Originally Posted by
bikerjp
Check head tube height as well. I think the secteur might have a taller one making the bike feel smaller even with a similar size top tube. I normally ride a 58 and when I rode the 58 secteur it felt a bit small. I was told by the lbs that specialized bike can often size one size larger than other brands. Might be what you experienced.
Oh I did. I did my homework in that department:
Headtube Sizes:
56 Specialized Secteur - 190mm
56 Trek 2.1 H3 - 185mm
56 Trek 2.1 H2 - 170mm
54 Trek 2.1 H3 - 170mm
I didn't ever ride a 56 Trek. I just sat on it, and felt very stretched out on it. It was an H2. Regardless of the different geometry (H2 vs H3 vs Secteur), I don't see how I could have felt stretched out unless the sucker had an ultra long stem and I sat on it, said whoa no way, and got off before realizing it. Like I said, I suppose it's one thing to be like "oh yeah maybe Trek's frames are just pretty big compared to other brands" but when you're breaking down the exact geometry specs, I just got confused over how the geometry could be relatively similar yet feel so different.
56 Secteur Headtube - 185mm
56 Sectur Top Tube - 565mm
56 Trek 2.1 H3 Headtube - 190mm
56 Trek 2.1 H3 Top Tube - 554mm
So you have pretty similar headtube (5mm difference), and 11mm difference in top tube. But the catch is, the Trek is what I remember being stretched out, yet the Trek is 11mm shorter than the Specialized, yet the Specialized felt great... This confusion has me pretty convinced that maybe a 56 H3 might be up my alley... but I gotta try one out. No sense speculating until I can get that crank turning.
But, then again, if a larger headtube makes frames feel smaller, then MAYBE it's entirely possible that the 56 H2 DID feel stretched out, yet the 56 H3 might feel better yet...