Originally Posted by
trevor_ash
Wonky wasn't a fair word. As mconlonx describes above, it quickly became obvious that you need to size via top tube, which is fine. But I couldn't work out (virtually) how much drop I'd acquire and I was worried I'd spend too much effort fiddling with the fit. I normally ride a 54 to 56 frame, basically a 55 top tube. So in the Surly model I was torn between a "52" or a "54" (which have top tubes of 54 and 56). Anyway, it put an awkward taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the height of the head tube along with everything else.
That's what I meant by wonky. I didn't mean to imply anything was wrong with it. It was just causing me confusion and uncertainty. I don't have a local dealer withou driving almost 2 hours.
I can sympathize with the lack of quality bike shops in rural areas. I passed through quite a few rural areas on my tour, stopped at a few LBS and was surprised by the lack of selection. I was lucky that Orange 20 is a larger LBS and was willing to order two sizes for me with a down payment and agreement to buy one of them. So what bike did you end up getting?