Dolan L'Etape sizing advice sought (S or M?!)

MAWglobal

Hiya,

Any L'Etape owners out there similar to me being 5'7" with 29" inside leg?

Height puts me at the bottom end of Medium frame, but having looked at the geometries and compared with similar bikes from other manufacturers my height would seem more suited to the geometry of the Small frame.

I'm not in a position to visit their showroom, I don't know anyone with one of their frames so I'm wondering if there are any "real world" opinions from similarly-sized folk out there!

Cheers!

Mark

cmackem

I have a 52" frame, I'm 5ft 10, 33 inside leg, if your around Essex your welcome to try it, but yes a 48 would be a good fit, I rang the shop and they were very helpful about stems etc.

lesfirth

I am not sure about the small/medium sizing but I had one with a 44 seat tube I am 5ft 6 with 29 inside leg. I was at the top end of the size range. It was a great bike for the cost. I built another bike on a whim and sold the Dolan. I wish I still had it.

nuclearred955

My frame's 52cm, I have a 33" inside leg. Looks like you could achieve the correct saddle height with either the 44 or 48, so I'd feel inclined to look at top tube length to make a decision. Do you currently have a decent-fitting bike to use as a guide for comparison?

Had my L'Etape for 14 months now & love it to bits, brilliant bike for the money, IMO. Mine did need a bit of fettling & tweaking to get it spot-on, though.

oms

Hiya,

I've literally just received one in a 44cm frame size. I'm between 5'3" and 5'4", with a 28" inseam (so legs are relatively long, and torso relatively short).

I studied the top tube length and went for an inline seat post with an 8cm stem to compensate for my shorter top half.

I've not got it properly set up as of yet, however I'll be tinkering after work today and post an update for you.

Best regards.

carbonclem

MAWglobal wrote:

Hiya,

Any L'Etape owners out there similar to me being 5'7" with 29" inside leg?
Cheers!

Mark

I'm pretty similar to you. I don't have an Etape but a Mythos. 48 cm frame and its fits really well. I love it.

MAWglobal

Cheers for the advice all.

Have to say I'm leaning towards the 44cm frame but it's a close call- basically its top tube is 530mm, which is identical to my Small Giant Defy on which I'm running an inline post and 90mm stem. So reach-wise that seems close. The stack height is about 40mm lower on the Dolan; drawing triangles suggests that dropping the bar height will lengthen the reach, but with a layback post and slightly longer stem than I have now, to me that all seems to be within an acceptable adjustment window.

As one comparison, the Ribble R872 Medium/48cm is recommended for my height which has pretty much identical geometry to the 44cm L'Etape, so that would suggest I'm not being barking mad. Also there seem to be a number of reviews on the L'Etape webpage where people say they had to change to a shorter stem from they one they got with it.

For info I'm in Hampshire, so to CMackem, thanks for the offer of a trial but it's a bit far away!

Mark

Dorset_Boy

email them with all your measurements - they'll come back with a recommended size.

cmackem

MAWglobal wrote:

Cheers for the advice all.

Have to say I'm leaning towards the 44cm frame but it's a close call- basically its top tube is 530mm, which is identical to my Small Giant Defy on which I'm running an inline post and 90mm stem. So reach-wise that seems close. The stack height is about 40mm lower on the Dolan; drawing triangles suggests that dropping the bar height will lengthen the reach, but with a layback post and slightly longer stem than I have now, to me that all seems to be within an acceptable adjustment window.

As one comparison, the Ribble R872 Medium/48cm is recommended for my height which has pretty much identical geometry to the 44cm L'Etape, so that would suggest I'm not being barking mad. Also there seem to be a number of reviews on the L'Etape webpage where people say they had to change to a shorter stem from they one they got with it.

For info I'm in Hampshire, so to CMackem, thanks for the offer of a trial but it's a bit far away!

Mark

I went from a medium giant defy to the L'Etape 52" and the difference in the reach is very noticeable even with a shorter stem its still more "racy".

trek_dan

I'd go small. I have a 30" inside leg, used to have a medium and couldn't get my seat far enough forward.

oms

oms wrote:

Hiya,

I've literally just received one in a 44cm frame size. I'm between 5'3" and 5'4", with a 28" inseam (so legs are relatively long, and torso relatively short).

I studied the top tube length and went for an inline seat post with an 8cm stem to compensate for my shorter top half.

I've not got it properly set up as of yet, however I'll be tinkering after work today and post an update for you.

Best regards.

Just to update you as promised - 18.5cm from saddle rails to seat collar and I'm comfortable.

It rides with a sort of zing that's just lovely - you won't be disappointed.

Best regards.

dyrlac

I have the 48 and am 5'7" with a 30" inside leg. Fits great (although I trust you're aware that this isn't an upright cruiser). To echo others, this is a fantastic bike (even though I just had to replace the frame after a crash).

MAWglobal

Well thanks for all you input everyone. However nothing conclusive either way, so I had some very long looks at geometries of my own bike, other bikes, filled out the bike fit calculator linked above, combined with a very lengthy chat with Tom at Dolan and the long and short of it (!) is that their "natural" recommendation would still be 48/M however given I'm comfortable on my current bike listed as 46.5/S which has an identical top-tube to the 44/S, that would suggest that for me, the 44/S is the frame of choice. So I've ordered one.

Have to say, top service from Tom at Dolan, he was happy to chat about what dimension affects what, and popped over to the 44 and 48 frames in their showroom to take real measurements while we chatted. For the record, the max BB-Saddle length of L'Etape frames is 77cm for the 44, and something like 82cm on the 48. For me that was the deciding factor as the small will comfortably take my legs. And as an anal retentive, you can expect a closure comment in 7-10 days' time when I find out for real if it all works!

dyrlac

MAWglobal wrote:

So I've ordered one.

Welcome to the club! Dolan's service is v. good.

MAWglobal

Just to close this thread down, the Small frame was definitely the right choice for me. The reach is spot on. The saddle is quite high, but well within limits- as a result, there's plenty of room for a saddle bag and seatpost rear light. For the record, I went for the smaller 170mm cranks and narrow 42cm bars, and it all just feels "right".

Thinking about the numbers, I reckon I could have made the next size up work for me, however the window for achieving a comfortable position would have been smaller, and given I intend to use this for triathlons and duathlons the smaller frame with lower headtube should lend itself to clip-on tri-bars better. Also I'm not convinced I'd have got a light under my saddle pack which would also be fully visible to cars behind.

Admittedly my only comparison is with my old, slightly tired and rattly Defy, but I love the handling of the L'Etape- descents and corners feel more stable; it rides well over bumps; accelerates like a demon. I've not had many opportunities to ride over the last few months, yet the 2 rides I've had have furnished me with a smattering of PRs and an average speed as if I hadn't had a riding break Delivery was quick, 8 days IIRC. Cable routing has been done nicely, and they appear to have put a bit of thought into where cables will rub and tried to avoid the frame where possible- the rear brake for example loops a little high but as a result can only rub the side of the seatclamp.

For anyone else buying one of these, I'd recommend the following:
- if you use anything clamped to the bars, then perhaps ask Dolan to leave a couple of winds off the bar tape at the stem end- things that are mounted above a compact clamp are ok, but the way the cables exit the tape if they are mounted in front of the clamp like my Lezyne Zecto lights then they interfere. Not difficult to cut the tape back & reterminate, but I've got enough little jobs to do on bikes & around the house!
- there's evidently more overlap in frame sizing than Dolan imply- it's always sensible to try to get to a shop for a proper sizing check, but if you can't do that then make sure you look at the numbers very carefully, and chat to them about it as they've been exceedingly helpful.
- on the small frame, if you want to have a seat-tube bottle, you'll need a side-entry cage and even then only a small (60cl) bottle fill fit. A 75cl bottle will fit on the down-tube, but a side entry cage is still better to help prevent scrapes to the top-tube.

Cheers,

Mark