Giant Sizing....again!

wide_mouth_frog
wide_mouth_frog Posts: 27
edited October 2011 in Road buying advice
Hi there all, I am new to the forum coming from MTB's but planning on some long road rides in the near future.

I have been looking at the Giant TCR but have only been able to sit on a Defy locally.

The frame I sat on and was "sized" was a meduim, but the guy in the shop did not fill me with confidence as I seemed to know more about road bikes than him!

I am 5 7" with a 30" inside leg - I had about 1" clearance standing over it but the reach seemed a little far, the chap even said I might need a shorter stem, also the seat was 6" high which seemed a little low (or that might be me coming from MTBs)

I am borderline Small or Medium I think, but apart from taking both bikes on a longish ride would it be best to go for the smaller?

Many thanks for your help!

Comments

  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    My advice would be to find one and get the right size, don't guess with Giant.
    My mate has just bought a TCR2 and got the M/L, he's roughly 6' and that frame is big, I'm 5'10"ish and that bike was massive for me.
  • wide_mouth_frog
    wide_mouth_frog Posts: 27
    I totally understand where you are coming from there, no where locally seems to have small TCR's in store!

    Aghhgg! :)
  • rc856
    rc856 Posts: 1,144
    I'm 6ft tall with a 32" inside leg and I ride the 55.5cm...can't remember if that's the M/L or L.
  • pipipi
    pipipi Posts: 332
    My TCR2 is lovely but you need to sit on any bike to know what size to get.

    If your LBS can't get hold of a range of sizes then find one that can. I'm sure that if you said you were really interested then they'd get hold of one for you. The one I went to at Senacre had a whole bunch to try, ride around and check I was happy.


    (I'd be happy to buy a pair of jeans for £20 without trying them on. But if the jeans were £1000ish I'd definitely want to try them on.)
    Giant TCR2 and lovin it!
    http://www.trainerroad.com/career/pipipi
  • wide_mouth_frog
    wide_mouth_frog Posts: 27
    If you can afford 1000 pound jeans, you can buy my bike for me lol... thanks.for the info though, it is all helpful


    I take it you are loving your tcr?
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Bozman wrote:
    My advice would be to find one and get the right size, don't guess with Giant.
    My mate has just bought a TCR2 and got the M/L, he's roughly 6' and that frame is big, I'm 5'10"ish and that bike was massive for me.
    This goes for any make surely!
  • pipipi
    pipipi Posts: 332
    Love the TCR.

    I went to a LBS. I had in mind a Cube Attempt but was open to suggestions. They didn't have any Cubes. But they had plenty of Treks, Specializeds and Giants. I tried a few out and felt really happy with the Giant. I was between a L and M/L so I'm really glad I had the chance to ride them for 20 minutes each.

    A friend who is similar height went a few weeks later and preferred the Trek. So please go and try them all out. That way you know you're happy.

    I was a bit unsure about not getting 105 but I haven't felt bad since. Maybe if I was a much faster rider etc, but it certainly suits my ability.


    I have a pair of £20 jeans that I am willing to sell for £1000 ;)
    Giant TCR2 and lovin it!
    http://www.trainerroad.com/career/pipipi
  • dae
    dae Posts: 77
    Hi, i am 5'8" tall, 32" inside leg and ride a tcr advanced m size. It fits fine after putting a longer stem on. I have been riding various giants all m size (once replica and alloy tcrs) since '98 or '99.
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    I'm your build exactly Mr Frog (well same height/inside leg) and I'm on my third Giant. I've always gone for small but I build and spec them myself so I have a longer stem than normally comes with a prebuilt bike and I like a low front end. Fitting a Giant has nothing to do with the seat tube length. It's the length of the top tube that needs to be right and then the height of the bars (head tube length).
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    Giant mancp,
    I just found that they had very long virtual top tubes, this got pointed out to us by the first dealer we went to as well, he told my mate to forget about his usual size. The dealer only had large in stock which was way too big, he was told not to be tempted to order one off the net if you haven't tried one for size, the guy had a TCR and he had to go down one size from the norm with the TCR.
  • Bozman
    Bozman Posts: 2,518
    P.S A Giant M/L is down as 53.5 but the top tube is 57.5, "generally" i've found that the measurement given usually relates to the top tube but it doesn't seem to with Giant.
  • wide_mouth_frog
    wide_mouth_frog Posts: 27
    That would explain why (now 2 shops) have said I need a shorter stem than what is supplied - kinda points to needing a small as thats about 15mm shorted top tube. all being well I will be sitting on a small and med TCR if a nice shop in Yorkshire has them in.... I have found a very good local shop now though who is willing to get them in for me to try.

    I will keep you posted on the outcome either way.
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Bozman wrote:
    Giant mancp,
    I just found that they had very long virtual top tubes, this got pointed out to us by the first dealer we went to as well, he told my mate to forget about his usual size. The dealer only had large in stock which was way too big, he was told not to be tempted to order one off the net if you haven't tried one for size, the guy had a TCR and he had to go down one size from the norm with the TCR.
    yeah I can see how that can catch out the unitiated. I still have problems with sizing for compact frames compared to their traditional cousins myself ...

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