when you modify the fit of either bikes... can you make them fit one way or the other?

i have a '11 fuji sl1pro and it's under endurance bikes. i have since cut the steering tube, removed all but 1 spacer, flipped the stem. it feels more aggro now. but this is the only road bike i've ridden, so i have no idea what a race geometry really feels like.

now, im just curious. im not looking to get into racing. im just wondering if you can get both worlds with 1 frame with some mods.

you can start racing.

Seems to me that it'd be easier to raise the bar on a more racy-fit bike than to try to get a bike with a tall headtube lower.

For the most part yes. In fact "Endurance" or "Comfort" bikes have been raced successfully at the Pro Tour level. (Cervelo's R series bikes have been used to win Paris Roubaix)

For the most part the difference between the two types is the lenght of the head tube. The "endurance" bike is going to have a longer head tube, and naturally set up higher. You often can get to the exact same position however on it. Although for some people in some sizes, they may not be able to set it up with all the drop they want.

The other differences can include slightly different angles, length of chainstays, wheelbase, amount of trail, BB height, and will affect how the bike feels and handles. Howver, for the most part the differences are marginal, with more difference being marketing hype.

ah i see. thanks.

with my height and bike size, yeah, i could afford more drop.

i think im liking the "race-ier" fit right now.

first things first-- never think that endurance geometry = slow. plenty of endurance bikes are quite fast and light. they're just designed around different goals.


anyway--

sure you can use either bike and modify the bar height. pros do it often because they don't get that many frames to pick from and even a man like Cavendish doesn't get to pick which brand of bike the team uses.

CVV's Cervelo R3:


LA's Trek Madone 6.9 (2009):



Also note that going up or down a size from normal changes the HT height a lot. Lance is on a 58cm frame at 5'9" ... if he were on a 56 or smaller, he would need spacers and/or positive stem angle to get that bar height.

and there's a lot more differences in the frames than just HT height. how stiff is the frame, where is it stiff, does it turn quickly or is it stable at speed, how does it handle bumps, what size tires can it fit, and much more.