Originally Posted by
Cadams101
My legs are really short for someone my height. My girlfriend is 5ft 5in and her legs are almost as long as mine.
I went back and rode both bikes again this afternoon.
I barely have any clearance between the top tube and my Man parts when standing flat footed over either bike. Is that something i should be concerned about ?
if you're set on the Allez, which is a very nice machine, then try straddling with the clothes you;re gonna wear riding. If you plan to use lycra, that does give more support and helps keep the stuff off the bar.
If you decide to go the smaller - 54, Head tube on the 54 is 145 mm vs 160 for the 56, which means 3/4 inch lower bar for the smaller frame, which might be ok for you, but if not...
you might ask if they'll swap out a stem (100mm comes std on both sizes) for the next size - 110 - and then you can flip it so it's angling upwards - means you be closer to the saddle to bar drop of the 56... and slightly longer stem might give you better length for your torso/arm reach, since the 54 is 17mm shorter TT. The 110 stem might be longer, the upward angle takes away a lot of that additional 'reach'.
you might even consider a 120 stem...
Decent stems are cheap, I might get all three sizes and then fool around until you find a good match.
in any case, a 110 is certainly not a long stem and would not get you as far forward as the 56 frame with the 100 stem it comes with...
the first important thing in setup is getting the saddle fore-aft in a good place, then everything else falls in from there... both sizes should allow you to get the saddle in a good spot.