Originally Posted by
howaboutme
Thanks. One issue that I think goes against the thought of no bike fit is that I believe I'm not in proportion with my height. I am 5-10 (11 on a good day) but only a 30" inseam. I think people at my height are typically 32" inseam? I have a longer torso. I know there's ways round this like stem length or a larger bike w/ shorter crank lengths. I'd like to avoid adjust crank length because I think that's the more expensive adjustment.
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Thank you for this. I didn't think about it. While I'm not obese by any means, I do have a at least 20 lbs of here and there to loose so I expect my flexibility will get better too. Doing a 2-peice stem/handle bar will help eliminate a few manufacturers for sure and help narrow things down.
I'm like you, 5' 10" with short legs. That can complicated choosing a frame size, but you'll easily find something that's correct. "Stack and Reach" will help with deciding how different frames will fit you. I ignored the 55 inch, 56 inch, etc frame sizes, instead comparing stack and reach to see how the different frames moved the handlebar position. It helped that my old bike was a reasonable fit.
Short cranks only change by millimeters, so it's not too relevant for bike size selection.
Separate stem and handlebars give more choices for bar width, drops shape, and stem lengths. And bar angle too. I wouldn't want an integrated one. I'm not racing.
I have the bars up a bit higher than many riders. The top of the bar is approx 1 3/8 drop from the saddle, about 35 mm. This way, my drops are perfectly usable as an alternate hand position. The drops are great for rough roads, so the jolts are spread over my whole palm, for control on downhills or sketchy pavement, for headwinds, and for relieving my back and shoulders with a different position.
Even with this higher position, my stem is the usual 7 degrees up and there's only two 10mm spacers under the stem -- nothing extreme.