Greetings all,

I've been looking to purchase a comfort bike for my 60 yr old dad. His measurements are 5'10" tall, 30" inseam, 245 lbs. He's been looking to get back into cycling, and even bought a cheap 16" dept. store mountain bike. But its frustrating/uncomfortable for him to ride and obviously limiting his motivation for biking.

I've researched most of the comfort class models from Fuji, Cannodale, Giant and Trek, and so far settled on Trek Shift 4. Seems to have the most features and best bang for buck. I haven't been down to any of my LBS yet, heading there this weekend. But spoke to the two closest by phone, neither has a Shift in stock but would order if I leave a refundable deposit. They both gave different recommendations on the frame size based on his measurements. One says to go with 16.5" frame mainly because that's what he has now, other recommends to move him up to the 18.5" frame. Not sure which one to go with.

Does anyone here ride a Shift? What is your opinion on the frame size for this type of bike? Most of the dimensions between the two frames seems so close that I am leaning towards the larger 18.5", but don't want to end up buying him another bike that is uncomfortable for him. Wish I could get him there to take a test ride, but I can't convince him to get over there (frugal stubborn guy, hates to see me spend my money on him). Any advice would be much appreciated.