How tall are you?

peat

Mornin.

I'm in the market for a roadie at the mo and have been reading/talking/looking for months (I come from years and years of MTB). From my searching, it seems everywhere is very low or completely out of the larger framed bikes (I'm 6ft, 3") and it seems like i'm going to have to wait until the 2013 bikes start trickling through.

I visited a shop in Reading (AW Cycles), that prides itself on bike-fitting and getting you the most suitable bike.

Anyway, a statement that puzzled me from the chap in the shop was "You're always going to have trouble getting bikes in your size because they simply don't make that many of them. Cycling is traditionally a short-man's sport."

That confused me a little. From watching the pro-races, i always assumed that my tall, skinny frame would be ideal for road racing. Did i get it wrong? Are the pro's just EVEN slimmer short-arses?

So, as a straw poll - How tall are you?

bails87

I'm 6' and ride 'medium' frames. I can't see how you'd have trouble getting a bike that fits!

farrina

Well Wiggo is apparently 6-3 but only 11 stone ouch .... I must lose a couple of stone

My experience over the years (I'm 6-4 35 inside leg and aged 48) is as with all things in life as I am not Mr Average one has to pay more and search more, but perversely have less choice.

Sidi for instance make cycling shoes up to size 52 (I take a 49) but once you go above 48 your choice falls away (and that is assuming the distributors bother to import or stock them).

Bikewise you are probably going to be better going bespoke rather than off the peg. Dare I mention the dreaded steel frame word as opposed to carbon. My first bespoke 531c frame I am still riding 25 years later (albeit with the latest components) and was built to suit my body dimensions - money well spent.

Size wise I would guess that the average pro cyclist is only about 5-8 and the really good climbers are normally tiny.

Good hunting .....

Regards

Alan

lostboysaint

I'm 6'4" and find the XXL Wilier to be a good size. ATB generally import the larger sizes so there's a few about. I got my Izoard direct from them.

rolf_f

Your bike shops talking cobblers. A bit over 6 ft 1 here (but long legged) and my frames are usually L and there's always been a larger frame option available.

estampida

so I have been looking for a road bike for some time

me mtb back ground and 6'4" 12st max......

any bigger than a 58cm is massive (even some of the 58's are funny shape)

it is quite dependant on how comfy you feel on the frame (my bro has a 57cm / 58cm storck and he's 6'2") and it feels rightish, stem feels too long for me but it must be more aero than how I would have set the bike up

but its a total mine field, try loads and check the web sites to see the real dimensions and keep a note of which 1's are favorable

then it will be a quick elimination of the wrong sized frames, but I do like a lot of stand over .........

edhornby

sounds like BS to me.... a guy at our work is 6'5 or even possibly taller than that, he ended up with a 63 and a big inverted stem but it depends on your proportions (leg length compared to torso) and the geometry of the frames

go to a different shop, try lots :-)

Tom Dean

If you're tall with long torso and arms you may find the top tube too short on some manufacturers' largest frames, I use a 140mm stem but not everyone likes to do that.
Have a look at the big names' websites for frame geometries.

- then buy from a shop that you know can do a large frame from the range they stock, and will do a proper bike fit.

loismustdie

I'm 6'4" and have four bikes I ride a lot:

XL Giant SCR
58 cm BMC CX02
60 cm Van Nicholas Astraeus
62 cm Trek Madone

All of these fit well, the Astraeus looks tiny compared to the other three, but is the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden - I've quite happily ridden 150 mile routes (almost) non stop on it.

AW are near me and have the rare distinction of being a bike shop I won't use. Their advice generally is sound, but they always seem set in their ways, if you want something different to what they advise they appear to have no interest in selling to you. The comment about your height is suspect to say the least.

If you're in Reading, try Evans (can be a bit hit and miss - depends on who serves you - they've been great and awful for me). Also, Mountain Trax in Arborfield is good, but don't have an extensive range of road bikes, sadly, because it's a fantastic shop to deal with.

nwmlarge

i'm 6'2ish and i use an XL allez

colm_gti

I'm 6'1 and ride a 60cm BMC streetracer, could probably have went for a 58cm, but it fits me well

GATES

I am 6ft 3 and ride a cannondale caad 10 58" and its fine.

plowmar

I'm too short.

NewTTer

So roughly translated your bike shop was really saying. "I dont currently have anything in stock I can sell you, so rather than maybe loose a potential customer, I will feed you a load of bullshit, thus hopefully putting you off going elsehwere and giving me time to get a bike in to sell you"

peat

NewTTer wrote:

So roughly translated your bike shop was really saying. "I dont currently have anything in stock I can sell you, so rather than maybe loose a potential customer, I will feed you a load of bullshit, thus hopefully putting you off going elsehwere and giving me time to get a bike in to sell you"

Hahaha. Bingo!

lostboysaint

Having never bothered to check the size/geometry of my Izoard (I just sat on it, rode it, loved it, bought it) this thread piqued my curiousity so I went and found out that it's a 61cm seat tube and a 58.5cm top tube. As I said in my previous post, very comfortable for me at 6'4", but it depends on where your height is (legs, torso), your arm length etc.etc.

nickel

Im short arse (5ft 7") so the frame size I ride won't be very useful to you but the chap in the shop is talking b0llocks!

Rench88

I'm 6 ft 1 (maybe 2 on a warm day :P) and ride a 59cm Bianchi. Wouldn't want to go bigger. In my experience you can find sale bikes at these sizes, you just have to look a bit harder than most people.

dw300

Poll options fail ..

peat

dw300 wrote:

Poll options fail ..

If your under 5ft, you're frankly not worth knowing. :P

declan1

dw300 wrote:

Poll options fail ..

How tall are YOU?!? :P

ovi

I'm 6'4" with a 93cm inside leg and ride a xl 58 scott and a xxl 60cm giant tcr advanced which is slightly more comfortable but both do the job fine. I lm also 15s 5 lbs

verylonglegs

declan1 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Poll options fail ..

How tall are YOU?!? :P

He could mean that if you are 6'0" for example, then there are two categories you put yourself in?

declan1

verylonglegs wrote:

declan1 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Poll options fail ..

How tall are YOU?!? :P

He could mean that if you are 6'0" for example, then there are two categories you put yourself in?

True, but not very many people are exactly 6'0" so you could round it up/down to the next/previous option.

dw300

verylonglegs wrote:

declan1 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

Poll options fail ..

How tall are YOU?!? :P

He could mean that if you are 6'0" for example, then there are two categories you put yourself in?

That's not what I meant, but let's go with that!

Nah, I meant that if he'd used the 10 poll options and used smaller groupings then results would be more accurate. I'm almost certain you'd see a bell curve that doesn't centre around 6' 3", making the bike shop guys comment not as BS as everyone else would have you believe.

peat

declan1 wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

He could mean that if you are 6'0" for example, then there are two categories you put yourself in?

I suppose. I'm sure vanity would make the decision easier though, thus giving me the result i 'want' to see.

richh

Peat wrote:

Anyway, a statement that puzzled me from the chap in the shop was "You're always going to have trouble getting bikes in your size because they simply don't make that many of them. Cycling is traditionally a short-man's sport."

Not to defend them if they are just trying to BS you, but my reading of that statement is really not that larger bikes aren't made by the manufacturers, rather just that less of the extreme sizes would be ordered by LBSs as there's less demand for them so you'd be lucky to find one in stock and available to you. I'd also interpret that to mean that the manufacturer also probably makes less of the larger frames globally, so when it comes to the end of year situation and people are looking to grab a bargain before the new models come out there's likely to be none that could even be ordered in.

For new models though their comments certainly wouldn't be true though, although the LBS stock thing would still be valid, it's just that you'd have to wait until they've order one in for you and you'd be unlikely to get discounts.

Experience tells me that when I walk into an LBS, at 6'4" it's pretty unlikely that they'll have anything in my size to try. "Short mans sport" is perhaps taking it to far, but I can understand local shops not wanting to hold onto stock which might not sell in these more extreme / less popular sizes. Much less of a problem at somewhere like Evans of course where there's a huge warehouse to back up the shops and things can be ordered in to try first.

ben@31

176cm and use a 56cm Specialized Allez.

When I was younger, my dad used to say Miguel Indurain was the greatest road racing cyclist. Indurain was 188cm or 6ft 2.

simon_masterson

I'm 6'0.

My favourite bike was originally bought 30 years ago by my dad, who is a few inches taller than me. It's an Ernie Clements-era Falcon, and though it's big, I'd guess (I haven't measured) the seat tube is 60-62cm; hardly as big as off-the-peg bikes get.

ballywholan

I'm 6' 5.5" with a looong torso and I've got a 62cm Trek 2.1 C (2012). I could possibly do with a longer stem.

RonB

6'3" and a 58 frame suits me fine with a set back seat post. I agree with the other posters who suggest that there are plenty of options out there.