Choosing Gravel Bike dilemma

[kingspirit]

Hi All,

I'm currently looking at two options: Cannodale Topstone 1 (alloy) ans Fuji Jari 1.1 (alloy).
The things is, I really like a lot Cannondale Topstone, they way it looks and etc but Cannondale size M doesn't fit me well, I feel slightly stretched on it, where the Fuji Jari 1.1 I like less but in size M it fits me well.

So here is the dilemma:
To go for the bike I really like (Cannondale) then play with stem and try to adapt it to fit me well or go for the bike I like less (Fuji Jari 1.1) which fits me well straight away.

What is you thoughts? What would you do in my situation ?

Cheers !

 

[vickster]

Buy the one you want. In the right size which might be the Small Cannondale. easier to make a slightly small bike bigger than the other way round. Stems are cheap.
Can you actually get either soon?

 

[dan_bo]

Try a cyclocross bike instead they're miles better. Next big thing I've heard.

 

[iluvmybike]

Get a bike fit first to establish all your measurements THEN buy the appropriate bike

 

[kingspirit]

Buy the one you want. In the right size which might be the Small Cannondale. easier to make a slightly small bike bigger than the other way round. Stems are cheap.
Can you actually get either soon?

Yep, the Cannondale Topstone 1 and Fuji Jari 1.1 both on stock. The thing is with small Cannondale Topstone it has a short seat tube (just 45cm), I have a long legs 86cm (34inch), my recommended saddle height is 76-77cm, so way to much seat will be exposed

 

[vickster]

Try the Cannondale? Have you sat on them? Would be shop be able to switch to a shorter stem for you to try?

 

[Venod]

If you are comparing a Medium Topstone with a 54cm Fuji, the Fuji has a 1cm shorter virtual top tube, so if the bars are the same reach you will only need a 1cm shorter stem to make them the same reach.
Cannondale make fantastic alloy frames.

 

[battered]

Try a cyclocross bike instead they're miles better. Next big thing I've heard.

Oh Christ. There must be a new marketing executive at Cannondale. For 2 consecutive Sundays in November, when stock finally comes available, every hipster in the world will be racing around a disused gravel pit 5 miles outside Nuneaton, carrying the bike up any bill more than 10 metres long. By the third week they will have worked out that it's the most boring bicycle related sport in the world, they'll stay at home and use the bike to get to the pub.

 

[dan_bo]

Oh Christ. There must be a new marketing executive at Cannondale. For 2 consecutive Sundays in November, when stock finally comes available, every hipster in the world will be racing around a disused gravel pit 5 miles outside Nuneaton, carrying the bike up any bill more than 10 metres long. By the third week they will have worked out that it's the most boring bicycle related sport in the world, they'll stay at home and use the bike to get to the pub.

Fair point but cx racing is cool AF.

 

[kingspirit]

Get a bike fit first to establish all your measurements THEN buy the appropriate bike

Unfortunately no bikes fits available where I live, but those who is available doesn't do bike fit without the bike

 

[kingspirit]

If you are comparing a Medium Topstone with a 54cm Fuji, the Fuji has a 1cm shorter virtual top tube, so if the bars are the same reach you will only need a 1cm shorter stem to make them the same reach.
Cannondale make fantastic alloy frames.

Cannondale is size M has the 38.5 reach, Fuji M size (54) has a 37.2 reach. So to make the reach smaller on a medium Cannodale i would need shorter stem? Cannondale has a 9mm stem, so 8mm stem might be just to short for a good handling. Not sure though

 

[Venod]

Cannondale is size M has the 38.5 reach, Fuji M size (54) has a 37.2 reach. So to make the reach smaller on a medium Cannodale i would need shorter stem? Cannondale has a 9mm stem, so 8mm stem might be just to short for a good handling. Not sure though

You can also fit shorter reach bars, assuming the ones on the Cannondale are not the shortest.

I bought a Synapse, I am between a Medium and a Large, the medium had a very short seat tube IMO, I measured my best fitting bike, which is a medium, and it was very close to the large Synapse, I have a 100mm stem on the medium bike with short reach bars, to get the same reach on the Synapse I had to fit a 90mm stem (it came with 100mm) as the bars were longer reach and the brake hoods were longer, I could have fitted short reach bars to get the same effect but a stem change was the easy solution.

An 80mm will sharpen the steering a little, not a bad thing off road, perhaps somebody running an 80mm stem on a similar bike would like to comment, I have a 80mm on the MTB, but that's a different beast, some people run much shorter on MTB's

 

[vickster]

Does the Cannondale have a layback seat post? An inline one might help, as well as the position of the saddle on the rails (assuming it doesn’t mess knee position up)

 

[T4tomo]

80mm stem will be fine or 70mm but you probably don't want to go too much shorter than that. Saddle to hoods is the key dimension, you can steal 10mm on saddle position quite easily with out putting knee to pedal spindle out unduly. you can also steal 20mm by rotating the bars down and then and moving the hoods back up the bars to reduce reach (does mean you need to rewrap the tape from the hoods upwards, but that's not too tricky) - see link below
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/good-bike-fit-tip-for-reach-issues.274848/

That said, even with a lot of seat post showing on the S, that's not necessarily an issue, and if you were concerned you could swap out the 350mm for a 400/450mm post for extra assurance. The frame / post is designed to cope with those forces and more post showing = comfier ride. My gravel bike is a marginally smaller frame than my road bike, which I think helps handing etc off road. the stack height is much lower than the medium (30mm) which you could eliminated by flipping the stem if you though the saddle to bar drop was too much.

I alwaty think its easier to start from a smaller bike and increase reach, that to reduce being stretched out too much

 

[Vantage]

Go for the bike which fits better. You can't see it while you're riding it so it's looks only matter when you're off it.