First Drop Bar

[walt1010]

I've been cycling on cycleways and road for about 12 months, on an mtb. I''m 61yo, and approx 6ft 1inch or 186cm. I have an artificial hip as well as a few other issues, but I do 100-400km monthly. I'd like to start doing a once-weekly commute of 15miles each way, in summer.
My bike is fine, but a bit slow for the commute. I've looked at getting a used gravel bike, and the best value for decent gearsets and hydraulic brakes seems to be the Arkose and ADV bikes.
I'm finding the sizing puzzling: With the ADV bike guide I fit comfortably into the top end of their size guidance for a Large (181-189cm, top tube = 575mm, reach = 393mm). With the Arkose bike the large tops out at 6 foot 1inch (178-186). It has a top tube of 582mm and a reach of 400m.The Arkose XL (6ft1-6ft4) has figures of 598 and 410 for the top tube and reach respectively.
So to the newbie its puzzling, the ADV is advising their large is suitable for slightly taller people than the Arkose, and yet the bike's top tube and reach numbers are slightly smaller than those of the Arkose.
Obviously I'll test them before buying, but I'd be interested if anyone has an opinion? My first impression is that either the ADV Large or the Arkose XL would be the better choices, before riding them.

 

[HLaB]

Your doing the right thing trying before you buy but with my last bike I'd did 41,000 at one point a lbs manager started measuring it and declared, "that bike is to big for you". It had me paranoid even though I'd done circa 30,000 miles on it in comfort and did some research. I did find it was about 1cm too big for me but by the most aggressive sporting fit, 0.5cm too big by another fit system, but by a French comfort fit it was actually about 2cm too small. Fit systems basically vary and you have to find what is right for you.

 

[MichaelW2]

Firstly, establish the crank length supplied with each bike. This determines the saddle position which in turn affects bar position.
When comparing 2 bikes I prefer to eliminate all angles and use [X,Y] with the bottom bracket at [0,0].