Originally Posted by guadzilla

This post is a little more useful than your earlier attempts at being snarky - stick to content next time: you do better there. Witty put-downs aren't exactly your forte.

There are 2 things with replicating a fit - getting the saddle where it needs to be relative to the bottom bracket, and putting the handlebars where they should be.

So the first question becomes, can you get the saddle where it needs to be on a 72.5 STA or a 74 STA bike? The answer is yes.

The answer to my earlier question was - there is a 2cm difference between a 72.5 and 74 STA for an 82cm BB-saddle length (for most riders, this number will be less, as they'll have a shorter saddle height and possible less extra variance in STA). This is easy enough to achieve with by sliding the saddle back/forward or by swapping the seatpost.

Now on to the second part of the fit - putting the handlebars where they need to be.

You are correct - sliding the saddle back/forth to compensate for the difference in STA will affect reach, as the reach to the head tube changes. A 565 ETT on a 72.5 STA frame isn't the same reach as a 565 ETT on a 74 STA frame. However, unless you are riding in an extreme position (stem maxxed out), you can offset this by choosing a different stem.

So the answer to the second part is: yes, you can get the handlebars where you need them as well, by changing the stem length.

In short, you can get your bike set up exactly the same way, regardless of the STA and HTA.

Yes, it will affect weight distribution - no one is saying that a bike with a 72.5 STA is going to handle exactly the same as a bike with a 74 STA. Duh. But we were talking about replicating a particular FIT.

As long as you pick a frame based on your preferred ETT and HT, and you don't ride in an extreme position on this bike, then you can get the frame to be built up to replicate your desired fit. That isn't "BS", as you had claimed in your initial post.