I was told to go with a bigger frame as it is better to buy too big then to buy too small. What do you guys think of my fitting issue? Also, what do you guys think of the bike itself in general? It is no doubt a good deal, how does it (Taiwanese made frame) compares to US made frames?

Thanks in advance.

I’m a newbie, I’m current looking to buy my first road bike. I saw this deal from www.supergo.com for a CF bike $1249.00, (Scattante CFR). This is SuperGo’s house brand and it seems to have very go components to go with their frame (mostly Shimano Ultegra). I’m seriously consider buying this bike, but my problem is I’m in between size. According to “LeMond Formula”, the best fit for me would be 57cm, but the closest frame size offered that match my fit is 56cm or 59cm. I’m 6’00” and 190 lbs, I was told to go with a bigger frame as it is better to buy too big then to buy too small. What do you guys think of my fitting issue? Also, what do you guys think of the bike itself in general? It is no doubt a good deal, how does it (Taiwanese made frame) compares to US made frames?

Thanks in advance.

I have always heard to go with the smaller one if your in between and that is what I have done. If need a 57 in a Lemond thought you'll probably need the 59 in another bike so you need to see how they measure there frames.

Philli

I was also told to go with the smallest frame that you can comfortably ride. However, this assumes you're able to test ride the two different sizes which it doesn't sound like you can. Make sure you understand their return policy.

I’m a newbie, I’m current looking to buy my first road bike. I saw this deal from www.supergo.com for a CF bike $1249.00, (Scattante CFR). This is SuperGo’s house brand and it seems to have very go components to go with their frame (mostly Shimano Ultegra). I’m seriously consider buying this bike, but my problem is I’m in between size. According to “LeMond Formula”, the best fit for me would be 57cm, but the closest frame size offered that match my fit is 56cm or 59cm. I’m 6’00” and 190 lbs, I was told to go with a bigger frame as it is better to buy too big then to buy too small. What do you guys think of my fitting issue? Also, what do you guys think of the bike itself in general? It is no doubt a good deal, how does it (Taiwanese made frame) compares to US made frames?

Thanks in advance.

What other kinds of athletic things do you do?

If you picture yourself in the racer mold, I might agree with the advice the other posters have given. The smaller frame size will give you a lower, more aero riding position. If your flexability is suspect, however, you will have neck aches from bending your head back and you may not find your handlebar drops useful at all.

If you visualize yourself as a more relaxed rider, I'd recommend the larger frame. It will yield a higher, more comfortable handlebar position. If that makes the difference of being able to use the drops or not, it may even turn out to be faster. The threadless headset systems that virtually all manufacturers use today make it much more difficult and more expensive than it used to be to experiment with handlebar height.

In either case, if you truely fit between sizes, I wouldn't worry excessively. Most riders, with a little work, can be accomodated by more than one bike frame size.

Try to arrange a visit to Supergo and physically test ride it. I do know that when I inquired at the Oceanside store about the Le Scattante, Supergo would exchange stems till the fit was perfect for free. So if one mail orders,you'll lose that option.

Unfortunately, I’m couple thousand miles away from the closest SugerGo shop. Mail order is my only option, let alone test driving one of their bikes. I would prefer a riding position to be more comfortable as I’m not get any younger these days. My goal is to complete one of the MS150 next year, so I need a bike that will comfortably carry me for the distance. There are very limited information (reviews) on this bike, but what I have read so far have been encouraging. Thanks for the advice.

Good luck :)

I'm your size and would go with a 59 but next week i'll go sit on one for ya.

You might want to reconsider and go to a LBS. $1300 is a lot of money to gamble. And you might want to ride some friends bikes to try and size your self. Unless you are all legs a 59 is very tall, and a 59 frame is hard to resell.

I'm 6' with a 32.5 inseam and have a 58 and a 59,no problem.

I bought a CFR and I hopped on a size that was suggested by the wrench science website. Granted I was able to test ride it and a few other bikes but I ended up getting the size that wrench science said was my 'fit'. Try that one out. I'm not saying it will be dead on but it takes in a lot of factors.

I’m a newbie, I’m current looking to buy my first road bike. I saw this deal from www.supergo.com for a CF bike $1249.00, (Scattante CFR). This is SuperGo’s house brand and it seems to have very go components to go with their frame (mostly Shimano Ultegra). I’m seriously consider buying this bike, but my problem is I’m in between size. According to “LeMond Formula”, the best fit for me would be 57cm, but the closest frame size offered that match my fit is 56cm or 59cm. I’m 6’00” and 190 lbs, I was told to go with a bigger frame as it is better to buy too big then to buy too small. What do you guys think of my fitting issue? Also, what do you guys think of the bike itself in general? It is no doubt a good deal, how does it (Taiwanese made frame) compares to US made frames?

Thanks in advance.

Hey-
I bought the CFR a couple months ago. Fantastic bike. I, like Tri-Devil, sized myself according to the Wrench Science website and it has worked great. Because it was telephone order, I couldn't swap out stems, but I bought the Specialized Team Flip Flop stem that was the correct length (based on WS website) and it is the perfect length. That stem can be flipped over and/or used with or without an eccentric shim which gives multiple handlebar height options. Gotta go CFR dude. It has by far, the best price to performance ratio of anything out there.
Go to the Wrench Science website, do the measurements meticulously like they describe (with a helper) and write down the numbers the website gives you at the end of the measuring process. Then go to the Supergo website, click on the link for the geometry of the CFR frame and match the WS numbers they gave you to the appropriate frame. Done. You will be the proud owner of one sweet bike and you'll have saved a bunch of dinero. Enjoy the bike!

Thanks otoman, good to hear from owner's experience. I would love to hear from shokhead for his second opinion after his test drive next week, please keep us posted. Thanks.

Throwing in my two cents worth on the bike. It's absolutely great. Ride is sooo smooth. Can't go wrong with ultegra and the price, plus not everyone has one of these!