Originally Posted by
jay0k
Having half a foot of saddle to handlebar drop isn't necessary. Nothing says you can't get a shorter stem. I'm 5'10" and ride a 58cm 5.2 Madone. I chose this size because I have a long inseam and didn't want a skyjacker seat post. I'm fine with a 90mm or 100mm stem. I've been fit on a Retul and that's where I'm according to that as well.
The large drop is necessary if you're interested in the most aerodynamic position.
Saddle to bar drop can be reduced with stem angle and spacers, not just by buying a larger frame. I use a horizontal (73 degree) stem and only 5mm of spacer to produce the large drop that I prefer. Switching to a more common 84 degree stem will raise the bars about 2cm and produce a 9-10cm drop. I used that setup for many years, with the same head tube length and 5mm spacer under the stem.
Adding 2cm of spacer (during the initial build) will raise the bars another 2cm. Flipping that same 84 degree stem to 96 degrees gains another 2cm of rise, but also reduces the stem length by 8-9mm, so a flipped stem might need to be one size longer. There are lots of options.
They key is to figure out what kind of fit you want and buy the frame size and model that produces that fit without resorting to a stem/spacer setup that's too far on the Fred side of those options. If you need higher bars, pick the 5 series frame, not the 6 series, to start with. Then you won't have to use a high rise stem with a lot of spacer under it.