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Long waist, short leg frame fitment (seat height)

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Long waist, short leg frame fitment (seat height)

Old 05-24-10, 08:49 PM
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Long waist, short leg frame fitment (seat height)

I ride a 58cm Trek T1. I'm just a hair under 5'10. When I sit beside my buddy who is 6'2 I look into his hair. Stubby legs. Every fitment calculator I've tried gives me a sizing that suits my 58cm bike. Plus it was a good deal when I bought it.

I like risers and have a bit of a numb hand problem about 10 miles into a ride when using my Deda drops. Risers on street rides, the drops when on the track or going for speed on a rural road. The stem I use with the drops is a bit shorter. It does see some indoor track time in the winter.

My bike currently runs 80cm from top of the saddle to the center of the spindle. I've played a bit with saddle height to make sure I don't get knee pain. Honestly, I wouldn't mind 79.5 or 79cm.

From the saddle nose bottom to the top tube is 117mm. Am I right to think I should be on a 55ish frame? Does it really ****ing matter?
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Old 05-24-10, 09:13 PM
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The only advice I can really give on this subject is to find a 55 or 56cm bike, if it feels more comfortable then that's probably what you should be riding. I have the same measurement issue as you, but I'm a hair shy of 6'. I ride a 58 with just enough clearance for standover (I mean JUST enough), I currently have a 90mm stem and it's comfortable, but according to bike fitting videos I should be probably riding with a 100-110mm stem. Having weird proportions is a pain.
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Old 05-24-10, 09:20 PM
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Yeah I hear ya. The standover is 81.7 and I can flat foot it but it could be seen as torture on some cultures. I'm not sure the velodrome still uses T1 as rental bikes anymore, I could just go try one or find a local shop that has a similar sized one in stock. Stop thinking numbers and just bloody well get on the damn thing right?

I run a 110 stem on risers and a 90 on drops. Seems to work other than a bit of numb hand after 15miles on the drops.
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Old 05-24-10, 09:32 PM
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Haha, I have no idea whether the velodrome renting out T1's is a joke or not, because I have no experience with velodromes because there aren't any in the area. But if you can find a shop that carries them it would be helpful to try one out.

I'm in the same position as you, but with a much cheaper bike, I can standover flatfooted but unless I'm wearing lycra then there is a very slight contact.
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Old 05-24-10, 09:44 PM
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No joke. You go to the velodrome here and sign up for the learn to ride course and they give you a T1 to use. If you have a license and just want to grab a bike then it's $5 more I think for the rental. Good system I think.

Most shops here are just full of MTB. Finding an in stock track bike is rare.
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Old 05-24-10, 09:57 PM
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Wow, that's pretty impressive, I figured they'd have like Kilo's or something really cheap that wouldn't cost a ton to replace. Track racing seems fun, but I probably need an actual track bike before thinking about that.
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Old 05-24-10, 10:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Banzai
I ride a 58cm Trek T1. I'm just a hair under 5'10. When I sit beside my buddy who is 6'2 I look into his hair. Stubby legs. Every fitment calculator I've tried gives me a sizing that suits my 58cm bike. Plus it was a good deal when I bought it.

I like risers and have a bit of a numb hand problem about 10 miles into a ride when using my Deda drops. Risers on street rides, the drops when on the track or going for speed on a rural road. The stem I use with the drops is a bit shorter. It does see some indoor track time in the winter.

My bike currently runs 80cm from top of the saddle to the center of the spindle. I've played a bit with saddle height to make sure I don't get knee pain. Honestly, I wouldn't mind 79.5 or 79cm.

From the saddle nose bottom to the top tube is 117mm. Am I right to think I should be on a 55ish frame? Does it really ****ing matter?
Yeah, I think it matters when you start getting knee pain and shoulder, upper back pain. Standover is bull, imho. It's all about top tube and relative position of your knee to the crank. When you cheat with seat and stem changes your throw off balance or mess with natural body movement and screw your power and endurance up. I'm not going to attempt to be one of those fit gurus and layout some fit process, but there is all the information out there if you go searching. But, I have found knowing good fit from bad and the implication of picking a 54 or a 58 frame, and in between, for your frame is information worth learning.
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Old 05-24-10, 10:40 PM
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What if the standover is too high???
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Old 05-24-10, 10:49 PM
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Originally Posted by TheBikeRollsOn
What if the standover is too high???
Then Track Geometry frames are not for you.


I am 6'3" and ride a 59, and a 110mm stem is too long for me. That said If Dr. Banzai

is riding a 58, while 5'10", i think you need a size down
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Old 05-24-10, 10:57 PM
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Well there go all my dreams of track racing...
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Old 05-24-10, 11:01 PM
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Well luckily there is zero pain. And yes, if standover is a worry there is a 5 speed over there for ya.

Agreed MaxSta, I think I should downsize a bit on the next bike.
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Old 05-25-10, 12:20 AM
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Just as an FYI I dug my fitting specs out:

Seat tube range c-c: 53.0 - 53.5
Seat tube range c-t: 54.7 - 55.2
Top tube length: 56.5 - 56.9
Stem Length: 11.6 - 12.2
BB-Saddle Position: 73.7 - 75.7
Saddle-Handlebar: 55.2 - 55.8
Saddle Setback: 4.3 - 4.7


On the Trek T1 58, the c-c from spindle to top tube center is 53cm.


https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/track/t1/


Oddly, I did some looking and found a guy on CL who has a 54 and it's too small for him. Potential freebie swap coming tomorrow.
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Old 05-25-10, 07:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Banzai
Just as an FYI I dug my fitting specs out:
that's more like it. those first numbers you posted sounded wayyy off.

what's your pants inseam? 30-31? you sound like you're built very similarly to me...i'm 5'11 with a 29" cycling inseam. freakishly short legs.

i really should shell out for a custom frame, as there is just no way to get a good fit for both legs and torso without either running a monster long stem, or burying the seatpost in the frame. saddle height is ~70cm

my best fitting bike is a roadie with a 52.5cm ST and 55cm TT (both ctc). these are odd numbers for a stock frame, but there are some mfgs that tend towards long TTs (mine is a moots, lemond as well, certainly others but that's all i know). even with this long TT, i still run a 130mm stem. another frame has a 56TT and i use a 120 stem...only reason it works for me in standover is a heavily sloped TT.
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Old 05-25-10, 10:13 AM
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Yep. 32 jeans drag on the floor. 31-31.5 inseam - depends how hard I measure it. Coming from years of BMX my riding style has always favoured small bikes.
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Old 05-25-10, 12:52 PM
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the fit specs you posted sound quite reasonable...~53x57 with ~75 saddle height. not 55-56 frame, and definitely not 79 saddle height. you might have trouble finding such a long TT on a stock bike, so maybe a 54, but i wouldn't go much taller unless you're ok with burying the seatpost. functionally nothing wrong with that, but it looks a bit goofy and standover might get a bit tight.
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Old 05-25-10, 03:40 PM
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I swapped for a 54 today, adjusted my cleats a bit more back, kept the 110 stem on, added a 7mm spacer on the stem height and set the saddle to 75cm. Put about 10 miles on it and it feels better. Shorter, slower steering, and the saddle seems to fit a bit better at this new angle.

Happy.

Only downside is I get toe overlap now when almost at a dead stop. No biggie.
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Old 05-25-10, 07:24 PM
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I'm your height and I ride a 54cm T1.

I don't quite understand how you rode the 58 with short legs. How you stood over it is beyond me. Glad you switched.
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Old 05-25-10, 07:36 PM
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Rode it just fine and pain free for 2 years. Track time was limited but man, I put at least 1000kms on that bike. It just felt long enough for me once I was in the saddle. Now that my back seems a bit more pliable I can go for a more aggressive bar drop.
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