celerystalksme

ok...so when shopping for a touring bike, how should it fit? should the top tube, head tube, and seat tube be similar to my road bike?

i'd like a surly long haul trucker...but i found a great deal on a trek 520. so i was looking at the trek geometries. man...even their small has a top tube that's longer than my road bike. but the stand over is way lower than my road bike. them trek 520's are odd...

how does tour bike fit compare to road bike fit?

thanks!

celerystalksme

no one?

Nigeyy

Sorry to pass the buck on this one, but how similar the top tube length should be to your road bike depends really on what your road bike geometry is like (not even considering your individual body metrics -some people have long torsos with short legs,etc). I'd forget what geometry you have on your road bike and personally concentrate more on riding a touring bike and asking yourself if it feels comfortable to you. Also consider that a road bike usually has geometry that does not promote a casual rider's comfort, and is more on the aggressive (aero) side of things, as well as being more "flickable". Both of these aren't necessarily what you want in a touring bike (e.g. comfort and stability with that heavy load).

Ride it and see. If you are unsure or unwilling to take a gamble, go to a knowledgeable place you trust and will provide you with fitting advice.

By the way, do you have an older road bike? Reason I ask is that I tend to find older road bikes have shorter top tubes than more modern traditional design road bikes with horizontal top tubes. And lastly (sorry got to ask) are you comparing apples and oranges? Is you current road bike a modern one with compact sloping top tube geometry, and if so are you measuring the sloping top tube rather than the effective top tube length?

valygrl

how tall are you? i have the XS 520, I'm 5'2, and I put a 60mm stem on it, and it is fine. the bars are about 1 cm higher than my roadie, and the reach is about 1/2 cm longer, but it's ok. I ride on the tops a lot.

valygrl

oh yeah... the XS 520 has compact geometry - sloping top tube - so you get a lot more standover per effective top tube than a horizontal TT bike. maybe you can test ride it?

staehpj1

True. and also good advice on trying it.

Another factor is riding position you prefer. Do you want a similar position to your road bike? Or do you want a more upright posture? I prefer a similar position to the one on my road bike, but many (most?) like the bars up higher and maybe farther back on a touring bike.

celerystalksme

my roadie is a 2007 specialized roubaix expert compact rival...which is a plush style roadie, more upright, comfort orient geometry. it has a 518mm horizontal toptube length, 724mm standover, seat tube C-T of 450mm, and a headtube 125mm. it fits GREAT! the trek i'm considering is a the Small (17")...toptube 540mm, standover 697mm, seattube 431mm, headtube 90mm.

i can't have the luxury of trying out the trek before buying...but goodness, it seems from the geometry that the trek is a more aggressive fit than my roubaix! but oddy, with a much shorter standover clearance.

celerystalksme

any thoughts?

Halthane

On paper the 520 is going to ride a little lower and stretched out, but not a whole lot, there are some variances in the head and seat angles that will account for some of the differences in tube length as well. I really would not recommend trying to buy a bike that you haven't ridden, especially one that you are intending to ride extended distances.

But if you are dead set on the 520 these differences can likely be accounted for by using proper stem, and seat positioning practice.

celerystalksme

i was going to get a brand new surly lht...which has a geometry pretty similar to my roubaix. i like that because my roubaix fits like a glove. but i found a killer deal on a trek 520 through a friend who has a friend in florida that wants to get rid of his. i was thinking about going to my lbs to try the treck...but they don't have a small available for me to try out.

decisions, decisions...