First Bike Advice

gimboid

I'm looking to buy my first road bike and have pretty much decided on the Claud Butler Roubaix Triple. My questions are as follows,

1. I'm 5'7" with a 31" inside leg and am looking at the 56cm frame. While standing on the floor theres probably around 1 to 2" clearance between me and the top tube, sound about right?

2. My LBS will sell me the bike for £351.99 (2007 model) which seems a really good price to me, does it sound good to anyone who actually knows something about bikes?

And finally a few quick questions; is it a bad thing to put a shorter stem on even if it feels better and am I going to have trouble later down the line if I want to upgrade the brakes because I think the bike has long reach brakes? (the guy in the shop assures me he has clip on type mudguards which will fit, which means it must have long reach brakes right right?)

Thanks in advance for any help!

redddraggon

gimboid wrote:

1. I'm 5'7" with a 31" inside leg and am looking at the 56cm frame. While standing on the floor theres probably around 1 to 2" clearance between me and the top tube, sound about right?

I'm 5'8", and I take a 52 or 54cm (I'm rather easy with the fitting - bar width though being important for me). I'd say a 56cm was too big, the reach will probably be too much. My Carrera is a 56cm, it came with a 12cm stem - had to change that to a 9cm stem to get it to fit.

If I was you I'd try and get a smaller frame, 56cm will probably be too big for you.

gimboid

redddraggon wrote:

gimboid wrote:

1. I'm 5'7" with a 31" inside leg and am looking at the 56cm frame. While standing on the floor theres probably around 1 to 2" clearance between me and the top tube, sound about right?

I'm 5'8", and I take a 52 or 54cm (I'm rather easy with the fitting - bar width though being important for me). I'd say a 56cm was too big, the reach will probably be too much. My Carrera is a 56cm, it came with a 12cm stem - had to change that to a 9cm stem to get it to fit.

If I was you I'd try and get a smaller frame, 56cm will probably be too big for you.

I was worried someone would say that . I can't seem to find any bike shops that actually have ~53cm frames in stock, all of them require a deposit to order one in, I only want to sit on one!

The bike comes with a 10cm stem (or 10.5, I forget) and the guy at the shop is going to put a smaller one on so I can try it again tomorrow (the new one is probably an 8cm).

Its a lot of money to pay for something that isn't right though.

Thanks for the advice

redddraggon

You never know it might fit you.

However I'm not sure you'd be able to work out whether it's the right size without giving it a good ride, it took me about 3months to work out that I need to fit a shorter stem. I'm not sure I'd want to go any shorter than a 9cm stem though.

With most of the frames being compact these days, I'm sure stand over height is a good thing to go off.

It seems a bit poor of the LBSs that they won't get a smaller frame in for you to try.

gimboid

I'll definitely give it a go with the smaller stem tomorrow and see how it feels. What sort of clearance should I be looking for over the top tube?

I think the LBS won't get in the smaller frames without a deposit because if I try it and don't want to purchase they are stuck with a bike which is harder to get rid of than your average sized bike.

redddraggon

gimboid wrote:

What sort of clearance should I be looking for over the top tube?

If you get a bike with the correct top tube length, the stand over height should be fine. Top tube length is the most important thing of a bikes geometry, with compact geometry you should have plenty of stand over height.

gimboid wrote:

I think the LBS won't get in the smaller frames without a deposit because if I try it and don't want to purchase they are stuck with a bike which is harder to get rid of than your average sized bike.

I'd say a 54cm was more average sized, than say a 56cm which is on the larger than average size to be honest.

gimboid

redddraggon wrote:

If you get a bike with the correct top tube length, the stand over height should be fine. Top tube length is the most important thing of a bikes geometry, with compact geometry you should have plenty of stand over height.

It might be a strange question, but how does one know if the length of the top tube is correct?

redddraggon wrote:

I'd say a 54cm was more average sized, than say a 56cm which is on the larger than average size to be honest.

The CB comes in either 53cm, 56cm or 59cm, I just assumed 56cm is medium or average.

At this rate the Giant SCR3 (small!) from wiggle is tempting, even though I've never seen one in real life :shock:

redddraggon

gimboid wrote:

It might be a strange question, but how does one know if the length of the top tube is correct?

I found mine by trial and error. I think 52/53/54 is about right for me, with appropriate stem length.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... ATOR_INTRO

If you give that a whirl, it'll give you something to go off.

gkerr4

sounds too big to me - the standover height doesn't really matter to be honest.

I'm about 5'7" -8"ish and, like red, would look for a 54 perhaps 52 frame size. t

gimboid

redddraggon wrote:

I found mine by trial and error. I think 52/53/54 is about right for me, with appropriate stem length.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... ATOR_INTRO

If you give that a whirl, it'll give you something to go off.

Thanks for the link, need to spend a while getting the measurements correct, looks very useful though.

gkerr4 wrote:

sounds too big to me - the standover height doesn't really matter to be honest.

I'm about 5'7" -8"ish and, like red, would look for a 54 perhaps 52 frame size. t

Thanks for the input, its sounding like the LBS are just trying the sell me the 56cm, the place seems legit though :?

redddraggon

gimboid wrote:

Thanks for the input, its sounding like the LBS are just trying the sell me the 56cm, the place seems legit though :?

It is known to happen.

My nephew is after a bike at the moment, he rang up Decathlon about their bikes on Sale. He was told that they would reserve the bike he wanted in 57cm, as that was definitely the size for him they told him. He's the same height as me, and I had the bike he wanted, and I knew for definite that it was a 54 he was after. When he rang up to reserve to a 54cm, it turned out the only bike they had left was the 57cm - what does that say?

Be wary of places that will only try to sell you what they have in stock, they might say it's the right size, but don't believe them and do your own research (like you've already done on here).

iga

This is a crude measurement, but 31" = 78.7cm x 0.67 gives you a seat tube height of 52.7cm (centre to top) according to the 'Lemond System', so a 53cm would be about right.

I inherited my brother in laws 56cm Fausto Coppi Lombardia over the summer and even with the seat post right down and a shorter stem I never felt comfortable on it with my 30" inside leg 5'8" height. I need something around the 51cm size, perhaps even a shade smaller.

gimboid

Well I tried the 56cm with the shorter stem and it still didn't feel right. The guy rang up Falcon and was told they still have 53cm bikes in stock so he agreed to order one (no deposit) if I decide to go ahead.

I'm very, very tempted to go for it but I can't imagine 3cm will make a difference. But then again I don't design bikes

tarpaullynn

gimboid wrote:

Well I tried the 56cm with the shorter stem and it still didn't feel right. The guy rang up Falcon and was told they still have 53cm bikes in stock so he agreed to order one (no deposit) if I decide to go ahead.

I'm very, very tempted to go for it but I can't imagine 3cm will make a difference. But then again I don't design bikes

With my very very limited knowledge of bikes or the particular problem you have I'd say that 3cm will make a difference, otherwise why would they make and sell them?

gimboid

tarpaullynn wrote:

gimboid wrote:

Well I tried the 56cm with the shorter stem and it still didn't feel right. The guy rang up Falcon and was told they still have 53cm bikes in stock so he agreed to order one (no deposit) if I decide to go ahead.

I'm very, very tempted to go for it but I can't imagine 3cm will make a difference. But then again I don't design bikes

With my very very limited knowledge of bikes or the particular problem you have I'd say that 3cm will make a difference, otherwise why would they make and sell them?

Good point. 3cm just seems so insignificant though! :?

tarpaullynn

gimboid wrote:

tarpaullynn wrote:

gimboid wrote:

Well I tried the 56cm with the shorter stem and it still didn't feel right. The guy rang up Falcon and was told they still have 53cm bikes in stock so he agreed to order one (no deposit) if I decide to go ahead.

I'm very, very tempted to go for it but I can't imagine 3cm will make a difference. But then again I don't design bikes

With my very very limited knowledge of bikes or the particular problem you have I'd say that 3cm will make a difference, otherwise why would they make and sell them?

Good point. 3cm just seems so insignificant though! :?

My missus would say otherwise

gimboid

tarpaullynn wrote:

gimboid wrote:

tarpaullynn wrote:

gimboid wrote:

Well I tried the 56cm with the shorter stem and it still didn't feel right. The guy rang up Falcon and was told they still have 53cm bikes in stock so he agreed to order one (no deposit) if I decide to go ahead.

I'm very, very tempted to go for it but I can't imagine 3cm will make a difference. But then again I don't design bikes

With my very very limited knowledge of bikes or the particular problem you have I'd say that 3cm will make a difference, otherwise why would they make and sell them?

Good point. 3cm just seems so insignificant though! :?

My missus would say otherwise

haha! :shock:

sean65

Gimboid,

Why don't you go for a professional fitting service as offered by Condor, Mosquito etc.

They'll work out not only the right frame size but also stem length, cranks, spacers, bars.

Bear in mind that if you get a frame that's a bit too big and you think I'll make it fit by shortening the stem, then you'll mess up the handling as a shorter stem will make the bike considerable more twitchy at low speed.

It's worth the effort/cost. Not sure of your location but the two shops I mentioned are London based.

gimboid

sean65 wrote:

Gimboid,

Why don't you go for a professional fitting service as offered by Condor, Mosquito etc.

They'll work out not only the right frame size but also stem length, cranks, spacers, bars.

Bear in mind that if you get a frame that's a bit too big and you think I'll make it fit by shortening the stem, then you'll mess up the handling as a shorter stem will make the bike considerable more twitchy at low speed.

It's worth the effort/cost. Not sure of your location but the two shops I mentioned are London based.

I'm in Kent at the moment but London is easy to get to. My problem would be that the fitting service at Moqsuito is £120 which, when compared to the price of the bike, is quite high. Plus I'm not really in a position to change stems/cranks/bars straight away due to budget constraints again.

I'm in London later in the week though, so I might be able to pop over and check them out