You're going to have a hard time believing this but after buying a Nashbar touring frameset, I couldn't make up my mind which parts I wanted to buy so I ended up with two cranksets, two front derailleurs, two handlebars, two stems, two set of brakes, so on and so forth.

So, I decided instead of selling things at a loss on eBay, I could always just make another build. The Nashbar touring frame I have is 54cm. I followed instructions on the Colorado Cyclist website to measure my inseam. It's 83cm or 32.6 inches. The sizing calculator and even the Rivendell sizing chart say I take a 56cm. However, when I put wheels on the frameset with 700x45 tires, the top tube came close enough to my crotch. I doubt I'd really want a 56cm. I also looked at an LongHaulTrucker group spreadsheet with frame sizes people chose. And for 5'8" (my height), most people chose a 54cm frame.

Anyway, Nashbar has a cyclocross frame but they don't have a 52cm. I kind of wanted a 52 thinking if I need to put my foot on the ground in rough challenging trails, the top tube wouldn't hit my crotch. I have a choice between a 50cm or 54cm. The 54cm looks like it's really stretched out with a 56cm effective top tube. The 50cm seems tempting like hell because it looks like I'd be nimble like a madman. I mean just the idea of it would puts a smile inside my head just thinking about it.

So, what do you think? Is it worth it? Should I go ahead and get the 50cm cyclocross frame or just get the 52cm touring frame? This bike would be more of a city bike/trails bike than anything. The 54cm touring frame would be my real touring bike.