Thought I bought a 2017 50cm emonda sl6, after calling trek, it turned out to be a 2015 47cm

I had one bike originally, a 2019 trek checkpoint sl6 in a 52cm. I'm 5'5" with a 30 3/8"in inseam barefooted without the bibs on. I like it, it came with 172.5mm cranks. It kinda felt awkward and a little big even after getting fitted. I swapped to a 165cm crankset and it was a game changer. The seat raised almost an inch, and my legs didn't feel as cramped when I was in the drops. It extended my reach to the point that I needed to go from a 90mm to 70mm stem, and it works great now. From a trek sizing perspective, I expect I'm probably more comfortable on a 50cm frame, but what I have works.

I ride a lot of gravel, and well, it gets dirty, so I wanted to get a road bike to leave on the kicker and also to use on road rides about once a week.

I ran into a facebook listing for a 2017 emonda sl6 50cm for $1,350. I thought, perfect! carbon framed bikes with ultegra hardware are hard to find used as well as new in shops. I drove 7 hrs up to Iowa,(and its amazing how much colder it is up there) to pick it up. The people were nice, I was able to test ride it, the saddle was too low, and I was a little skeptical about the size as I would expect a 50cm bike to have more adjustability in saddle height. There were no labels on the bike for the size, just the emonda sl badges and the serial number at the bottom. I went ahead and bought the bike and took it home. I called trek the next day to ask about the size, and they said, the 2015 emonda sl6 was a size 47cm. Crap. Well, my own fault, I should have been smarter about decoding trek serials, this one is on me. I did message the sellers back and let then know about what I found out and asked if they would make it right, either take the bike back or discount it. These amazing people paypalled me $300 back.

At this point I'm into a $1050 that I can either keep or sell and get my money back.

Sizing: First of all, the seat tube on these things,47cm, is much shorter than the 50 or 52cm for that matter. Other than that, the geometry isn't awful. It has a 135mm carbon seat mast cap, and I ordered a used 175mm cap on ebay that I'll get next week some time. I have put the bikes, 52cm checkpoint, and 47cm emonda side by side, and there is a difference, obviously. I had 43c gravelkings on the checkpoint at first, but the are significantly taller than the 25mm road wheels on the emonda, so I swapped the checkpoint wheels with a set of road wheels I have, also 25mm.






I believe I can resolve the seat height issue with a longer mast cap, but the stack on this emonda is about an inch lower. I went to geometry geeks and did a side by side comparison of the specs.




Question 1, am I going to have handling issues on a small bike like this going from a 80mm stem to potentially a 100 or 110mm stem? It has an aftermarket combined carbon fiber bar and stem that I don't care for which I will replace. I'm concerned about the stem being so low, almost slammed, even with the spacers.

Question 2, am I going to look ridiculous on a 47cm bike?