Hi, so I'm a noob to the world of cycling. I did weeks of research before making the jump and finally decided on a Schwinn Madison 2012 for $425. The only thing is, I hope I got "the right size". Now before anyone tells me this has been talked about, I know. I researched these forums with a fine tooth comb but what I haven't seen is someone explain why the Madison's are sized just the way they are. I'll explain:
I'm just over 6'1" with a 33" inseam (34" PBH) and from almost every chart out there, I should easily be on a 58 - 60 cm bike with at least a 57 or larger top-tube! So this led me to getting the Madison XL which is a 58 seat and 57.5 top. But those damn Maddy sizings say I should be on their size L, which is only a 56 ST/56.6 TT. Even the sticker on the bike said eht XL was for people 6'2"- 6'6"!
http://www.schwinnbikes.com/bikes/ur...4401#/geometry
The ONLY thing that would "match" size wise on the Large is the standover height. So what's the deal? Are Madison's just really tall bikes with cramped geometry? The reason I bought the XL instead of the L is because I thought the ST and TT would be much more important factors than just the standover (which pretty much is a nutgrazer for me on the XL). I've seen that user Scrodzilla at 5'10" rides a L so I assumed that me at 6'1" would be fine on a XL. The people at the bike shop that set it up said the Schwinn geo was weird, that I could probably be on a smaller bike for the standover alone, but that everything else seemed fine. Thoughts? Explanations?