indeed, that first spreadsheet was awful, but helped me understand the relationship between stack and reach by showing me how those two measurements are not related. my later calculations involved drawing a lot of triangles and applying trig. the conclusion that I reached is that two bikes with the same ETT or the same reach will not really fit the same if they have a different stack. the DC has a much shorter stack, so I hypothetically raised the stack to the same size as the Vaya and applied trig to the head tube angle to see what the effective reach is as a result. that leads me to believe that the both frames in 54cm are effectively the same size, even though the posted reach and ETT are different. I could draw you all some triangles to prove how i got this, but just trust that I figured that out.
so I feel confident that I can get the right frame size that way, but that does not mean that the DC is going to suit me better. I will have to take everything mentioned here into account before I do anything. One of my coworkers has been lusting after an orange Vaya for years, which is what I have, and wants to buy it from me, which would give me most of the funds to get a Soma instead. the question is- would I benefit from a bike with a higher BB, shorter CS, shorter HT, and probably slightly less weight. I might end up with a tall stem and/or a lot of spacers to get it comfortable.
I had a Pake C'mute previously, which has geo closer to the DC but with linear pull brakes and barcons. I didn't care for those two features and it was more cost-effective for me to sell the Pake and buy this Vaya than try to upgrade the Pake. The C'mute is an awesome bike though, I recommend it for a low-cost all-rounder!
I am definitely going to put some lighter tires on for my next long ride. I use the Tour Rides for commuting to work because I believe they are the least likely tire to get flats on and make me late. 32mm Paselas are at the top of my list for that role.
Last edited by mack_turtle; 05-20-15 at 04:55 PM.