The latest update on my 56cm Domane purchasing decision...

I'm now quite confident that the 56cm was the right frame size for me. On one of my last rides of the year (before daylight savings set-in and my world was forever cast into a Wintery darkness), I decided to "slam" my stem and give that a try.

I freekin' loved it.

Not only did the bike no longer feel like the handlebars were too high, the bike just felt right. By lowering the bars, that extended how far I have to reach to the bars and the stock 100mm stem seems just fine (whew!)

When I got home, I lined-up my Domane with my previous bike, a 1999 Trek 5200. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago, but to my surprise, the handlebars height on my "slammed" 56cm Domane was still a tad higher than on my not-slammed-at-all 58cm 5200! By lowering the stem on my Domane, I essentially got the bike feeling much closer to the 5200 I had been used to for the past 15 years. The Domane has an "endurance fit" geometry which means it forces a more up-right riding position... but apparently I'm not ready for that yet (give me a few years and that may change).

Long story short, I don't think a person should get too fixed on frame size numbers because that number can mean different things from manufacturer to manufacturer and even bike to bike. My Domane has a radically different frame geometry than my 5200, so thinking I still needed a 58cm perhaps wasn't based on reality because comparing the two bikes isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.

Fabian Cancellara is my same height and rides a 58cm, and that bothered me a little. However, many of Trek's top-o-the-line Domane frames, like the Koppenberg Edition frameset, have a more Madone-like geometry in that the head tube is much lower and the frame is longer. So once again, thinking I need a 58cm because Fabian has one wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison.

Anywho, here are some comparison shots of my 56cm Domane and my 58cm 5200 to show how similar in size they are.