Cyclocross - Sizing Advisory Warning on Cross Bikes - Ridley X-Fire

The stand over heights are quite tall and can be problematic. I ride a size 59.5 or size 60 road bike. Yesterday I took delivery of a size 58 Ridley X-Fire and it appears that it is one size too tall for me. When I straddle the bike I just barely clear the top tube. When I mount and dismount I have a hard time clearing the saddle with my leg. I am now offering my brand new, size 58 X-Fire frameset for sale at $1100 including continental US shipping and insurance.

it sounds like you just need to work on your remount. standover height is such a minor detail. i have no clearance when i stand over my ridley but it fits me really good and I have no remounting issues. I believe the bottom bracket on my crosswind is even higher than the xfire unless i am mistaken

Ridley bases their sizes on seattube center-to-center. The size 58 seattube is 62cm center-to-top. Did you check the geometry chart before ordering?

I agree with Lithuania, standover is irrelevant. The important dimensions are effective top tube and headtube length.

Ridley lists stand over height on their web site. I might be a little concerned, but if reach and saddle height are good, it may be hard to get a better fit with a Ridley.

The stand over heights are quite tall and can be problematic. I ride a size 59.5 or size 60 road bike. Yesterday I took delivery of a size 58 Ridley X-Fire and it appears that it is one size too tall for me. When I straddle the bike I just barely clear the top tube. When I mount and dismount I have a hard time clearing the saddle with my leg. I am now offering my brand new, size 58 X-Fire frameset for sale at $1100 including continental US shipping and insurance.

how tall are you, and what is your inseam?

it sounds like you just need to work on your remount. standover height is such a minor detail. i have no clearance when i stand over my ridley but it fits me really good and I have no remounting issues. I believe the bottom bracket on my crosswind is even higher than the xfire unless i am mistaken
i completely agree.

the crosswind has a 4mm higher bb than the x-fire.

i also ride a crosswind and have very little standover clearance, but it fits me super well. i'm riding a 60 c-c, fwiw. it has not caused me one single issue while commuting, trail riding, racing, remounting, or even wrecking. are you going to ride the bike or fred flintstone it around the course?

6' 1" and 34" inseam.

I bought a frame based on TT length. Once I built it up with 34mm tires, I noticed that it was a good 8-9 cm (3.5-4in) taller than my roadie with identical reach. I'm fairly short-legged so I basically sit on the toptube if I straddle it. But in real-life, it's not really a big deal since I don't spend much time straddling my bike.

6' 1" and 34" inseam.
i just remembered you were the guy that wanted a full on race bike for only riding on dirt paths, due to a back injury.

did you even bother to check the geometry on ridley's site? i'm assuming you did not. they list the standover for that frame at 880mm, which is 34.65".

My CX frame is definitely a crotch rubber when I'm standing over it - but for riding it makes no difference. The contact points are all fine. When I remount, I'm landing on the saddle not the top tube (hopefully). The height of the saddle doesn't have anything to do with the top tube height.

Now, if you're riding a CX bike as some sort of hack around town bike (as I also do), the lack of standover can be a annoying.

I think that for similar top tube measurements, a Kona Major Jack is has a bit more standover than a Ridley (but I was comparing the small frames).

[QUOTE=SpongeDad;9864402]My CX frame is definitely a crotch rubber when I'm standing over it - but for riding it makes no difference. QUOTE]

+1, my Major Jake is all up in my junk but it rides/races like a champ.

Cross bikes traditionally have a tall bottom bracket for clearance. Perhaps this is why the standover height is a bit higher than normal. How does it feel when riding? It shouldn't affect dismounts, but you'll have to jump higher to remount if that's the case.

The usual rule of thumb is to go one size down with a CX bike. If you ride a 56 cm road bike you'll want a 54 cm in a CX bike to compensate for the tall bottom bracket.

The usual rule of thumb is to go one size down with a CX bike. If you ride a 56 cm road bike you'll want a 54 cm in a CX bike to compensate for the tall bottom bracket.
then you wind up with a bike with too short of a headtube. the bb height has no effect on the fit when you're riding, only when you're standing over the bike. are you going to ride the bike or walk around with it in your crotch?

In that case, one goes with the same size as the road bike if the smaller CX size leaves one feeling too cramped.

really, you just need to evaluate each bike's geometry on a case by case basis. unfortunately, cx bike sizing is drastically different between brands. some run long tt to ht, some have high bb's, some have long st's, etc.

That's true. You can't assume the rule will hold true with every bike brand so you may need to stay with your usual road bike size if that is dictated by the CX bike's geometry.