Frame size for a disproportionate body

Drashkum

Hi I am from India. I am 5ft 7 inches (171.2cms) height. I have a disproportionate body. Long legs and shirt torso. Proof of that is my inseam which is 85.7cms (33.7 inches). My upper torso ( sternal notch form crotch is 53.8cms. My arm length is 63.1.

I presently ride a endurance geometry Merida ride 500 52 size. I have had issues with it when I went for a 200km ride on which I developed a ulnar /Handlebar palsy in which my left hand got paralyzed for 6weeks without any movement. On consultation with LBS which has a bikefit they said that I have a disproportionate body and size 52 might be ok according to my inseam but since I have reach problem due to short upper body I might be better off with smaller size bike and longer seat post. I have flexibility problems too due to my disproportionate body.

I have ditched my BRM aspirations after the palsy and now started to focus on speed on shorter rides of 40 to 50kms. I still get extreme numbness in my hands after the palsy even in shorter rides.

I am now planning to buy a smaller frame in racing geometry to avoid any further problems in my hands.

Can someone suggest me how to go about my frame selection? Which size would suit me?

dstev55

Be careful with your theory.

Although taller, I'm in a very similar position to you. I too thought this meant I needed a smaller frame. The problem I am now faced with is that there is too much drop from saddle to handlebars and this is despite a bike fit. Where my objective was to reduce reach with a shorter frame, which I have achieved I now cannot get the handlebars quite high enough even with a flipped stem.

In hindsight I should have got the next size up and fitted a shorter stem.

the_chief15

If you can't achieve a comfortable position by changing stem then maybe you should look at a women specific frame, generally they have a shorter top tube and taller stack height for the same size frame.

cyclenutnz

I suspect that part of the cause for your hand issue will be having the saddle too far forward in an effort to reduce reach. This leads to having to support your upper body by placing extra weight on the hands (instead of being supported by your core) which can aggravate soft tissue and nerves.

So if you're looking for a new frame I'd be ignoring 'Race' frames as you've already identified the need for short reach and tall stack.

Taking a guess at your shoulder width and calculating for a 'Sport' position yields the following.


I'd note that the calc presupposes a standard length mens saddle, if you have a short nose design the setback would need to be higher to get the same effect.

The saddle setback given is based on median rider requirements. If you have long femurs, a weak core or a solid upper body - your ideal saddle position will likely be further back. Which then means the bars need to come back.

There are other tricks to help deal with what you're facing. For instance - Profile Design DRIVE 105 bars offer short reach (70mm) to move the hoods closer and they have 5mm more stack than other road bars.

onionmk

Sounds like a right pain to have to go through. What are you trying to achieve by getting a smaller, race frame? I could be wrong, but wouldn't that only put more pressure on your hands due to lower stack and a more stretched out position?

I too have long legs in proportion to my body. I'm 5ft 8" with 33.5" inseam. I thought buying a smaller bike would help because of the short top tube but it increased the saddle to bar drop too much (13cm!) and I ultimately suffered from hand pain and saddle pain due to unnecessary forward rotation of the hip.

I've now bought a merida ride lite frame in 54cm which has the same reach as my old bike but with 7cm more stack. In theory this will put more weight on the rear of the bike and less on my hands but I'm yet to try it out to see the results. Hopefully this will work.

paulmon

You are almost exactly the same body geo as me and a smaller racing frame will make things a lot worse because as others have said your saddle to bar drop will be massive. You need an endurance geometry frame with short reach. I actually went up a frame size rather than down. Look at Trek Domane (56) and Bianchi Infinito CV (55) with a 90cm stem on both and something like the Zipp SL70 bars. With both of these bikes the reach doesn't increase that much when you go up from 54 and 53 respectively but the reduction is saddle to bar drop is enough to remove the weight from your hands. The Look 765 is also a contender as it has short reach (375) for the M.

mugensi

I was in a similar position and initially tried a 54cm frame but the saddle to bars height was huge and uncomfortable for me in anything over 20km. I moved to a 56cm frame and reduced the stem length from 100mm to 90mm and have the perfect set up now. I would say you are going the wrong direction in getting a smaller frame, you need a larger frame which will reduce the bars to saddle height and give you higher stack, you will most likely need a shorter stem and shorter reach bars to compensate for the longer top bar but it will leave you in a much more comfortable position.

Drashkum

PaulMon wrote:

You are almost exactly the same body geo as me and a smaller racing frame will make things a lot worse because as others have said your saddle to bar drop will be massive. You need an endurance geometry frame with short reach. I actually went up a frame size rather than down. Look at Trek Domane (56) and Bianchi Infinito CV (55) with a 90cm stem on both and something like the Zipp SL70 bars. With both of these bikes the reach doesn't increase that much when you go up from 54 and 53 respectively but the reduction is saddle to bar drop is enough to remove the weight from your hands. The Look 765 is also a contender as it has short reach (375) for the M.

onionmk wrote:

Sounds like a right pain to have to go through. What are you trying to achieve by getting a smaller, race frame? I could be wrong, but wouldn't that only put more pressure on your hands due to lower stack and a more stretched out position?

I too have long legs in proportion to my body. I'm 5ft 8" with 33.5" inseam. I thought buying a smaller bike would help because of the short top tube but it increased the saddle to bar drop too much (13cm!) and I ultimately suffered from hand pain and saddle pain due to unnecessary forward rotation of the hip.

I've now bought a merida ride lite frame in 54cm which has the same reach as my old bike but with 7cm more stack. In theory this will put more weight on the rear of the bike and less on my hands but I'm yet to try it out to see the results. Hopefully this will work.

MugenSi wrote:

I was in a similar position and initially tried a 54cm frame but the saddle to bars height was huge and uncomfortable for me in anything over 20km. I moved to a 56cm frame and reduced the stem length from 100mm to 90mm and have the perfect set up now. I would say you are going the wrong direction in getting a smaller frame, you need a larger frame which will reduce the bars to saddle height and give you higher stack, you will most likely need a shorter stem and shorter reach bars to compensate for the longer top bar but it will leave you in a much more comfortable position.

I was in wrong notion that my reach would decrease on getting a smaller frame and get me comfortable on hoods. Looks like its a bummer of a thought.

I wanted a racing frame as i have switched over to short ride speed work and have ditched my brevet aspirations after the palsy. I wanted to get more aero leverage out of my new bike so that my speed would increase for my ftp. There are no endurance bikes with teardrop tubes and flat seatposts and tyre hugging seattubes

Is there any? Mirror Mirror on the wall, which endurance bike is the most aero of all?

cyclenutnz wrote:

I suspect that part of the cause for your hand issue will be having the saddle too far forward in an effort to reduce reach. This leads to having to support your upper body by placing extra weight on the hands (instead of being supported by your core) which can aggravate soft tissue and nerves.

So if you're looking for a new frame I'd be ignoring 'Race' frames as you've already identified the need for short reach and tall stack.

Taking a guess at your shoulder width and calculating for a 'Sport' position yields the following.
[img]http://i66.<span class="skimlinks-unlinked">tinypic.com/2w3yj4o.jpg</span>[/img]

I'd note that the calc presupposes a standard length mens saddle, if you have a short nose design the setback would need to be higher to get the same effect.

The saddle setback given is based on median rider requirements. If you have long femurs, a weak core or a solid upper body - your ideal saddle position will likely be further back. Which then means the bars need to come back.

There are other tricks to help deal with what you're facing. For instance - Profile Design DRIVE 105 bars offer short reach (70mm) to move the hoods closer and they have 5mm more stack than other road bars.

Yes i do have the saddle full on the front because i am not able to reach the hoods. even with it i have been sliding front on my saddle on bigg effort intervals.

My shoulder width is 41. can you elaborate on what should i do please?

I did go for a professional bike fit after the palsy and they did set up my bike saying my saddle was high and i was unstable on the saddle and lowered the saddle. They tilted the seat a bit and gave me wedges in my shoes and stuff. Still i get those extreme numbness even in 40km rides. They also experimented with 70mm stem and told me that i look cramped on 70mm and switched back to 100mm even though they said it will be a bit of a stretch for me at present. They said my Hamstring flexibility was bad and my core is weak and because of it i end up putting more weight on my hands and they assured me that things would change with bike fit but it has not changed at all.

All my friends that i ride with say that i lock my elbows when i ride because of bigger reach.

The Bikefit guys have brought my handlebars up with all the spacers though i use the oem 6 degree stem with my oem 100mm stem. I have even tried specialized barphat with supacaz stickycush bar tapes to dampen the vibration and a good 5mm gel gloves. Nothing gives me a respite from numbness

There is no way i can get a custom frame in india as such options don't exist here at all. They dont even sell all brand bikes here.

Is there no way i can ride a racing geometry at all ? only endurance frame for me?

tangerineowl

No way.

As mentioned on BF, hunt around for a Eddy Merckx Milano 72 frameset. I've seen them for sale in the U.S.

That is the closest you're going to find for an endurance/race frameset carbon, with the shortest reach and tallest stack for a production frame bar none.

Then build it up with the components you like e.g. a short-reach handlebar 70mm reach / 120-125mm drop.

You can add some aero wheels if you like.