I am looking for feedback on Giants "Compact" sizing? I am 6'3'' with a 34'' inseam. I have found a couple nice looking deals for 05 TCR 1 models in the Large frame size. Their website claims a Large can work for my height. Anyone have any experience with their sizing? Thanks.

I've had quite a few Giant compact TCR frames I've built. I'm 5'11" with a 33 inch bike inseam and 25.5 inch arms and I really liked the way the Giant large fit me with a 120mm stem. Sense were talking about you using the same size frame as me and you being quite a bit taller. I would really recommend you taking that bike for a good long ride before deciding. The big negative with Giant's sizing that they only make 4 compact frame sizes to fit everyone.

I had the same dilemma before I recently bought my OCR. I'm 6' 2.5" and a 35" inseam. By the website's advice, I was a Large. But I went to the LBS, and tried both sizes (the XL was atually carbon...what a tease =). After riding them, the choice was incredibly clear: I was an XL. On the Large frame, I felt all "scrunched up".

But inseam isn't all there is to it. The butt-to-crank length is the easiest thing to adjust on a bike. The real key to frame sizing is top tube length. The reach can be adjusted to some degree, but stem changes happen in larger increments and aren't as easy.

So, in my experience, it was the reach that set the frame size. Since you appear to have an even longer torso proportionally (based on your similar height and shorter inseam), you'll probably find the same thing. But arms have a lot to do with it too. I have particularly long arms, and that's not an insignificant contribtion to my overall reach. Bike fit is a very personal thing, but there's no better way to find out than to try them.

You better go try it rather than relying on the so called 'fit experts' here. But maybe you are into throwing money down a rathole.

Yup - you must try it before you buy it. Preferably for at least several miles, more than just around the bike shop parking lot. Nothing special about Giant's frame sizing. They have - I think - 3 sizes of compact frames to fit everybody. They do this predominantly to save costs of manufacturing. They believe that this limited sizing is good enough and people can use different seat heights and stem lengths to get a proper position. For marketing purposes, they say that this results in a lighter and smaller, therefore stiffer, frame. Of course this is offset by the 12-24 inches of seat tube you need to make the bike fit. On balance it probably works out to be no better or worse than a standard bike frame. I personally don't like it, but many people do and love their bikes.

+1 try before you buy, im 5'11" with a 32" inseam and i ride a medium (i have short arms) my seatpost looks like its crazy high jacked up but it works for me.

I am 6'3 and have 32 inseam I ride a XL OCR Carbon...perfect fit but I agree you must try it to know for sure.

I'm 6'2" and have a 34 inseam, I ride a L OCR Zero.
Just test both.

craign04,

I am 5'8"ish and I have a 32" inseam and I ride a medium as well but my seat does not even look close to being so high off the frame.

Giant sizing is like Small, Medium, Large. Very limited really. The size that was right for me had a top tube 2cm too long. Cannondale on the other hand makes the Six13 in 12 or 13 distinct sizes. I'm riding a 56cm. Fit me like a glove.

So it goes. If it fits, it's great. If not it's not even on the radar screen. Custom bikes? That's the other route. The pain in the ass expensive one. Not for me. The C'dale fits me like a glove (56cm size, 56cm effective top tube length). I'm 5'11, 34" inseam, relatively short torso length. In fairness to Giant their sizing would fit a majority of riders' phsyiques. Short torsos/long legs are less common than more balanced proportions or riders with long torsos/shorter legs.

The TCR aluminum models are available in 5 sizes (in 2005, maybe 6 in 2006? not on website yet), and the TCR Composite models are available in 6 sizes for 2006:



At your height, you'd be choosing between top tube lengths of 58.5 cm on the L or 61 cm on the XL. The 2.5 cm difference is easily covered by stem lengths. For example if you try the large, try stems up to 13 cm (or even 14 cm, many racers use those lengths) and think about going to XL if you need more reach than that. The next 1/2 cm increment higher than 58.5 + 14 could be 61 + 12... No one would say that 12-14 cm stem lengths are inappropriate for larger bikes like this, so I don't see any need to complain about lack of 1 cm increments.

I'd think about the head tube length difference too. There's a 2.4 cm difference. If you want the bars low, go with the L. If you want the bars higher and want to minimize the spacers, go for the XL.

Don't worry about the seat tube length... you have enough standover and seatpost length with either one.

Giants for 2006 TCRs are XS, S, M, M/L, L and XL. You guys should probably take a gander at their site before you go around saying that they have very limited sizing options. 6 sizes will do the trick for just about anyone.

So thats like a 47 (i know a girl who rides an XS, and she's tiny), 50 (I ride a 50 and a Small), 52/3, 55, 57, 59/60ish. Just my personal guesses. Thats pretty near what most other companies offer. Trek, arguably one of the best known brands in the US, "only" offers 7 sizes.

Exactly. The head tube height is what it typically comes down to for our customers in the OP's size. Most guys go with the XL but you need to ride 'em both and figure out what feels best to you.
A deal on a bike that doesn't quite fit isn't a deal at all.

>>6 sizes will do the trick for just about anyone. <<

But they're all sized in a fashion that won't accommodate somebody with my physique. Not for nothing but EVERY OTHER manufacturer's geometry that I checked - Trek, Specialized, Litespeed, etc. - was fine. My body type isn't THAT unusual. Not at all. Six sizes? Cannondale has 12 or 13. But it's not the lack of sizes that's a bit baffling - it's the extra long top tube length on all the sizes.

XS, S, M, M/L, L, XL - whatever. If nothing they make fits you it's S,M,L and you're out of luck.

i know i need to test ride but gosh darn it i seem to have found a nice deal, on the net, for a 05 tcr 1 comp large frame. ofcourse how much of a nice deal would it be if it is too small? thanks for the help. later.

I'm 6'0", 32" inseam. Medium TCR fit me best - actually it feels perfect. YMMV.

6' 33" inseam with what I believe is an average torso and arm length and I ride a Large TCR. Seems to me 6' 3" would be pushing it...BUT, much of it will come down to what's comfortable for you. I personally like to be stretched out and more aero as my seat is about 4"'s above my bars. If you're more of a touring rider, then being a little more vertical and not as stretched out may be more appealing to you and the same size frame would work for you. However, if that's the case, a different frame (like an OCR) would probably suit you better as well.

Steve

..

I am 6' 2" with a 32" inseam.

I tried the Large, but it did not fit me. The top tube (stem) was (were) not long enough. Even with the adjustable stem the could not get the reach right, so I bought another frame.

any of you guys who have had problems with tob tube lengths:


Did any of you TRY putting a different length stem on there? The giant adjustable stem only goes up and down, which really doesnt help extend your arms or pull them back in the way different length stems of the same angle would.

And sure, cannondale has 12 sizes. I know for a FACT that I could make a 48 or a 52 work if i put in the time to make the bike fit well (I ride a 50).

So: Giant makes damn good bikes, in 6 sizes. If you're willing to mess around with different stems, and maybe some different types of seatposts, you can make it work. Otherwise, go ahead and drop a hell of a lot more money on a bike that would give you the equivalent value.

+1
you have to find an lbs that will fit you properly and be willing to swap parts to get the bike to fit you, i think most of the m/l/xl frames come with a 120mm stem. Although i do have to say even with my jacked up seatpost i still have another 3 inches that i could pull it out before i get to the minimum insertion line marked on the post, so more than likely you are going to be able to cut quite a bit off of it taking off even more weight. Giant's tend to need to be played around with to get them to fit properly and alot of people dont want to have to hassle with it the just want to take the bike out of the box build it and be done. In my opinion once you get the bike dialed in all the time screwing around with stems and seatposts etc will have been worth it because IMO FWIW the giants (at least the TCR Carbons) are a damn sweet ride.

>>Giant makes damn good bikes, in 6 sizes. If you're willing to mess around with different stems, and maybe some different types of seatposts, you can make it work. Otherwise, go ahead and drop a hell of a lot more money on a bike that would give you the equivalent value.<<

Yes, Giant makes damn good bikes, but the notion that a top tube that is 2cm too long can be corrected with a shorter stem - that's NOT how it works with racing bikes. I know where I want to be relative to the front wheel after nearly 100K miles of riding and racing, so NOBODY knows what fits me better than I do. And a cm on a racing bike fit makes a TREMENDOUS difference. Those small nuances get fairly critical in my experience. And I have lots of experience getting racing bikes to fit me. To demonstrate what a pain it is to get a bike to fit you - I set up my new Cannondale so that it appeared to be precisely how my Ibis Ti Road was - and I was STILL jerking around with different stem lengths, heights and saddle positions for a MONTH. Finally dialed it in. But it's never that easy. And this with a bike that appeared perfect out of the box. It wasn't. They never are. A top tube 2cm too long on paper? That's not something you can generally remedy with anything other than the right frame size. Trust me on this.

Again, Giant is making the bikes to fit the largest number of buyers. The guy above where the top tube was too short (whereas for me it's too long) - see what I mean? You can't fit EVERYONE. That being said, Cannondale's dozen + sizes do come pretty close to acheiving that. No knock on Giant for their sizing - I was just peeved that their bikes didn't fit me because I liked them so much : ). But I'm thrilled to death with the Cannondale Six13. Maybe Giant did me a favor by not making my size. I'll never know will I? That Giant TCR frame isn't my size...

I would bet that the new M/L Giant would fit you great. It's just been made available, so it wasn't around when you were shopping around for your bike. Look at the geometry chart that I posted above.

The M/L has an effective top tube of 57 cm, which is only 1 cm more than your bike.

The seat tube angle is 73 instead of 73.5 on your Cannondale. If you set your seat on the Giant in the same location relative to the bottom bracket as your Cannondale, that shortens the effective top tube on the Giant by .5 cm relative to your bike. So the overall reach difference is only .5 cm, smaller than any common stem length increment.

The head tube length is 16 vs. 15.4 on your bike, so that's a difference within about 5mm spacer (assuming that the fork lengths and bb drops are similar).

The top of the seat tube is at least an inch less than on your Cannondale, but that's why they make road seatposts a lot longer now than when I started road biking.

So, you are kind of right about the hole in Giant's sizing in the PAST. Look at the increments of top tube lengths in the chart that I posted. Without the M/L, the jump would have been from 55.4 to 58.5 cm, but that hole has been filled. (Though I don't see how a 56 cm effective top tube is "2 cm" away from 58.5 cm. Plus it's darn close to the 55.4 on the M unless you need the extra 1.2 cm head tube length on your Cannondale.) The increments are now around 1.5-2 cm except for between the two largest sizes (2.5 cm) where people have greater choice of good stem lengths anyway. With an increment of 2 cm, you won't be more than 1 cm off in top tube length if you are exactly between sizes, so that's just a 1 cm difference in stem length. Do people complain about having to use a 11 cm vs. 12 cm or 12 vs. 13 stem (1 cm difference)? No, those are all accepted lengths, even for the obsessive.