So I've decided to purchase a Surly Cross Check frame and build it up myself. The issue I'm having is selecting the frame size, I have to order by mail so I don't have the opportunity to test drive it here. I've narrowed down the size choice to the 54cm or the 56cm frames. The issue is that I have relatively short legs for my size. I'm a hair over 6feet with an inseam of 32". I've currently got a 60cm 2006 Kona Dew that feels too large, and a 2007 L(arge) Giant Bowery which feels pretty much perfect. The issue is that both the Dew and the Bowery have sloping top tubes, and the bowery is compact road geometry. So comparing measurements are not exactly straight forward.
The 54 and 56cm cross-checks have stand over heights of 31.2 and 31.9 respectively, my bowery fits soley between these two values. The top tube (effective) lengths of the 2 surly frames are slightly smaller than the bowery, but that can be addressed with stem length. I hate using a bike that I can't stand comfortably in on shoes, ie. too small of a stand over, which given the above measurements, may be an issue with certain tire size choices. The results that bike fit calcs (Zinn, competitive cycles, and wrench science) all fit either the 54cm or 56cm frame. I like a semi-aggressive stance, which is probably part of why the Kona Dew feels a little "off", it is fairly upright. My fit for the bowery felt amazing as I drove the bike out of the shop and still does after close to 2000km (possibly more).
I'm hoping (long shot) that somebody has ridden a Large giant compact road frame and a surly cross check frame of either size and can comment on similarities and/or differences. Secondly, from the searching I've done there seems to be little consensus on whether to err on the small or large side, but a lot of what I've found is slightly older, so I'm wondering if anybody has any new thoughts on this.
Other than that, any general advice is also welcome, thanks.
Links:
Giant Bowery
Surly Crosscheck
Kona Dew