As a slightly-below average size male, most of this is academic for me but since I have found myself fitting others to bikes I am curious if others have some insight. I recently checked out the geometry charts for a bike being promoted on Kickstarter and was surprised to see that many of the sizes had nearly the exact same reach particularly at the small end, with only stack changing significantly. I assumed it was an anomaly until today when I checked out the geometry for a Specialized Allez being discussed in another thread: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/me...5-elite/115475

The three smallest sizes 49, 51, and 54cm all have exactly the same reach! The only real difference from one frame to the next is the standover height due to headtube length differences. 'Fit' is being adjusted by using shorter and shorter stems. I recall reading some marketing piece from Cervelo years ago about using stack and reach to define frames and in it they highlighted that some frames had this issue with smaller sizes. I assumed it was uncommon and definitely thought that anyone still building frames that way would have changed things up by now but apparently not.

So what's the deal with smaller cyclists getting screwed on bike fit, presumably because the industry doesn't want to build a 'road' bike with anything smaller than 700c wheels? Why should smaller cyclists have to ride bikes that handle differently than 'big people' bikes and/or have them improperly balanced on the saddle (shifted forward relative to the BB to compensate for the long reach)? Discuss.