Bike fit thoughts? - Trek Emonda SL5 2021 (size 52 v 54)

[raggydoll]

It may simply be that that particular frame isn't a good fit for your body.
As you say, you don't want to spend, £2500 on a bike then need to spend more to change things. You want it to be right from the start.

 

[rivers]

The Emonda may not be the right bike as others have said. Do the shop stock other brands?

 

[vickster]

The Emonda may not be the right bike as others have said. Do the shop stock other brands?

Bianchi
https://www.criteriumcycles.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/unisex
None 2.5k or below

 

[Sharky]

Forget the sizing charts.
If your current bike is comfortable, just measure the relative positions of the three contact points - bars, saddle and pedals or bottom bracket. Then with this info, go and measure the bikes you are testing.
The only other consideration is stand over height. You should be able to stand, with heals on the ground, without the cross bar doing damage.

Good luck

 

[monkers]

I bought the previous model Emonda in 2020. Mine is the slacker H2 fit. Like you I'm 175cm, though I have a leg length a little longer than you. I bought a size 56 since it was the only bike available at my at my LBS at that time. I was riding it with flat pedals and trainers. The bike felt too big. I solved this by cutting 20mm off the seat post and accordingly 20mm off the seat cap. It was a straight forward job that took just a few minutes.

Being shorter in the body than you, and probably a little narrower across the shoulders, I felt the bike was a little long and the bars a little wide. I bought new Bontrager bars that reduced the width by 20mm and the reach by about the same ( and cost just £30). I then had a bike that I could fettle with saddle position etc and was able to get comfortable.

Subsequently as I've got used to the bike, I've made the change to clipless pedals and shoes. This has meant that I've put the saddle up by the 20mm that I cut off in the first place. I also found that moving the saddle forward so that I sat more directly over the cranks meant that I again increased saddle height. I then changed my saddle to an SQLabs 612 (excellent) which has helped keep my position on the bike more in one place.

I've measured my frame and weirdly it comes out between size 56 and 58. Being older I will guess that I have less flexibility than you, making the H2 fit better for me.

Based on my experiences along the way, I guess my advice is to get a professional bike fit before doing anything else. Failing that, maybe try concentrating on moving the saddle fore and aft before concentrating on saddle height, and try riding the bike with a clipless shoe, pedal set up before deciding.

The Emonda is a great bike. Trek quality and warranty seem to be one of the best in class and their new threaded bottom bracket set up is much better than the previous BB90 ( though it is a little heavier as a result). I've upgraded my bike's wheels and tyres. The original budget Bontragers items are well made, but they are heavy and the Formula made hubs they are built on are poorly sealed, leading to frequent maintenance.

The Emonda will make a good friend - mine certainly has become so.

 

[Tapper3279]

If you really want to be racey a 120mm stem on that could work. All the pros deliberately size down to save weight & you can still stretch out & get low.

I think I want to avoid this. I do want it to be racier and more aggressive geometry than my current relaxed bike, but knowing how aggressive the Emonda already is, I know I won't want it even more aggressive than that by using a smaller size.

The Emonda may not be the right bike as others have said. Do the shop stock other brands?

They have other brands, although I've just been looking at the Emonda for just now, but may now start looking elsewhere.

Forget the sizing charts.
If your current bike is comfortable, just measure the relative positions of the three contact points - bars, saddle and pedals or bottom bracket. Then with this info, go and measure the bikes you are testing.
The only other consideration is stand over height. You should be able to stand, with heals on the ground, without the cross bar doing damage.
Good luck

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind!

 

[Tapper3279]

I bought the previous model Emonda in 2020. Mine is the slacker H2 fit. Like you I'm 175cm, though I have a leg length a little longer than you. I bought a size 56 since it was the only bike available at my at my LBS at that time. I was riding it with flat pedals and trainers. The bike felt too big. I solved this by cutting 20mm off the seat post and accordingly 20mm off the seat cap. It was a straight forward job that took just a few minutes.

Being shorter in the body than you, and probably a little narrower across the shoulders, I felt the bike was a little long and the bars a little wide. I bought new Bontrager bars that reduced the width by 20mm and the reach by about the same ( and cost just £30). I then had a bike that I could fettle with saddle position etc and was able to get comfortable.

Subsequently as I've got used to the bike, I've made the change to clipless pedals and shoes. This has meant that I've put the saddle up by the 20mm that I cut off in the first place. I also found that moving the saddle forward so that I sat more directly over the cranks meant that I again increased saddle height. I then changed my saddle to an SQLabs 612 (excellent) which has helped keep my position on the bike more in one place.

I've measured my frame and weirdly it comes out between size 56 and 58. Being older I will guess that I have less flexibility than you, making the H2 fit better for me.

Based on my experiences along the way, I guess my advice is to get a professional bike fit before doing anything else. Failing that, maybe try concentrating on moving the saddle fore and aft before concentrating on saddle height, and try riding the bike with a clipless shoe, pedal set up before deciding.

The Emonda is a great bike. Trek quality and warranty seem to be one of the best in class and their new threaded bottom bracket set up is much better than the previous BB90 ( though it is a little heavier as a result). I've upgraded my bike's wheels and tyres. The original budget Bontragers items are well made, but they are heavy and the Formula made hubs they are built on are poorly sealed, leading to frequent maintenance.

The Emonda will make a good friend - mine certainly has become so.

Thanks for the lengthy reply! I did ask about chopping off a small part of the seat post on the 54, but I was informed by the sales assistant that doing so would invalidate the lifetime frame warranty.

But I am interested to see the chopped seat post and chopped seat mast. Can you show some pictures of this please? or is there a thread?

 

[monkers]

Thanks for the lengthy reply! I did ask about chopping off a small part of the seat post on the 54, but I was informed by the sales assistant that doing so would invalidate the lifetime frame warranty.

But I am interested to see the chopped seat post and chopped seat mast. Can you show some pictures of this please? or is there a thread?

@Tapper3279

Hiya

Sorry for the delay in replying - I've been away for a week. The pictures don't reveal a great deal; I'll post some for you though.

I haven't cut my steerer as many folk seem to - in fact I have 3mm more since a change of stem required it.

I have simply removed 20mm from seat mast and cap; unnecessarily as it turned out, though it proved an advantage in making room for a ladder strap for my Bontrager day running light.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Spending north of £2k on a bike you have to chop a bit off the frame in order to make it fit you and invalidate the warranty in the process is the very definition of madness. Just buy something that can be made to fit the rider without having to butcher it.

 

[monkers]

Spending north of £2k on a bike you have to chop a bit off the frame in order to make it fit you and invalidate the warranty in the process is the very definition of madness. Just buy something that can be made to fit the rider without having to butcher it.

Thanks but I'm an engineer. If your skills are butchery, I'd advise you to leave well alone. I didn't pay north of £2k for my bike. I paid £1 000 for it new, but frankly how people choose to spend their money is a matter for them, and certainly not for you.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Spending north of £2k on a bike you have to chop a bit off the frame in order to make it fit you and invalidate the warranty in the process is the very definition of madness. Just buy something that can be made to fit the rider without having to butcher it.

Giant in particular, offer bicycles with one piece frames where the seatpost is cut at the top. Cutting posts in order to allow correct seat height isn't unusual either (it had to be done for my riding partner on hers)

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Giant in particular, offer bicycles with one piece frames where the seatpost is cut at the top. Cutting posts in order to allow correct seat height isn't unusual either (it had to be done for my riding partner on hers)

It's utterly bonkers. Steel frame, round seatpost, clamp at the top. Loosen clamp, raise or lower seatpost, tighten clamp. job done. The people designing this modern carbon stuff are just having a laugh!

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

It's utterly bonkers. Steel frame, round seatpost, clamp at the top. Loosen clamp, raise or lower seatpost, tighten clamp. job done. The people designing this modern carbon stuff are just having a laugh!

Nah it's just you.

 

[monkers]

It's utterly bonkers. Steel frame, round seatpost, clamp at the top. Loosen clamp, raise or lower seatpost, tighten clamp. job done. The people designing this modern carbon stuff are just having a laugh!

The thing is John that you say these things on repeat without bothering to consider what is being said - a mention of 'carbon' is enough to trigger you. I now urge you to consider that the Emonda seat post and seat mast despite being carbon are both round with a pretty conventional clamp. Loosen one clamp screw and raise or lower accordingly. Cutting seat masts, or steerers does not necessarily invalidate the warranty. I never bought a steel bike with a frame with a lifetime warranty before let alone one that provides cover from breaking it in an accident.

I don't dislike steel, titanium, or aluminium as a frame material, and I've seen failures in frames of all of these materials. This obsession with steel and resistance to progress looks a bit unnatural to me.

I'll ask you to note that at no point was my advice to buy a size 54 Emonda and cut it. Instead I laughed at myself for cutting 20mm off only to find that I didn't actually need to, and advised to try the bike with whatever pedal/ shoe/cleats were to be used rather than testing in flat shoes, and to get a bike fit before doing anything else; however these points seemed to have managed to get past you.

For me, and I don't pretend to be speaking for anybody else, but it gets a bit tiresome when you endlessly tell everyone that your opinion is the only right one.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

What's the point in building bikes with compact geometry; i.e. sloping top tube frames, then having the seat tube sticking right up above the top tube junction so it has to be cut down to lower the saddle?. You might as well just have a larger conventional frame with a horizontal top tube! Some of the designers of these bikes must be on drugs.
It's not the carbon per se I object to, it's the totally impractical execution of the use of carbon fibre. I'm perfectly OK with a carbon frame if it has the same aesthetics, flexibility and adaptability as it's steel equivalent. They never do though. Still wouldn't ride on carbon forks mind you, no matter what.