I tried searching around for an answer on this and couldn't find what I was looking for. I ride a vintage 23 inch bike with 26" wheels that I just barley clear the top bar (I'm talking hugging it) but it works well for me. If I go to a new road bike with 700's should I also step down in size to a 22 incher? Is there that much of a difference?
Thanks in advance!

If your bike measures 23 inches from BB center to the center of the top tube along the seat tube, you have a 58 cm frame. It's entirely reasonable to go down to a 57 cm. But consider: your seatpost will stick a centimeter or so farther out of the seat tube, usually no big deal. But your handlebar stem will also need to stick out another centimeter or so, to keep the saddle-bar relationship as it is on your 23 inch. Not all stems can actually move out another centimeter and still have a safe amount of stem inside the fork tube - that's worth looking at.

What you have now is akin to the so-called French Fit, explained on the Competitive Cyclist website in their notes on fitting a bicycle. Nothing wrong with a French Fit, you may even want to keep it that way after you read the article.

Road Fan

Road Fan

You know when I first saw this post I didn't find what you were talking about but now I'm about to pull the trigger on a new bike I looked it up again. I think I'm going to stick with this French Fit, it seems to really work the best for me. A late thanks for a good reply.

Take it you are talking about standover height. That is not an important factor on getting a bike to fit. Top tube length- bar to saddle height and saddle position are far more important. Just make certain you can get a bike to fit and it will be perfect.

Attachments are of Compact frames and seat posts are made pretty strong nowadays.

I understand that, but I want to at least be able to still stop the bike and stand with my feet on the ground somewhat. 33 inch stand over seems to be my limit. So I like the feel of a large frame that's as big as I comfortably can go.

So when you come to a stop- lean the bike sideways as most other riders do. Not Being rude with this. One of the bikes I ride is a Tandem and I cannot touch the ground with my feet when it is upright due to the crossbar. Pilot has the same problem so when we come to a stop- it is left foot down and lean the bike. Same on starting- Bike leant over right foot on the pedal and away.

And nothing wrong with riding an overlarge frame providing the bike fits. Standover height is immaterial providing it fits everywhere else.

There's no way to tell, because the geometries will be different, including the drop from the dropouts to the bottom bracket. You just have to forget about your current 26 in wheeled bike and start over - because nothing carries over. But I can tell you right now that if you use the standard road bike sizing formula such as available on Colorado Cyclist, this will give you a level top tube that you just clear enough (that's the inseam length times .65 or something). Then you have to figure out how much reach you need and find a frame that gives you that without having to use an extremely long or short stem for the size of the frame.

Right on, I hear what you all are saying. Well I just bought a 58cm bike off of BD so hopefully it fits well. As long as I feel good on top I will be happy and I understand the lean, but I also don't want to rack my man hood everytime I stop lol.