Dilemma keep or sell?

cyberknight

I recently i picked up a bike that is too big for me , a 56 cm carerra vanquish for £250 rather than £550 list price that is mint.

trouble is although i have put a saddle extender and flipped the stem to give me a reasonable cockpit i am getting lower back pain whilst riding.I am going to pop down to the LBS at the weekend to see if they can suggest anything but i am not sure what to do.

Truth be told a 54 cm is comfortable and i am half a mind to sell the bike and cut my losses, i am pretty sure i can get my money back and look around for a better sized bike .

Help please !!

cjcp

A shorter stem may do it.

That said, I'd be inclined to sell and get a bike I feel comfortable on. It's not worth compromising if the end result is discomfort.

hells

I have a trek 1.7 which is slightly too big for me, I have swapped the stem from a 90mm to an 80mm one and removed a spacer. This appears to have eliminated the problem of lower back pain for me.

oscarbudgie

A 56 will normally come with a 100mm stem - swapping for a 80 will give you 2cms 'back' plus as an extra you could get some of those wonderful FSA Omega compact bars (£30) which bring the hoods closer as well as looking quite 'pro'

seanoconn

Not the best looking option but an adjustable stem might help with the back pain, worked for me. Ritchey do a good one, strong and rigid, 80,100 or 120mm.

always_tyred

Something's not right - the bike size should be within range of all the adjustments you have at your disposal.

You need a few measurements from a bike you have been comfortable on, to compare with this one. Guestimate where your sit bones are when you are comfortable on the saddle. Measure furthest pedal distance from there. Measure horizontal distance to the bars and seat to bar vertical drop. Check that your saddle is roughly the same shape and at roughly the same angle.

It should be possible for you to get roughly the same measurements with seatpost height and saddle rail adjustment. Might look daft if your stem is too long, in which case you can get a shorter stem and push the seat back again.

You may also find that you don't have much vertical adjustment on the stem - but a bigger frame would tend to give you less drop anyway.

Hopefully you will simply find that one or more of these basic measurements is way off.

Good luck.

itboffin

cyberknight wrote:

I recently i picked up a bike that is too big for me , a 56 cm carerra vanquish for £250 rather than £550 list price that is mint.

trouble is although i have put a saddle extender and flipped the stem to give me a reasonable cockpit i am getting lower back pain whilst riding.I am going to pop down to the LBS at the weekend to see if they can suggest anything but i am not sure what to do.

Truth be told a 54 cm is comfortable and i am half a mind to sell the bike and cut my losses, i am pretty sure i can get my money back and look around for a better sized bike .

Help please !!

Go here http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... M&units=cm enter all your measurements

then check the french fit if your still within those ranges - keep it.

cyberknight

According to the french fit i need a 54.1 to a 54.6 seat tube, a 56 top tube,100 stem,Saddle-Handlebar 55 and saddle set back of 3.5,


Looks like a 56 is way to big,a race fir would even be a 52 frame

UndercoverElephant

cyberknight wrote:

According to the french fit i need a 54.1 to a 54.6 seat tube, a 56 top tube,100 stem,Saddle-Handlebar 55 and saddle set back of 3.5,


Looks like a 56 is way to big,a race fir would even be a 52 frame

Those results look slightly wild, unless you do have quite short legs/long torso (like I do). Did you do the measuring yourself, of get somone else to do it? When I did the former, I got odd results, when I did the latter, I got good ones.

The harder measurement to change is the top tube, if the effective length of that is roughly 56, then the bike is probably OK for you. Seat tube isn't so bad, you can lower a saddle/bars.

UndercoverElephant

Actually, having re-read ITB's post, it seems as though you're going for the French fit. I'm not sure you'll be able to do this with the bike you have, that fit is rather stretched out and requires the bars and seat to be nearly the same height. This is not really how your bike was meant to work, it may be OK though, due to your short legs.

cyberknight

Fellow cyclist at work with many years riding said i needed a 52 for racing/54 relaxed so that about seals my fate

Will be on the classified soon as i de -commute it.

msw

I recently i picked up a bike that is too big for me , a 56 cm carerra vanquish for £250 rather than £550 list price that is mint.

How recently? Might you not just be able to take it back to the shop and get a smaller one?

cyberknight

Was a private sale from another BR member, and that's the smallest vanquish they do oddly enough..

On the sales section now here and in CTC forums, as long as i get what i paid for it i will be happy as i reckon i have done less than 60 miles on it.

Rode my subway 1 to work last night and my back is a lot better today.

cyberknight

Yep definitely the bike 2 days on my Subway and my back has cleared up, looking at the carerra virtuosso when i have sold.