tlippy

This is awful!!! I picked up my Fuji yesterday and think I might have gotten the wrong size. I'm a novice and really don't know a good ride from a bad BUT something doesn't feel right. Please advise - I can still return the bike.
First I live in a little hick town in central Oregon. Not many bike choices So I believed the sales guy when he sized me for a 52cm - had a 49, 52 and 56 in stock - NO 54 ( which I think I need). They swapped the drive chain for a 105 triple chain ring. Claimed they didn't have to change the chain or front derailer, but did change the BB to a 118.5 and the rear derailer. Off I went with my new bike.
I settled in the saddle and it seemed that I was always scooting off the rear of the seat - constantly having to shorten up. Especiall when getting a bent over ride position. And they moved the saddle all the way to the rear. Even did the little plum bob thing with my knee and foot. DEALER " A cross bike is going to have a much different feel than your current mountain bike. The riding riding position is not going to be the same".
This is my first experience with the drop bar kind of shifter and I'm having a terrible time. What I don't know if is this is a result of the change to a triple or a botched job of changing the mix of parts or my inexperience. It requires two or three times to get the chain from the 42 to the 52. Downshifting works just fine. I hoped the change to 105 stuff was goin to be a whole lot better than my entry level Schwinn stuff. DEALER "Well, it's not going to shift as smoothly as a double, you just have to baby the chain from 42 to 52".
Now the really annoying part - My toe hits the front wheel every time I turn. I'm just using tennis shoes - tryin to decide whether to do clipless. DEALER "That's the bane of a CX - everyone has to watch out for this".
I'm a grown guy and am willing to learn all this new stuff BUT I don't know how to tell if: I got the wrong size, the change to a triple is always goin to be troublesome, and if I have to live with the toe hitting the wheel thing.
Please let me know your feelings while I still can return the bike.
Thanks again!
BTW - I'm 5'9.1/2", weigh 185, 29" inseam.

Rich Clark

First, there is a differerence between the front derailleur for a double and for a triple. The shifting problems you describe tally with what I'd expect using a double FD with triple chainrings.

Second, as to the frame size, you say they did a "KOPS" (knee over pedal spindle) adjustment, and with the plumb bob dangling from just below the point of your knee, and the pedal in the forward/level position, the bob intersected the pedal spindle... and it required moving the saddle all the way back to achieve this. Is that correct? And was the saddle raised so that your knee was almost straight when fully extended?

How close is the seat post to having its "minimum insertion" mark showing?

And one last question: what is the stem length? (Is it the stock stem, or did they change it for a longer/shorter one?)

What concerns me is the way you describe feeling cramped. Usually people feel too "stretched out" when converting from MTB to road bike.

Is that 29" inseam measured from the pubic bone to the floor? (That's how it's done in cycling; trouser inseams are meaningless.) 29" sounds a little short for someone your height, and if it's accurate might indicate you're proportioned with a somewhat longer torso. If that's the case, then the frame size might be OK but you either need to choos a bike designed with a proportionately longer top tube (this is one of the factors that distinguished amoung bike brands), or at leqast try a longer stem. Too long a stem can move you too far forward on the bike, though.

But if what you end up with is a bike with the saddle all the way back and an extra long stem, then the signs point to a too-small frame. How much stand-over clearance does it give you?

It does not sound to me like this shop did a very good job fitting you. You may have to gather some knowledge on your own to reinforce your contention that they should either order a 54 or give you a refund so you can look at other brands with different proportions.

There are some good fitting tools on the Web. Wrenchscience, Airborne, and Colorado Cyclist each has one, for starters.

You're right to be concerned, IMO.

RichC

tlippy

Reply to Rich:
knees almost straight.
Still had stock stem length available.
Inseam measured from Pubic Bone = 31.5"
BUT what about the shoe toes hitting the wheel every time I turn - even slightly?
tks

MichaelW

Check out the geometry numbers at
https://www.fujibikes.com/2001/usa/ht...oad/cross.htm#
The 54cm gives you a 1 degree slacker seat tube and a 1cm longer top tube. That will place the saddle a few mm further back, and the bars a few mm further forward. Its a small but useful difference
How is your 52cm frame for standover cleararance, and how far below the saddle level are the bars?
If you have toe-clip overlap, then you could possibly benefit from the larger size.

The CX position is usually a little higher and less stretched out than a road position. How low you get is a personal choice, but there is no real advantage to an aerodynamic ride at CX speeds. With your torso nearer to the vertical, there is less need for your butt to act as a counterweight, so this can be bought forward a little. Of course you can set your bike up to ride in any style you want.
CX involves lots of tricky balance, and toe-clip overlap is really not something you want. For a guy your size, there is no need for it either. What size cranks did you fit?

You really need to test drive a 54 size. The fuji cx looks like a good bike, well designed and specked.

Rich Clark

Toe overlap is not uncommon, and can result from a number of factors. A bigger frame may not help, but it might. If the ball of your foot is over the pedal spindle and you get overlap even at speed, you need a different bike. If the overlap only happens when turning at walking speeds then you either learn to live with it or look for a bike with more trail (like a touring bike).

My inseam and yours are nearly the same. My Fuji is a 56cm. If Fuji measures their cross bikes the same as their road bikes -- center of the bottom bracket to the top of the top tube -- then I think it's very likely the 52 is too small for you -- since it's the same size as a 50 or 51 from other manufacturers who measure center to top.

In my estimation there's nothing worse than a bike shop that "makes it fit" in order to sell a frame size they have in stock instead of ordering the correct size. I'm not saying that happened here, but everything you've said indicates a fitting problem.

I'm looking at the geometry chart for that bike. The 52 is a pretty small bike. The the top tube on the 54 is only 10mm longer than the 52's, but that might be enough to clear up the toe overlap. The 56's is 10mm longer than that.

Did you try the 56 he had in stock? If it was too big, in what dimension(s) was it too big?

RichC

mateo velo

this is true. makes perfect sense.

Quote:

I settled in the saddle and it seemed that I was always scooting off the rear of the seat - constantly having to shorten up. Especiall when getting a bent over ride position. And they moved the saddle all the way to the rear. Even did the little plum bob thing with my knee and foot. DEALER " A cross bike is going to have a much different feel than your current mountain bike. The riding riding position is not going to be the same".

this is quite true, actually. cross bikes are typically shorter in the top tube than a mountain bike or a road bike. the reason is that you actually want to be in the drops in a slightly upright position. try rotating your handlebars up a bit. if that doesn't work, you can always swap out the stem for a slightly longer one that will give you more length and put more over the front of your bars. ideally, when you are in the drops and you look down at your front wheel, your front bub should be obscrured by the handlebars.

what do you mean exactly? do you mean there are two or three clicks between the middle chainring and the big chainring? do you mean that the sweep of the left shifter requires too much push for your to get it on the first go? in the first case, you'd have a problem and you'll have to take it back to the shop. in the second instance, this is a common experience for people moving from mtbs, where the clicks are pretty simple and easy, to the road. if the problem is that the chain skips and stutters before it jumps up to the big ring, that's probably just because the derailleur cable needs adjusting. this is a common problem when shops swap a double for a triple. they just forget to re-adjust the front derailleur.

this is true. toe overlap is very common on cross bikes and on smaller-framed roadies. i'm sure your toe doesn'y hit the wheel every time you turn, unless you have extremely large feet. the truth is that you will rarely have to turn the front wheel enough to be able to contact your feet in real-world riding [you simply will not have to turn as hard on a cross or a road bike]. once you get over the psychological fear of it happening, you will never think of it again.

Quote:

I'm a grown guy and am willing to learn all this new stuff BUT I don't know how to tell if: I got the wrong size, the change to a triple is always goin to be troublesome, and if I have to live with the toe hitting the wheel thing.
Please let me know your feelings while I still can return the bike.
Thanks again!
BTW - I'm 5'9.1/2", weigh 185, 29" inseam.

the change to triple will be toublesome, and usually unnecessary. i hate triples with an absolute passion. i find that the cross gearing is perfectly sufficient. if you need a lwer gear than 38x26, you can always change the cassette to a wider spread.

with an 80 cm inseam, a 52 cm bike should be exactly the right size for you. you don't want to go any bigger, since a cross bike's bb is higher than a roadie's, and the tt of the fuji cross doesn't have enough slope to save your testicles on a larger frame.

i suspect that a longer stem will solve most of your problems... that and about a week of riding. this is a new steed. it might take time to adjust to it.

tlippy

Thanks again all !!!!!!
One of the guys in the shop has a 54. I 'think' I notice a marked difference in the way I sit on the bike. So the shop is exchanging the 52 for a 54 and replacing the OE cassette with an 11-34. I'm going to keep the OE 38-48 crankset. The owner did tell me that the short chain length of some cross bikes makes a font triple problematic, sometimes. Also the install guy erred when he did not lengthen the OE chain. This was causing some of the shifting mishaps. No fuss at all doing the exchange SO I can't ask for any more.
I did play around with Sheldon Brown's gear page and my final low gearing is going to be very close to my MTB.
And again I want to thank you guys who commented. All the tips are appreciated.