For two seasons I rode a Felt FC whose top tube was about one cm too long and head tube was about 1 cm too short. I made up the difference with a shorter stem and more spacer, and I could have kept riding that bike. Last spring, however, I came across a Giant TCR whose measurements are spot on and for some reason I'm a little more comfortable on it.

My body is a difficult fit most anyway. With vintage steel I've always gone 1-3 cm short on the nominal side, mostly to get a lighter, more responsive frame, and finally in consideration of top tube length. Frames with relatively short top tubes were more plentiful back in the day. With contemporary bikes and their long CF seat posts, I size mainly from the top tube and consider the head tube secondary. And I'm riding bikes that are nominally 2 cm smaller. This image is very close to my personal setuphttp://www.art.com/asp/View_HighZoom...&imgheight=819