Originally Posted by Yosemite Sam

Or worse, "One size fits most".

Here's what I'm talking about regarding non-standard measurement locations.

Trek's diagram:

"E" is the effective top tube length. As you can see, the measurement is taken at the top of the seat post to the top of the head tube.


Here's the Breezer diagram:

"B", the label being hard to make out here, is their ETTL measurement. They use an arbitrary (?) point on the seat tube and an imaginary point in space below the head tube.

When I measure my current bike using these two basis I get a difference of 1-2", depending on how picky one wants to be about OD or center-of-tube measurements. (Hey, I'm an engineer (albeit software), what can I say?)

But you're right about the standover height; I should actually be thankful for a low one. Getting on and off the bike easily is a priority as I get older. I think any unconscious preference comes from years of riding a road bike with a horizontal bar, from the days before tall seat posts.

Thanks to both you and cyclezen for your suggestions. I'm going to take another look at the Medium bike before it gets away (it's a killer deal), but I'm not sure it's the one for me. We'll see.

-- Sam