lovrin

I'm purchasing a Schwinn Madison from my lbs(berts bikes) saturday and I'm slightly confused on how I should be fitted. Schwinn actually has a chart that shows how I should be fitted:


Now I'm about 5' 7'' or 5' 8'' give or take, I haven't measured myself in a while. But some of you guys say go a size higher than what you would be fitted on, from what I've read. Now a medium looks like it could be for me, but I don't know. They have fitting there, but because I'm purchasing the bike that day, plus a u-lock, I'm definitely not going to be able to afford it.

What do you guys think?

jollysnowman

Why don't you just ride the bike? Is the bike not at the store?

lovrin

It is, but I'm not sure if they'll let me, plus I didn't really think about that.

justwes

no way i would buy a bike from a shop that doesnt allow a test ride to see if you fit the bike as well as you want to.

hell every local bike shop in my area (9-10) if you leave your credit card info and copy of your ID, they will let you take the bike for 3-4 hours to really get a good feel of it, and they'll do this until you find a bike your comfortable with buying. i've even seen them allow a person to test out a MTB on one of the local intermediate trails.

sizing a bike or more than just your height, i'm 6'0 and ride a 53cm frame because i have a 28.5 inch inseam. most bike shops suggest a 56cm frame for someone my height, which is all wrong.

jollysnowman

If they don't let you try it out, go elsewhere.

Wow, I'm 5'4" and my inseam isn't much less than that...

Lug Steel

The Schwinn chart, or bike sizes, are a bit off-
I have an '08 Madison in Large, thats a great fit (except the stock stem is too
long), and I'm 6'3"-

Go try out sizes at the bike shop, I'm sure they'll let you.

kyselad

Thankfully somebody gets it. I read a gazillion threads on here where everyone tells some poor kid his frame size based on height alone. I'm 5'9" with a 33" inseam, and I have an easier time dialing in a frame "too large" for my height. Detailed measurements help a lot in getting your fit, but as mentioned above, you've got access the best possible fit system -- test rides. Any reasonable shop will let you test ride bikes until you determine what works. If they don't, your money is better spent elsewhere.

queerpunk

+1, and then some.

that's interesting. you must have a long torso. do you use a long stem? it's repeated over and over that reach is more important than standover. ideally a frame for you would have a low toptube (short seattube) and a long toptube. sounds like you could benefit from the sloping toptube of compact geometry. it could get you the standover your stubby little legs want, with the reach that the disproportionate rest of your body needs.

Dion Rides

Get the medium and size it correctly with component adjustment. Fitting is not entirely about the bike size, but all the individual components working together to make it right. If you go here, you can see the many variables and stock frame size is only one variable.

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

jollysnowman

I don't want to derail the thread, but for a given seattube length, compact geometry raises the headtube and effectively the handlebars. This might be bad for mr. reallylongtorso, but who knows.

queerpunk

Too late, already derailed, let's fire away.

Sort of, not really, and only sometimes. There is no one compact geometry. Headtube lengths vary wildly. Some bikes have longer head tubes, others have short ones, that are the same size or shorter than a comparably sized traditional-geometry frame.