Frame sizing question
Jamey
Posts: 2,152
I'm tempted to buy a Kinesis Decade Tripster frameset in ChainReaction's sale, but I have a slight dilemma with regard to sizing...
My current bike is a 61cm Specialized Tricross but people say that you normally need to go a size down for Tricrosses compared to normal road bikes as they're quite large. This would mean that I'd normally go for a 63cm road frame.
ChainReaction have a 60cm Tripster frameset in their sale but the 63cm is full price.
I know it's impossible to say for sure but do you think I could build a bike that would fit me using the 60cm Tripster frame or is it a false economy as I'd be bound to have problems with the fit?
When I bought my Tricross I test rode my one plus the size down (59cm) and to be honest I couldn't tell very much difference.
My current bike is a 61cm Specialized Tricross but people say that you normally need to go a size down for Tricrosses compared to normal road bikes as they're quite large. This would mean that I'd normally go for a 63cm road frame.
ChainReaction have a 60cm Tripster frameset in their sale but the 63cm is full price.
I know it's impossible to say for sure but do you think I could build a bike that would fit me using the 60cm Tripster frame or is it a false economy as I'd be bound to have problems with the fit?
When I bought my Tricross I test rode my one plus the size down (59cm) and to be honest I couldn't tell very much difference.
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Comments
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Have a look at the geometry and compare to what you have.0
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I don't know a lot about geometry but I made the following grid for comparison:
What do you think?0 -
Horizontal TT length's the important one for the road.
The 63cm is still only a 58.7cm TT. The other option to make it fit when a bike is slightly too small is to fit a longer stem, this does have the effect of slowing the handling though. It's why mountain bikes have quite short stems, for quicker handling.
Other things are going to slow down the handling too. The head tube is slacker on the Kinesis, which slows it down further. It may be slightly improved by the shorter chainstays, but this is a much smaller effect than the bits at the front.
Basically, changing from the Tricross may feel like switching to riding a boat in terms of handling. The bike will be slower to change direction when you want it to. At times, this is a good thing (both of my road bikes have very long stems as I like the feel) but it may not be for you, especially if you ride it off road.0 -
I don't ride off-road, it's purely commuting on normal streets and the (sadly very) occasional weekend ride, but that's still on the road.
My Tricross already has quite a long stem (flipped up) so I don't know if I'd really notice much change in handling... I can't imagine the Tricross is all that sharp handling-wise tbh.0
