Originally Posted by
100bikes
Size is determined by your body build.
BTW - 1 " is a significant amount of change in bicycle parlance. -Yikes, I was afraid of that.
That is, do you have a long torso or shorter torso and longer legs? Long arms? -I would say 60/40 slightly longer torso and average length arms. I wear 32/32 pants and a 34-35 sleeve dress shirt is a hair long on me (32-33 is a hair short).
How fit are you and how are you going to be riding this bicycle - as a recreational rider on groomed trail or at a higher, performance orientation? -I'm fairly fit and athletic although I had shoulder surgery last November. I rode 8.5 miles at an avg speed of 9.3 mph yesterday and wasn't really tired. I would say I'll be riding it at a recreational+ rider level. I won't be doing any real serious mt bike trails.
The top tube length related to torso length, and steering geometry is related to stem length.
A long top tube with a short stem handles differently that a shorter top tube and longer stem.
Fit is a factor of all of this, including crank arm length.
When I fit, feet are first, saddle height/position is next and then stem length.
They all work together for proper fit. -How do you know when the fit is proper? Are there any tell-tail signs that the fit is improper?
As I like to say - the top tube always wins!
rusty
Originally Posted by
Iride01
Probably like purchasing speakers for your stereo. If you never listen to a different pair, you will think your pair the perfect sound.
Everything is just a guess until you ride them for more than around the parking lot. I've ridden bikes that were 6 to 8 cm bigger than what any sane shop owner would have sold me. I was comfortable on all of them. And I rode them for 100 mile rides and for thousands of miles.
So don't get too concerned about being in the overlap if you aren't going to test ride them both.
I would have the opportunity to exchange the bike within 30 days provided they have stock.
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Without knowing any of your dimensions other than height, ("inseam" could be anything), you sound like a medium. If you haven't been riding, your opinion of what feels right may not be worth anything. You want to know what feels right after a couple thousand miles, and you can't know that now. If you really want to know more, go to
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/S...ulatorBike.jsp
Take your measurements as instructed and enter them into the calculator. Go more by top tube length than anything.
That's exactly the problem- I have no idea what it's supposed to feel like. After the 8.5 mile ride, my wrist was hurting a bit and it felt like I was holding myself up with my arms so I'm not sure if the bike is too big or I just have a weak core.
I used the calculator and it gives me three options: the XC fit, the all mountain fit, the gravity fit. I don't know what the difference are but for a couple of them I'm within the top tube spec with the medium bike and one is in the small range.