My first bike!

[Jayhawk]

Hi and thanks to you who gave me advice on my first post. Yesterday I went to a small bike shop run by a very enthusiastic guy. He listened to what I said I thought I wanted and took it from there. He got me measured on a bike and concluded that I need a 62 or 63 cm frame. Now this limits choice quite a bit from what I can see. Lots seem to go up to 58cm. He is looking into what he can offer me. I have had a look on internet and have seen the following that have frames big enough: Felt Despatch, Surly Steamroller,Charge Plug, Specialized Langster. Any comments on these? I'm not worried too much about gearing at this stage as he will let me try and change the gearing until it suits me best. Budget is a consideration, but I've been around the block a few times and I'm not going to buy something because it's few quid cheaper but it's not right.
Thanks.

 

[Radius]

Well the langster is a fixie as is the Charge, not sure about the other two.
The Charge Plug is a good bike for the price and well loved by many fixie riders, mate's got one, it looks very vintage, especially the blue one with the brown bar tape and saddle. i'm sure you'd get along well with it (if you're looking for a fixie...).

 

[Joe24]

They are all fixed, well they have flip flop hubs.
I persoanly wouldnt go for the Langster, have a look on the forum in this section and see what happened to the wheels/hubs on a Langster.
The Felt Dispatch i like the look of. Surly Steam Roller doesnt look too bad, Charge Plug is nice, wouldnt have the racer version of it though.
Go for the one you like the look of better.
Felt is Alu with carbon forks( i think?) and the Surly and Charge are steel(i think?)

 

[Soltydog]

He got me measured on a bike and concluded that I need a 62 or 63 cm frame.

How tall are you ? I'm 6'5" with an inside leg of approx 35" to ground & I have 3 spesh bikes all 61cm frames which are fine.
Can't halp on the fixed tho, it's not my cup of tea

 

[Radius]

They are all fixed, well they have flip flop hubs.
I persoanly wouldnt go for the Langster, have a look on the forum in this section and see what happened to the wheels/hubs on a Langster.
The Felt Dispatch i like the look of. Surly Steam Roller doesnt look too bad, Charge Plug is nice, wouldnt have the racer version of it though.
Go for the one you like the look of better.
Felt is Alu with carbon forks( i think?) and the Surly and Charge are steel(i think?)

Yep I can confirm that

 

[Jayhawk]

How tall are you ? I'm 6'5" with an inside leg of approx 35" to ground & I have 3 spesh bikes all 61cm frames which are fine.
Can't halp on the fixed tho, it's not my cup of tea

I'm 6'1 with inside leg 34". The guide charts point to 58cm-60cm for my height, but the guy insists I need a 62cm or thereabouts.

 

[peanut]

I would question that recommendation . I am 6'0" and 33" inside leg and have always found a 23.5" frame more than adequate. In fact I am using a 23" frameset at the moment as my winter hack bike and its very comfortable.

You can get extended seat posts everywhere these days and you can always use a long stem 125mm + if you really need to.

I would recommend that you try a 58cm or 60cm ie 23" or 23.5" which will give you a huge increase in available choice.
Get the bike shop to adjust the seat tube height saddle setback and stem reach properly and I think you'll be more than comfortable

 

[peanut]

try this bike fit calculator. It takes a while and needs lots of tricky measurements . Haven't analysed the results yet.
intro and start here
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO&INTRO_LINK=NOREDIR


heres my result
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/z...OR&ANSWER=8&SITE.CODE=&STEP=9&FC_ANSWER_8=180

 

[Jayhawk]

Thanks Peanut, Got very similar results to you!

 

[peanut]

takes a while but its a very comprehensive result.
Did you read the three setup guides ? very interesting read.
I am going to completely reavaluate how I set up my bikes now.

oh almost forgot ...warm welcome to the forum Jayhawk

 

[Jayhawk]

Thanks for the welcome. I haven't read all the stuff about the setup yet. Printed off for gentle bedtime reading. Mrs Jayhawk will be thrilled.....:-)