How hard is it.

hodge68

I think my frame( Ridley Boreas) is to small for me :oops: , my brother has the same problem on his lower spec bike. Answer i buy a new frame and give mine to my brother. Q- How hard would it be to swop over the components and what sizes would i need to know before ordering the frame/ frameset. I don't have a mechanical back ground, other than stripping my mopeds back in the 80s .

StorckSpeed

If you can strip a moped down, I'm sure you can build a bike provided you have an ounce of mechanical competency about you.....

I've built a couple of bikes now, mainly cause I've upgraded bikes over the years and don't see the point in buying a new bike for £2000 when it doesn't have the wheels or gearing I want.
I don't think frame size is quite as critical as it used to be mainly cause of the aheadset. You can now buy different length stems and spacers to adjust your reach etc. Have you tried this first.

Of course if the bike size is way off then you won't be able to compensate for this with the stem.
This is the best resource I've seen - http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CC ... ATOR_INTRO
Once you find out roughly all of your measurements as per the instructions; You can e-mail them to various manufacturers etc and they'll give you guidance on the frame size you need.
Comtat bikes were the most helpful to be honest although I ended up going elsewhere - cause I missed their sale and the frame prices jumped dramatically.

andrewjoseph

As said above, longer stem, maybe wider bars, layback seatpost. What makes you think the frame is too small? seat post at lower limit but still too low? banging your knees on handlebars when climbing out of the saddle?

flasher

Not a difficult job, plenty of on-line resources (youtube and park tools are worth looking at), you may need some new cables.

But, what makes you think that your frame is too small?

hodge68

Thanks, some good sites to check out there. The frame is a medium(im 6ft) Ridley Boreas and just looks small and feels twitchy. As the Boreas is no longer made ive struggled to find its size/geometry on line, although lots of queries regarding Ridley frame sizes, which do come up larger than stated. Its a beautifal bike, i think the ridley compact may be the same, but not sure.

flasher

http://tractionbikes.com/product/08ridl ... 8037-1.htm

Took 30 secs. on Google!

Large may be better but I see no reason that you couldn't get the medium to work with a longer stem.

hodge68

can't believe i missed this, had only been on that page today. Didn't see the geometry bit. Cheers Flasher.

StorckSpeed

I'm 5'10 and ride a compact frame, (ie not a horizontal top tube but sloping) Storck call it a 51cm frame but the effective top tube length is 54.9cm. I have a 90cm stem fitted at present. This is very comfortable for long distances and I can still get down low for the occasional TT. With a 125cm stem fitted it's great for TT's (but breaks the rules about how far forward you sit) but I'm too stretched out for long distance riding too and get a sore back.
You could measure your stem length in the first instance from Centre to centre. I reckon if this is somewhere in the region of 100mm you could buy a 125cm stem and this would fix your problem.
Compact frames do look small, they give the added benefit however of being light, they also give the manufacturer the ability to only have maybe 5 frame sizes to cover all sizes of people which keeps cost down.
If your absolutely convinced the frame size is too small then you'll have to get a new one but only do this if it feels small, ie you feel cramped on the drops or your knees touch the bars when climbing not cause it looks small.

hodge68

Looks like the Boreas is identical to the Domacles geometry, except the chain stay is 3mm longer on the Boreas. Not sure how that is though as everything else is the same on both medium frames inc ST angle and they both have the same wheel base. Not to worry, just being paranoid i think. My knees dont touch the bars, sat or stood and as im a 6ft , 16st lump i make a lot of things look small.
Many thanks to you all for the help.Im feeling happy now about the bike