Cannondale vs. Orbea for tall freak!

nimchimpsky82

So here's the next instalment of my bike buying saga

Having visited almost every major/recommended bike store in about a 50 mile radius from Liverpool (whaddayamean I'm obsessed? ) I'm pretty convinced that the one I'd most like to deal with now and in future is actually right in Liverpool, a proper ole fashioned LBS.

A large shop this isn't however, and the two brands of road bike that are stocked are Cannondale and Orbea. I'd now like to put in an order for a CAAD 9 or an Aqua Marmolada. (I haven't written off the Cannondale SIX 13 either but the CAAD 9 seems slightly more suitable for my height.) I will try to negotiate an arrangement whereby I will have the option not to take the bike if we really can't get it to fit or if it simply feels all wrong, but I can't reasonably expect the owner to order 2 bikes.

Right, I'm 6'6" tall with almost 38" inseam (I wear 36" jeans), and having looked at the frame sizes and geo the CAAD 9 would seem like a no brainer, also given that I don't want a particularly aggressive frame. The largest frame size on the CAAD 9 is 63cm as against 60cm for the Orbea, effective tube length is 60cm as against 59cm, head tube length is 22cm as against 20.4cm. The wheelbase is the same at 101.3cm, but the standover height difference is considerable: 86.6cm against 83.5cm. I'm not sure how relevant that last measure is, but it seems to suggest a much bigger drop on the Orbea (?).

Now what I find very confusing is that several people here and on other forums have commented that Orbea frames are actually rather large -- a point that is also very clearly made by this US-based shop: http://www.wayfarerbike.com/id28.html If these guys are right, then a 60cm Orbea would be just perfect. But looking at the geo I find it very hard to understand how this could possibly be true :? :? The top tube does appear to slope a bit more than on the Cannondale, but is the effect really that big??

Any thoughts or ideas about this I would really appreciate! I do like the Cannondale, but don't wanna exclude Orbea just yet, as I prefer the idea of getting a Veloce set to the Shimano 105, and I also think the colour schemes on the Orbea are a bit cooler -- plus the company is a cooperative, which is surely A Good Thing.

matt.rochfort

I,ve ridden a 60 cm orbea force (I'm 6'1) and it was a little on the large size but an excellent frame. HOWEVER I've just bought a 58cm CAAD9 - what a fantastic bike. Super stiff and fast. Always makes you feel like going faster. Even when I feel like I'm dying on the bike it seems to be going 3-5 mph faster than I think. Size wise it fits well but I had to swap the compact/short reach bars for something with a reach of 120mm and get a 120 mm stem. Also the saddle stem is really short so if you need alot of stem you will have to swap that as well. Highly recommend the 'dale!! It's also pretty comfortable for an alu bike as they say.

gabriel959

I am exactly the same height as you are, 6 foot 6 and 38" leg measurement (36" jeans!) and tried an Orbea 60cm some time ago and it was like a glove, as good fit as my XL Giant

nimchimpsky82

I,ve ridden a 60 cm orbea force (I'm 6'1) and it was a little on the large size

Hm, that might be good news for me then.

HOWEVER I've just bought a 58cm CAAD9 - what a fantastic bike. Super stiff and fast. Always makes you feel like going faster. Even when I feel like I'm dying on the bike it seems to be going 3-5 mph faster than I think.

Now, you see, that's not good news -- cos you're making the choice harder again In an ideal world I would try the fit and ride of both, but having phoned all the major stores in the North West, including some national chains, that's doesn't look like it's going to happen

I am exactly the same height as you are, 6 foot 6 and 38" leg measurement (36" jeans!) and tried an Orbea 60cm some time ago and it was like a glove, as good fit as my XL Giant Smile

What a coincidence This is quite reassuring. I've also fired off an e-mail to the company, so we'll see what they say as well. Did you just try the Orbea or did you actually buy it? If so, what model is it, and how does it compare to your Giant?

Brian B

My brother has a 60cm Orbea and he is 6ft5" and it fits him well.

nimchimpsky82

Brian B wrote:

My brother has a 60cm Orbea and he is 6ft5" and it fits him well.

Thanks Brian, that echoes what Gabriel has said. Would you happen to know if your bro has had to replace the original seatpost / handlebar stem?

Brian B

Only when his seat post snapped after 2 years. Apart from that no changes.

djaeggi

Both frames appear virtually identical. The effective top-tube length - once you take into account seat tube angle (the cannondale is 72deg, the orbea 73.2deg, which effectively accounts for the 10mm difference in nominal length, give or take a little) - is the same. The chainstay length and wheelbase and fork offset and head tube angle (i.e. all the factors affecting handling) are the same. Standover height is irrelevant (given your height!), as is seat-tube length pretty much (seatposts go up and down a lot!). The only difference is the head-tube length. So, the question to ask is how much handlebar drop can you tolerate and would you be up against a hard limit, given possible tunability in stem angle and spacer height, on the orbea? What's your current setup like?

Given your inside leg measurement, I'd guess you'd be fine with a 200mm head tube plus spacers/flipped stem. (I'm 6'1" but my inside leg is only 20mm shorter than yours - I get away with a 180mm head tube quite happily). A 220mm head tube (e.g. cannondale) will definitely see you good.

In other words, with both frames, I'd be willing to bet you could achieve an completely identical riding position, the cannondale (having the longer head-tube) being the safer bet. In either case, you'll probably have to play around with the stem and spacers, but this is nothing a good shop won't do for you.

Good luck!

GiantPete

Hi,

If it helps I am just over 6'4" with 37" inside leg, I purchased a 63cm CAAD9 at the end of last year. It fits me great. It came with a 120mm stem which I swapped for 110mm based on my previous bikes and some bike fit numbers I had got for my dimensions. The head tube is 22cm and it come with a fair amount of spacers so you can get the bars as high as you need wihtout it looking silly, or lower them if you want.

Also I have a short seatpost fitted so there I would say there is some scope for riders taller than me with a longer post and stem. The stock post was also short , but probably ok for 38" inside leg. I think my bb centre to sadle top measurement (along the seat tube) is 83cm with 175mm cranks.

Very comfortable responsive bike feels very solid at high speed downhilling and cornering (especially the front end - part down to thick alu fork steerer I think). It seems to carve corners like my snowboard, Love it.

Don't know anything about the Orbea so my view is very one-sided. However the other frame I considered was an XL giant TCR, this had very similar dimensions (effective top tube and wheel base) to the 63cm cannondale, seems from other replies that the Orbrea is also very similar.

I also considered seat angle and didn't want anything steeper than 72 degrees for all day comfort 8-12hr rides with potentially lots of seated climbing i.e sportive events. This was my preference based on my previous bikes and somethings I had read, so personally I would have ruled out the Orbea if it has a 73.5 degree seat angle. If you just want a nice fast bike for general road riding club rides and so on then this probably doesn't matter much.

nimchimpsky82

Thanks both Helpful stuff indeed.

djaeggi wrote:

So, the question to ask is how much handlebar drop can you tolerate and would you be up against a hard limit, given possible tunability in stem angle and spacer height, on the orbea? What's your current setup like?

I've only ever had one road bike before -- a vintage, gold 1970s Motobecane, which I loved dearly but which I got rid of because the trips to uni I'd bought it for were impossible to do during rush hour. I was travelling from a part of Manchester where roads with 2 lanes were magically turned into 4 lanes when traffic got heavy, and there was no way of circling past the hordes of frustrated car and bus drivers... Now my circumstances are different, in that I live in a quieter area, and commute by car. (A 110 mile round trip, so the bike really ain't a viable option here .)

...All of which is an unnecessarily long way of saying that I don't have a current set-up. The Motobecane worked fine for me, but I can't remember its dimensions/geo etc. Anyway, I don't want a set-up that is overly agressive. Will be visiting the LBS tomorrow morning to see what advice they can give, perhaps also after sitting on a few medium sized Cannondale and Orbea frames and trying to asses the possibilities from those.

Will of course report back 8)

djaeggi

nimchimpsky82 wrote:

Anyway, I don't want a set-up that is overly agressive.

In which case, I think it's pretty clear - go with the cannondale. The longer head tube will either: a) facilitate a higher bar position; b) give you more flexibility when it comes to finding a position/stem; c) improve front end stiffness (headtube+steerer is always stiffer than steerer alone), whatever position you end up in.

Put another way, I'd be very, very surprised if the Cannondale head-tube was too long for you, but it's a distinct possibility that the Orbea head-tube might be too short (or at least sub-optimal).