Originally Posted by
donheff
Lots of suggestions for us to followup on. I think we will spend some time trying these various models.
Always a good idea. If you have reasonably easy access to shops stocking a variety if brands and models, try a lot.
Let me ask something else. I tend to like everything I ride which makes it hard to figure out what is best
. I do, however, ride with my hands on the bar tops more frequently than riding with my hands on the hoods. While on the bar tops I am more comfortable resting my finger tips on the bar rather than griping with my whole hand. Is this a sign that I would do better with one of these upright geometry frames as well? I believe all my rentals were standard builds.
It's possible, you might be looking for something with a slightly shorter reach, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions. What works for different people is sometimes mysterious.
One thing I would say is that there is a tendency nowadays to fit people to bikes that would have been regarded as too small when we were young. The effect of this is to put the rider into a more aggressive position, because although the smaller bike has a shorter top tube, it also has a shorter head tube, so the drop from saddle to bars is greater than the same rider would need on the next size up. So, if your current ride is a 58cm, for example, try a 60cm just as an experiment. You might just find that you like it.
The reason I make this observation at this moment is that I ride bikes in a variety of sizes. I have a FG/SS - effectively a track bike with brakes - in a 58, which is fine but has me in the most aggressive posture I can sustain. My road bike has compact geometry, but is the equivalent of about a 60cm frame. But I recently acquired a classic steel touring bike from the mid- eighties. It is 64cm but fits me like a glove. In fact it may be the most comfortable bike I have ever had. Which just goes to show that it is worth experimenting - all these bikes fit me, but in different ways and for different styles of riding.