that's a situation well worth avoiding.

I made some calls today and found a shop that caters to triathletes, They charge $150 for fitting which seems kind of steep to me? What do you guy think, is it worth it?

My wife's tri bike is set up differentlly than her touring bike. Both were fitted by a physical therapist who also specializes in bike fitting. She has leg length differences, and fit is critical. You might ask if they have fit for touring before. You will have to know what position you will be the most comfortable in before they can crunch their numbers. She even took her new custom built touring bike in and had it fitted.

I'm 6'4 and bought the 62. The one I rode in the shop also seemed stretched out for me coming from a flat bar road bike. It was a more aggressive riding position than what you have but not as much as the LHT was with drops. Bars were about 1.5 inches above the seat on that bike. When building my LHT frame I put a steep 17 deg. stem, put it at the top of the fork and put on treking bars so as I stretch out past the stem my hands go up in height in relation to the stem instead of down onto the hoods. I also get numb hands but mine come from something getting pinched in my neck not hand positions etc. When I start to feel them getting numb I sit up straight and do a few head rolls, tilt side to side to loosen things up a little and they go away for a while.

It doesn't sound unreasonable, but it would be worth interviewing them to make sure they do non-triathlon bike fits, the tri fit is really different from the road fit, which may be different from a touring fit. If they aren't experienced in fitting for a variety of uses, I would keep trying to find someone who is.

I think I paid $350 for mine, which was a medical bike fit, but local shops cost $100 and up depending on the level of service and training. Specialized dealers have a comprehensive system developed by the sports medicine group that I had my fit done at, try to find a Specialized dealer and ask about their services, or Retul is another "chain store" bike fitting system that's supposed to be good.

This could all be overkill for you, but if you're going to spend serious time on the bike, IMO it's worth having a great fit.

(edit - to put my comments in perspective, i'm a bike tourist but I'm also a very avid road cyclist, and will start racing this year. I ride about 8000 miles/year.)

Not all bikes are designed for all people. It's been my experience that the Surly LHT is NOT for long legged short torso people. I know because I'm one of them. Don't try to make something fit that wasn't designed for you. Short stems affect handling, small frames can make you look like a circus bear, and the wrong fit can cause all kinds of aches and pains. I think you should revisit the Aurora if it fit. It fit me better. Personally, so far anyway, I've stuck to old school geometry with a Nitto Technomic and Dirt Drop stems. Don't let a few extra hundred dollars sway your decision. These bikes are built to last a lifetime and you can easily spend more trying to make a bike that doesn't fit ... fit.

if you plan on being a triathlete with cleated shoes putting out max hp in the best aerodynamic position where you are low and elbows in. Have you ridden with your bars at a lower position than shown on the pic of your bike?

I'm 6' and ride the 56cm LHT. I have a fairly short stem with the handlebars just a little higher than the seat.

It still feels a little more stretched out than I'd like.
I'm toying with the idea of putting on some handlebars with less reach...
But I can spend several hours in the saddle without getting uncomfortable.

Anyways the 56 doesn't feel too small for me if that's what you're worried about.

More research shows the shop that quoted me a fitting uses the FIST system for triathletes which I doubt is going to provide good info for an old man on a touring bike. I had not tried lowering the bars on by comfort bike until just a few minutes ago. I adjusted the stem to a horizontal position and lowered it as much as possible. With just a short test ride down the street I felt stretched out like on the 58cm LHT. I'm going to take it for a longer ride tomorrow and see if that tells me anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

Out of curiosity, what is your inseam measurement and do you know your wingspan? If I hold my arms out to the sides I measure 74" from the tip of each longest finger on one arm to the other.

I think Nobodyetal might have it dialed in for us long legged, short torso folks. I just found a Fit Kit fitting I had done in 2002. My vital stats, at least the ones that mean anything to me off this sheet show my inseam a 88.75 cm or very close to 35" and my height is right at 6'. The arm length and other measurements are "corrected", so I really don't know what they mean. I would have scanned the whole thing, but my wife is preparing a presentation on that computer. If you are interested I can get you a copy. It was also a fit for a road bike where the seat would be higher than the saddle.

The reason I think he is right is the recommendations that came from the fit were a 56cm top tube with an 80mm mm stem, or "looked good" on a 55 cm with a 110mm stem. This was combined with a 58cm seat tube length. Unfortunately, They don't make any stock bikes that I know of with that geometry.

The LHT 58cm has an effective top tube of 58.6, and the 56cm frame has an effective top tube of 57.0cm. This is only about 0.63" difference between the 58cm and the 56cm frames. With an 80mm stem, I am only .25" off from most stretched out recommendation. The 56cm might have worked just as well or even a little better.

If it would help you, I can also take a wing span measurement, and maybe with a little interpolation you can dial it in a little closer. I also have a a 58cm Bianchi Volpe that has a proportionally shorter top tube, and that is the reason I bought it. It has been a good touring bike, and I'm considering it for our next this summer.

A couple of shots my wife took last summer (2900 mile ride). I would not call that stretched out at all (58cm LHT w/80mm stem). Bar height has a lot to do with it. PS. That is not my stomach, it is my camera tucked inside my jersey. I was down to 150 at that stage of the ride

>>Nobodyetal wrote:

>>"I'm '6 and ride the 56cm LHT. I have a fairly short stem with the handlebars just a little higher than the seat.
>>It still feels a little more stretched out than I'd like."


How's the clearance between your toes and the front fender?

Notice how Trek's touring frame has the old-school shorter top-tube geometry: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...ouring/520/520

I'm 5'11.5" tall and ride a 56 cm 26 in LHT. My pbh is right around 31", I am pretty comfy with no real too overlap an My feet are size 14. I am sure that doesn't help but I just had to chime in.

Excellent point! The 57 cm frame could be a great choice for the OP.

Brad

It's fine unless I try to turn!
Heh heh.
Seriously though I get toe strike if I'm moving slowly and turning sharply.
But I've just learned how to scoot my toe back on the pedal to avoid the fender.
But it really doesn't happen that often.
I sometimes wish I'd gotten the 26" version instead of 700c but it doesn't bug me enough to actually do anything about it.

I want to thank everyone for your suggestions and comments, they've been very helpful. I went back to the bike shop and did some more riding. Tried a 57cm Trek 520 and it just felt too small which I hated because they had a 2011 for $999.00 which I though was a good deal.

I also got hooked up with a salesperson with quite a bit of touring experience as she has been coast to coast and border to border touring. I felt very comfortable that the info I was getting was based on experience. She took some measurements and said we should start out with the 58cm LHT. She adjusted the saddle and had me ride. It was amazing how much different it felt with just a slight saddle adjustment. Then she suggested we put on a shorter stem, which she did and it seems we hit the sweet spot. It felt very comfortable and I'm sure it put a huge smile on my face. Quite a change from the first day I rode it.

There was no 56 LHT to test ride, but both the salesperson and myself felt the 58cm was right. So unless I find a 56cm to test ride and change my mind, the 58cm is the one I'm going to go with.

Now the bad news, the 2012 models won't be available until mid March and I'm still stuck with the decision of whether to go with the standard trucker or the disc brake model for a few hundred more.

What do you guys think? The standard LHT is $1319 and the Disc Trucker is $1599. Are the disc brakes worth the extra expense?

This can be a polarizing question and I'm in the "No, they aren't required." camp.

Brad

I like the simplicity of rim brakes and they can be used to true your wheels on the frame, but for mountainous singletrack disks are great. Also with rim brakes you'll notice immediately if your rear wheel starts to bend and can stop to correct it.