Standover height

gary_sparrow
gary_sparrow Posts: 181
edited October 2017 in Cyclocross
Recently trying out for size some cross bikes . I’ve noticed the standover height is a couple of cm higher than my road bike . Higher bb and cross tyres I presume . However I noticed I have feck all clearance over the frame .
Is it still the norm to size down for cross I should I go for tt length only ?

Comments

  • sniper68
    sniper68 Posts: 2,910
    My Road bike (Canyon Ultimate CF SL) is a 53cm.
    My CX (Boardman Team Comp) is a 51cm.
    I have no previous CX bike experience but the smaller size just felt better.
    I’ve ridden MTBs since the late 80s so maybe this is why smaller feels better!??
    Lynskey R480

  • gary_sparrow
    gary_sparrow Posts: 181
    ibbo68 wrote:
    My Road bike (Canyon Ultimate CF SL) is a 53cm.
    My CX (Boardman Team Comp) is a 51cm.
    I have no previous CX bike experience but the smaller size just felt better.
    I’ve ridden MTBs since the late 80s so maybe this is why smaller feels better!??

    My wife says the same thing -)

    What about the tt length on your bikes ?
    Boardman have long top tubes . Cx team in small has a 54cm tt
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Standover height is not really an issue in CX. If you're standing over the bike, you're not doing it right...
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    You don't want to bollox yourself on the top tube though....
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    It depends...

    I went down a size when I built my first CX bike, and it was a big mistake. You're on the bike for 98% of the time, and when you're on the bike you want a position that allows you to get the power down properly and to control the bike properly, which generally means a similar position to the one you have on your road bike. You might want to raise the bars a bit, but everything else should be the same. I compensated for my small frame by fitting a longer stem, but that just screwed up the handling. I never got that bike working properly, and moving up to the correct size was a revelation. If there's one discipline where you really don't want anything to compromise your bike handling, it's cross.

    Turned out that the advice that led me to go a size down was from relatively small riders, who'd had issues with standover height. I'm 6', and standover height on the same size frame as my road bike just isn't an issue. If you're reasonably tall, you definitely don't want to go down a size.

    More recently I've done a lot more research at the small end of the spectrum, because my daughter (who's a shade over 5') has just moved to a bike with 700c wheels. Turns out that a lot of XS frames have a relatively high top tube, and standover height is potentially more of an issue; in the normal course of racing you should never end up straddling the top tube, but there are times when something goes wrong (for instance stalling up a very steep climb) when it happens. Your options here are:
    1. Get the right riding position, and put up with limited standover clearance
    2. Go down a size, and compromise the riding position (and handling)
    3. Find a manufacturer that builds frames that actually fit smaller people properly

    I ended up building her a XXS Ridley; riding position is the same as her road bike, standover clearance is good. Ridley have a massive reputation in the CX World, and used to sponsor top pro Amy Dombroski, who was around 5'1".

    My recommendation to the OP would be to start by looking at Ridley bikes (the X-Bow is hugely popular). If one of those gives you the right fit but for some reason you don't want to build/buy a Ridley, you at least have some geometry measurements to compare with other manufacturers...
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • sniper68
    sniper68 Posts: 2,910
    Gary sparrow wrote:
    ibbo68 wrote:
    My Road bike (Canyon Ultimate CF SL) is a 53cm.
    My CX (Boardman Team Comp) is a 51cm.
    I have no previous CX bike experience but the smaller size just felt better.
    I’ve ridden MTBs since the late 80s so maybe this is why smaller feels better!??

    My wife says the same thing -)

    What about the tt length on your bikes ?
    Boardman have long top tubes . Cx team in small has a 54cm tt

    My CX Comp is a small and the TT is 52cm....strange as it was sold as a 51!
    Lynskey R480

  • gary_sparrow
    gary_sparrow Posts: 181
    ibbo68 wrote:
    Gary sparrow wrote:
    ibbo68 wrote:
    My Road bike (Canyon Ultimate CF SL) is a 53cm.
    My CX (Boardman Team Comp) is a 51cm.
    I have no previous CX bike experience but the smaller size just felt better.
    I’ve ridden MTBs since the late 80s so maybe this is why smaller feels better!??

    My wife says the same thing -)

    What about the tt length on your bikes ?
    Boardman have long top tubes . Cx team in small has a 54cm tt

    My CX Comp is a small and the TT is 52cm....strange as it was sold as a 51!


    I've heard that the top tube on the small boardnan Cx team measures 52cm but the geometry chart says 54cm
  • sniper68
    sniper68 Posts: 2,910
    Gary sparrow wrote:
    ibbo68 wrote:
    Gary sparrow wrote:
    ibbo68 wrote:
    My Road bike (Canyon Ultimate CF SL) is a 53cm.
    My CX (Boardman Team Comp) is a 51cm.
    I have no previous CX bike experience but the smaller size just felt better.
    I’ve ridden MTBs since the late 80s so maybe this is why smaller feels better!??

    My wife says the same thing -)

    What about the tt length on your bikes ?
    Boardman have long top tubes . Cx team in small has a 54cm tt

    My CX Comp is a small and the TT is 52cm....strange as it was sold as a 51!


    I've heard that the top tube on the small boardnan Cx team measures 52cm but the geometry chart says 54cm
    I've measured it a few times and now and it's definitely 52cm!
    Mine's a 2015 model though so maybe the new models are 54cm.Could just be a website error.My mate works at Halfords I'll ask him!
    Lynskey R480

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