Another Bike Sizing Q - Race Vs Endurance

[kenam]

I am getting stuck in a look of online bike shopping! But I am a little unsure what size bike to go for on my next bike (I need t get out and sit on a few, bnut its a bit tricky right now as a lot of shops not open where I am).

I currently have a 60cm (Measured from crank to top of seat tube) horizontal frame cube. I think this fits me ok (192cm tall and 89 inside leg), but hard to know as its been my only bike for years.

I am looking at a couple of different rose bikes. Their fit calculators seems to say I should go for a 59cm bike (rounded up from 0.66*89cm leg measurement).

Now until now I have been exclusively looking at Endurance geometries, but I am wondering if I should go for a more racey setup. My worry is not having the same reach (I reckon my arms are unnaturally long!). Using the powers of imaginations here - what should I be considering?

I was thinking about going one size up (61) on a race setup - but is that asking for trouble? i.e. is the lower position really noticeable? What else should I be thinking about here?

 

[Cycleops]

What bike are you looking at? If you’ve been using a 60cm got years I would have thought you’d be fairly safe with the same again, going up 1cm isn’t going to make much difference. Compare geometry between the two. You can always fine tune when you had the bike for a while.

 

[vickster]

Get the right frame size and play with stems if you need more reach / spacers if you want lower bars.
If the frame is too big, it can’t be made smaller. A frame that is a little small can be made bigger.
How flexible are you, what sort of riding? What bikes are you looking at?

 

[Sharky]

Probably worth waiting until the shops reopen and you can try the bikes.
Make sure you measure your current bike for the main contact points.
- pedal to top of saddle
- saddle - relative fore/aft position to the bottom bracket.
- reach from tip of saddle to centre of handlebars and to the brake hoods.
- floor to handlebars

Then when you go into a store, take with you a tape measure and compare your measurements with the bikes in stock.
The tape measure does two things. It enables you to confirm that you are looking at the correct size. Secondly, when the store sales person sees you measuring the bike, he will think "ahhh - here we have somebody who knows their way round bikes" and will respect what you have to say and be less likely to sell you the bike he has stock, rather than the bike you need.

Happy cycling

 

[kenam]

What bike are you looking at? If you’ve been using a 60cm got years I would have thought you’d be fairly safe with the same again, going up 1cm isn’t going to make much difference. Compare geometry between the two. You can always fine tune when you had the bike for a while.

Right now I am looking at Rose X-Lite (Race geometry) vs Rose Reveal (endurance geometry). I was in a shop just there and got to try out a Giant TCR Advanced 2 in large (Sales guy quoted as a 59 equivalent, but that's based on reach and not traditional seatpost height) and it felt good. I tried an XLarge endurance model and it was a bit too stretched (massive!) - I couldn't feel much difference on the height (probably notice it more on the open road I guess?).

One thing for sure - I am determined to buy something as that new bike feel where everything is just nice and stiff is great, unlike my ageing lumbering 10 year old alu bike!!

 

[si_c]

Nothing wrong with alloy framed bikes Which Cube bike do you have currently? Assuming you are comfortable with your existing fit then ideally you would want to transfer that to the new bike as closely as possible, you can then tweak the exact fit with saddle height and stem length as needed. The reach and stack are the main things to check, there should be geometry charts around which will allow you to get this information.

 

[Cycleops]

Rose bikes are I believe only available on line so you wont be able to try, so you need to be sure. Maybe better to go with something you can a least throw a leg over?

 

[vickster]

Indeed, what are you looking for and at what budget?
based on the Giant, carbon, 105, £1600ish? Disc or non disc?

this rather fetching bike could be yours with disc brakes if ok with alu
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Trek/Emonda-ALR-5-Disc-Road-Bike-2020/NA0K

 

[kenam]

Nothing wrong with alloy framed bikes Which Cube bike do you have currently? Assuming you are comfortable with your existing fit then ideally you would want to transfer that to the new bike as closely as possible, you can then tweak the exact fit with saddle height and stem length as needed. The reach and stack are the main things to check, there should be geometry charts around which will allow you to get this information.

2010 Peleton - its getting very creaky! And the BB, rear derailleur, rear caliper and wheelset all recently replaced (as well as usual consumables like pads, cables and chain etc) after a tough winter of riding!

I am not really sold on carbon - I actually (detailed in another thread..) started looking at the Roose Pro SL 105 (Triple ALU, carbon fork) - and didnt feel the need to go carbon. Then I seen the 8 week lead time on that bike and though feck it RE the budget and go carbon!

Rose bikes are I believe only available on line so you wont be able to try, so you need to be sure. Maybe better to go with something you can a least throw a leg over?

Ye - it is online only - For some reason I quite like the style of the rose bikes, they are a rare where I am and a little bit different. I need to try more bikes, but with COVID its tough.

------
Basically - I am not 100% sure on what I want and thats the trouble! I've been doing a lot of club spins over the winter, and want to do a lot more cycling this year (last cpl months I got a touch lazy as we were to stay at home etc).
I started off looking at ALU frames bikes with a decent groupset (for me that's 105, don't feet the need to go above). I wasn't too bothered with disc brakes, but figure may as well - so that pushed the budget to around €1500*. At this point that was a good setup for long club or solo rides plus a little bot of weekend touring with saddles bags added.

THEN I started looking at carbon and in particular race geometries (because I also like to go fast when i can!) and now I am in trouble as I am comfortable spending up to 2k (after a €500 bike to work discount) but cant see enough bikes because all the factories shut down..!

So things I need to work out -
What is the race geometry bike size equivalent of my 60cm Peloton.
Is there a huge difference in race vs endurance geometries? (Can I add a spacer or similar if I don't like it?)
Do I really want all carbon - will it take extra weight of luggage (Probably I guess - same as I would expect they would still carry me if I put on a stone).
How to earn enough to buy all the bikes??


And this is before I get into customising cassette size, tyres, wheels etc

*I'm in Ireland at the moment as well.. just to make it trickier!

 

[vickster]

2010 Peleton - its getting very creaky! And the BB, rear derailleur, rear caliper and wheelset all recently replaced (as well as usual consumables like pads, cables and chain etc) after a tough winter of riding!

I am not really sold on carbon - I actually (detailed in another thread..) started looking at the Roose Pro SL 105 (Triple ALU, carbon fork) - and didnt feel the need to go carbon. Then I seen the 8 week lead time on that bike and though feck it RE the budget and go carbon!



Ye - it is online only - For some reason I quite like the style of the rose bikes, they are a rare where I am and a little bit different. I need to try more bikes, but with COVID its tough.

------
Basically - I am not 100% sure on what I want and thats the trouble! I've been doing a lot of club spins over the winter, and want to do a lot more cycling this year (last cpl months I got a touch lazy as we were to stay at home etc).
I started off looking at ALU frames bikes with a decent groupset (for me that's 105, don't feet the need to go above). I wasn't too bothered with disc brakes, but figure may as well - so that pushed the budget to around €1500*. At this point that was a good setup for long club or solo rides plus a little bot of weekend touring with saddles bags added.

THEN I started looking at carbon and in particular race geometries (because I also like to go fast when i can!) and now I am in trouble as I am comfortable spending up to 2k (after a €500 bike to work discount) but cant see enough bikes because all the factories shut down..!

So things I need to work out -
What is the race geometry bike size equivalent of my 60cm Peloton.
Is there a huge difference in race vs endurance geometries? (Can I add a spacer or similar if I don't like it?)
Do I really want all carbon - will it take extra weight of luggage (Probably I guess - same as I would expect they would still carry me if I put on a stone).
How to earn enough to buy all the bikes??


And this is before I get into customising cassette size, tyres, wheels etc

*I'm in Ireland at the moment as well.. just to make it trickier!

You can't add a pannier rack to carbon, I'd say a poor choice if wanting to do any sort of touring

If you want a custom build, forget buying an off the peg bike. Just get a (nice steel ) frameset and build yourself (or source all the parts and get the LBS to do)

 

[kenam]

You can't add a pannier rack to carbon, I'd say a poor choice if wanting to do any sort of touring

If you want a custom build, forget buying an off the peg bike. Just get a (nice steel ) frameset and build yourself (or source all the parts and get the LBS to do)

I think if I was going to do this I wouldn't be using racks anyway - would do it with frame and saddle bags, so its a little bit of a moot point as far as the touring aspect.

One day I will build a fully customised bike - but right now I want the instant (ior slightly delays at best) gratification of something new!!

 

[vickster]

I think if I was going to do this I wouldn't be using racks anyway - would do it with frame and saddle bags, so its a little bit of a moot point as far as the touring aspect.

One day I will build a fully customised bike - but right now I want the instant (ior slightly delays at best) gratification of something new!!

It would be new
Just don’t buy used parts

 

[kenam]

It would be new
Just don’t buy used parts

ha - sorry - yes - I meant more the instant part of it - I'm like a child!

 

[vickster]

ha - sorry - yes - I meant more the instant part of it - I'm like a child!

It'll take a bike shop a day, max two to build. Framesets and parts are more available than whole bikes right now!