Originally Posted by
All_for_silas
Hi,
Thats a great looking bike! Congrats on the build. I was about to pull the trigger on a 2012 Surly Pacer when a friend recommended that I take a look at the RMC. A bike shop nearby happens to have a 54cm complete and although its much too big they offered to order one in my size at a great price.
My question is, based on the geometry I see online, are the top tubes on these bikes exceptionally long? The 50cm Pacer fits perfectly but its top tube looks to be shorter then both the 48 cm and the 52 cm RMC. I'm about 5'5" with shorter legs and long(ish) torso and I'm nervous about ordering a 48 cm.
Any recommendations? Thanks!
^The 48cm should fit you fine. Its already compact with a sloping top tube and will be outfitted with 170mm cranks and a 90mm stem. I recommend that you keep the setback seatpost because its a more comfortable fit with a setback (less pressure on the arms/hands, because of the increased angle).
I read a lot of online reports/reviews about how Redline Cyclocross bikes have long top tubes and fit "large"... it did get me paranoid.
I was really scared that my Metro Classic would be too big for me. I'm 5'7" and with the competitive cyclist fit calculator should be a 53.5cm top tube.
What scared me is how there is no 50cm size -it just jumps from 48cm right to 52cm. I was really worrying that I might be in-between sizes.
Upon build up I measured the effective top tube and to my surprise its actual measurement is 53.5cm (center to center) compared to the listed 54.0cm. Maybe redline measures with end to end or something.
As you can see from my bike there is still a lot of seatpost (70cm from 170mm crank axle to seat) and I run a 100mm stem (i had a spare control tech stem that I liked but the stock FSA stem was the same 100mm) with the stock bars (which are compact 42cm/77mm reach/130mm drop). The bars are actually one size wider than I actually use (40cm) on my road bike.
What surprised me is how comfortable the bike is with the wider bars and setback post. I didn't need to change anything.