Road Cycling - Bike fit

As a Mtn Biker, I am unfamiliar with the sizing of Road frames. Generally speaking, what size frame would a 6ft guy need? I ask this because I have been looking at touring/commuting bikes on EBay and would like to know what size I should be looking for. I guess I could go to the LBS and try one on for size, but until I do that I need some roadie input.

Measure your inseam, your height doesn't mean much regarding frame size.

Colorado Cyclist www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/ has a good guide and step-by-step on how to measure for proper fit. Remember this is a guideline and is a "first shot" at proper sizing.

Nothing Beats a Test Ride!

L8R

yep colorado cyclist has a bunch of useful tips on their site CHECK IT OUT!

Size by length rather than height, and use your current bike as a starting point.
I would never buy a bike unseen based on the output of some size formula. I know how I ride, and would want to take a tape measure to the stem and top tube length.

Steele-Bike,
I am 6 feet. My inseam, crotch to floor, is 32 inches on the money, and I take a 35 inch sleeve so I seem to be built like a gorilla. I am very comfortable on a 57 or 58 cm frame. You can adjust the saddle to bar dimension with longer or shorter stems. One of the reasons I like threadless headsets or at least threadless stems on a quill to threadless adapter is that I can get inexpensive stems of various lengths from chucksbikes.com. If you get something with a 1 1/8 inch threaded steerer tube you can even get a quill to threadless adapter from Chuck. If you need a 1 inch adapter you can get a Cinelli from cbike.com for about $20. Then for 5-6 bucks each you can get some stems of different length from Chuck. I actually like a shorter bar to seatpost distance than my long arms might suggest. I seem to be settling in on a 100 mm stem which gives me a 57-58 cm bar to seatpost distance.
Regards,
Raymond

So, road bikes are purchased by height and length? I wonder why MTB's aren't sold this way. I guess comfort is more important on a road bike.

If I went to the LBS and found a bike I liked, would they have a specific model in several top tube lengths?

Each designer has a fixed top tube length for each bike size, some make short top tubes, some make long etc.. Some models in each line may vary top tube length a bit, in most cases it (TTL) will not be an issue as individual needs can usually be accomodated by changing stem length. Tob tube length and changing stems to adjust for torso size etc, is common in MTN bikes too, the learning curve continues.

Just ride some bikes and get what feels good to you. Steel tubing is a good choice for a first road bike as it has a more comfortable ride, tends to last longer ride and if something gets bent etc. it can be fixed
I myself have a very long torso and like to "lay out" on the bike, so I use 13 and 14 cm stems on my bikes. Someday I'll have a custom bike built with a long top tube but, I'm not going to hold my breath. The set-ups I have now work OK.
When I first started riding I used a much shorter Stem, as a rule people tend to use longer stems as they develop in their riding.

Ride the right length
Pat