Just bought my first road bike...

captnspaulding

Hi guys, I’ve been using my mountain bike for a lot of road use recently to complete my cycle 200 cancer research challenge, however I saw a really nice road bike for sale second hand on local ads, looked into it and thought it was a good one and so bought it.

It’s a Boardman Sport Limited Edition (yellow and white).

The only thing is - I don’t know if it’s too small or if that’s how road bikes are!? Next to my mountain bike the frame doesn’t look that much different in size and I’ve raised the seat to a similar height. However sitting on it, it just feels small and my toes actually touched the front wheel when turning when I tried it on the road outside the house.

Sorry for the complete newbie question and I suppose I should have researched better but I didn’t want to miss out on it as it looked really nice and I know they didn’t make many of these (500 I think?)

Oh yeah, shows what a noob I am, I tried holding the top bar instead of the (sorry don’t know the right terminology) bottom bar/looped bar(!?) and when I tried to stop I forgot the brakes weren’t there and went straight into my garden gate! Doh!!!

Is there any way of finding out what frame size I have so I can compare to what I should need? I’ve looked all over the frame and can’t see anything. My mtb says 17.5 on it but can’t see similar markings on this- apart from 3XB whatever that means!?

Any help appreciated!

Again, sorry for probably the newbies noob questions haha.

captnspaulding

This is the bike btw

webboo

If that’s how you have set up, it looks all wrong. There isn’t much seat post showing and the bars look too high in relation to the saddle height.
If the saddle height is the correct, the frame might be too big.

imposter2.0

Need to see a pic of you on it - otherwise it's just a pic of a random bike..

step83

Toe overlap can be a thing especially if you have large paddles for feet, as said ideally a photo of you on it then its easier to work out if it is, chances are it just needs the seat height bringing up , road bikes you tend to tip toe the floor more than on a mountain bike.

bigmitch41

How tall are you? what size frame is the boardman?

captnspaulding

Hi guys thanks for the replies.

I’m only short, 5’7ish (although I’m overweight/big built hence taking up cycling) so maybe it’s just that I’m used to the MTB and this is just the way road bikes are and I need to get used to it?

I have raised the seat post a bit - it was too low as my knees were in my chest - that’s the picture from the seller and not mine sorry. It was dark when I collected it last night and tried it and now it’s chucking it down.

It definitely does go and I realise my mistake with the toe hitting the wheel - I tend to use the middle of my foot mostly on the pedals, where as this has strap clips so I just put my feet over the straps just to try it so my feet were too forward I think. Definitely will be replacing them with flats just to get used to the bike I think though!

I have no idea what the frame size is - that was what I was trying to find out really. Any advice how I can measure myself? I suppose I should google how to measure a bike to find the frame size if it doesn’t say on the frame.

I could ride it comfortably by holding the hoods, braking was a bit difficult this way though as I couldn’t pull them back much so it took a while to slow down - not good going down a hill or coming to a junction ha! It feels REALLY low if I put my hands on the ‘drop bars’ (is that the right name?). Don’t think I can lift the bars higher as it look as though all the spacers are already on there (4 little ones and 1 larger which I assume is 10mm and 4 x 5mm?)

I will get a better pic up and with me on there - once the rain stops!

Thank you again and apologies again. I sound so clueless reading my posts back (I am!)

webboo

Imagine a horizontal line from the centre of the cross bar where it hits the head tube. You would measure where it would be on the seat post to the middle of the bottom bracket.
In the olden days before sloping cross bars it was center of bottom bracket to center of cross bar.
If you need to the lift the bars any higher your position is wrong or it’s the wrong size as there is already a lot of spacers under the stem.

Darius_Jedburgh

Ball of your foot should be on the pedals. Riding with your instep on the pedals will contribute to your toe hitting the wheel.
If/when you become more proficient you are likely to graduate to clipless pedals. These will site your foot correctly and you won't be able to override the position. Rather than buy new pedals to continue your incorrect pedalling dynamics it might be better for you to use the toe clips provided. You do not need to fasten them tightly, but you will learn how to pedal correctly, and gain an idea if the toe overlap is caused by your poor technique (most likely) or wrong size frame.

It's hard to see clearly from your picture, but as far as I can estimate the toe clips look like they have enough room to clear the wheel.

Also, you don't HAVE to ride on the drops. Many riders place their hands either on the flat part of the bar - the tops, or ride holding the top of the brake hoods - the hoods. If you are riding on the hoods you can simply slide the lower part of your hands down to hit the brakes for gentle braking using your two smaller fingers. Even for harder braking many riders will still keep their hands on the hoods and just move finger position to use the two bigger fingers. Go on the drops if you are sprinting, but for general riding it is seldom necessary.

webboo

Webboo wrote:

Imagine a horizontal line from the centre of the cross bar where it hits the head tube. You would measure where it would be on the seat post to the middle of the bottom bracket.
In the olden days before sloping cross bars it was center of bottom bracket to center of cross bar.
If you need to the lift the bars any higher your position is wrong or it’s the wrong size as there is already a lot of spacers under the stem.

Having had a quick look at how Focus and Lapierre measure their bikes. The horizontal line is from the top of the head tube across to seat post, you then measure from center of the b/b to where the line hits the seat post.

captnspaulding

Thanks guys. Just looked at a quick video on YouTube and came up with this. Hope it’s right (didn’t have a spirit level so estimated the horizontal line but it didn’t make much difference to the size tbh whether I moved the line up or down).

captnspaulding

I also believe this is the same bike in Halfords -

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... 5cm-frames

Perhaps it’s the 53cm I have?

Darius_Jedburgh

I'm confused.
If those measurements are from your bike then you have a 57. That should be plenty big enough for a 5' 7" rider. But the seat post needs needs to rise quite a bit. Maybe 3 or 4 inches.

captnspaulding

Franco di Banco wrote:

I'm confused.
If those measurements are from your bike then you have a 57. That should be plenty big enough for a 5' 7" rider. But the seat post needs needs to rise quite a bit. Maybe 3 or 4 inches.

Then it is just me then and needing to get used to a totally different posture and the way to ride it haha!

Now that I know it’s normal to ride holding the top of the hood it’s not so bad, I just need to get used to the braking in this way. I really can’t use the other part though, my belly is in the way to get down that low!!

Darius_Jedburgh

Seat post height....
When sat on the saddle have the ball of your foot on the pedal (over the pedal axle) with the pedal at the bottom of it's circle of travel. Your leg should not be straight, nor should it be bent as on a mtb. You need your leg to be just slightly bent. Don't ask how many degrees - that's for the anoraks to answer! But a slight flex at rest will give the correct seat height. (There are other ways of measuring seat height, but this is as good as you need at this stage)

N0bodyOfTheGoat

You want ~30 degree +/- 5 degree bend between your femur joint; bony protrusion just below kneecap; ankle joint in its normal flexion position for you with the pedal in line with seat post and away from saddle.

Every 1mm change in saddle height will change that angle by ~1 degree.

Moving the saddle towards the bars on the saddle rails reduces the distance to the pedal. Roughly, with pedal forard at ~90 degrees to vertical, the bony bit below kneecap should be on the same vertical plane as the end of the crank.

photonic69

Set your saddle height by sitting on bike with your heel on the pedal and the pedal at 6 O'clock. Your leg should be very nearly straight or thereabouts. It's a good starting point. Also for fore/aft position of saddle sit on bike. Pedals Horizontal (3 & 9 O'clock). Feet on as if you are riding normally. Get a piece of string with a heavy nut (not the edible sort) tied to it. Let it dangle down. Hold string against side of kneecap at the front. Nut should be roughly where your big toe joint is which in itself should be roughly over the spindle of the pedal. Fore and aft saddle adjustment will also alter saddle height a little. This can be achieved by sitting on bike and leaning against a wall with your shoulder. Put a couple of bricks in front and behind your wheels to stop any rolling.

Toe strike can often happen on road bikes but in reality you never really turn the bars that much unless you are maneuvering at very slow speeds, so just be aware of it but don't let it panic you.

Getting used to a new position on the bike is half the battle. Take is easy. Initially after 20 mins or so your lower back will probably be in agony but the more you get used to it and your core strength and flexibility improve this will lessen.

Good luck and enjoy the bike

dj58

If the top tube is 54.5cm then it is a small frame, seat tube should be 51.5cm, head tube 14.5cm.
Click on View Geometry Stats
https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/pro ... .html#size

pilot_pete

I can’t see a geometry chart online anywhere, so sizing from the pictures is debatable. As others have said, get a side on picture of you on the bike with the pedal closest to the camera at the bottom of its stroke and your hands on the hoods.

We can then give some feedback on rough estimates for what you need to do to set yourself up correctly. Be prepared for some brutal honesty such as the frame is simply too big/ small and you are not going to get the ideal fit.

Out of curiosity how much did you buy it for?

PP