Hi my friends,

I'm 175cm high with 85cm inseam. I'm new into Gravel/Touring bike so I'd love to ask for your opinion.
From my research I recon that most of the 54cm bikes would fit me well but somehow I bumped into second hand Trek 520 disc 2016 in size 57cm.First feeling was that it's a bit too big for me but when I looked up for geometry on official sites it's seems it's more like other brands 54cm size.Comparing with kona sutra e.g.
Does anybody have experience with Trek frames or particullary 520?!

trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/adventure-touring-bikes/520/520-disc/p/1432009-2017/
konaworld.com/sutra.cfm

(I know it would be easiest to go to shop and try it out, but our shop retailers does't sell these type of bikes )

Thanks for help

I wouldn't be too worried about the vertical size, it looks like you have long legs for your height anyway. But I would be concerned about the reach/top tube length, especially if you have a short torso for your height.


Also I wouldn't have catorgized the 520 as a performance gravel bike although it will work well enough. Andy

For several years, my '94 Trek 520 with 42mm Conti Top Contact tires, a shock seat post, and a straight MTB style handlebar made a very decent gravel road bike. I eventually bought a Haro 29er and put those tires on it so I could put narrower tires ( 35mm Schwabe Marathons) on my 520 and generally lighten it up for century rides on paved roads.

You should not be concerned with what the brand call their sizes, like 54, 57, 60. Some call them small, medium, large, and others use numbers, but they are mostly all arbitrary, so you should be looking at the geometry charts. A size called "57" from one brand may be very similar in geometry and actual size to a size called "59","54" or "medium" from an other brand.

For what it's worth I have the 2017 Trek 520, and I love it. It's very stable, and a joy to take out on some gravel roads.

drx, Welcome to the forum.

For some reason there has never been a standard for bicycle sizing for all manufacturers to use. With the advent of sloping top tubes it's worse.

From Trek's published geometry it looks like a 57 cm frame would fit you, but is possibly the largest you could deal with. The stem may have to be replaced with a shorter one, unless you have arms that are also long, a fairly common swap for better fit.

I suggest that you test ride the 520.

Brad

Your Trek dealer can get bikes for you that they may not stock, on speculation.

We see a lot of cycle tourists, here, but they tend to already have their kit, bought back home.

short head tube!!