My first road bike - I prefer a more upright position - how to achieve this?

[cyberknight]

You have to alter bar height by moving the spacers above or below the stem, if you want to have a more upright position you could fit a shorter stem or a riser stem, lower then more spacers above it.

riser stem

 

[brucers]

Does it have to be curly bars? You could get a flat bar road bike with an adjustable stem.

 

[DCBassman]

Absolutely, or convert one, but it will be difficult to judge sizing, so buy as flat bar if possible. It worked for me, but then I'm a weird shape...

 

[Kevfm]

Hello all,

Thank you for the wisdom written.

I'd love to go for a second hand, but right now that doesn't seem possible either as people don't seem to be selling much besides a couple of £900+ Cannondales in my area (probably the lockdown). I think I will still go with the Triban as it seems to be really well reviewed, plus has gravel tires, which I'd not thought before to consider but a couple of good rides near me are hardpacked.

By the sounds of things, it seems best to go for the XL and make adjustments, such as potential new wider handle bars and adjusting seat. Would that be correct? My thinking there is that more space allows for more adjustments, and I would have space to shrink down.

Side note - do all bikes' bars raise or lower? I can't seem to find any info on whether the RC100 does. (If needed, best pictures of the bar are here: https://road.cc/content/review/250460-btwin-triban-100-road-bike).

Thanks a lot!

I got a triban RC500 - not sure if the geometry is the same as the 100. I'm 5'11" with 33" inside leg and relatively long arms. I got the L and fits me fine; I definitely would't want it any smaller. My seat is higher than the bars. I tried the M which felt like a kid's bike and the XL was OK for height but too long a reach.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

If you want an upright riding position, the most important dimension is the height of the head tube, since that sets the available range of bar height. I always go for the largest frame that will fit me and still be manageable to ride in traffic; i.e. I don't want the frame so big I don't have any standover clearance at all, in case I have to stop in a hurry. Leave the kids sized frames with silly amounts of seatpost sticking out for the kids to ride. Grown-ups should ride adult sized bikes!

 

[Blue Hills]

You can flip the stem to raise the bars, easy and free fix to see if it’s better

Very true.
I have a bike fitted hewitt.
Never felt right at all to me. Maybe my body is odd.
Felt nervous about returning to nice mr hewitt as he seemed so sure of his system and rig. And i know next to nowt about bike fitting theories.
He flipped the stem, now all is fine.

 

[MarkF]

I am 6' with 33" inside legs and have had Decathlon road bikes and find their L bigger than others I've had. My cousin at 6'5" can't ride them so I wouldn't buy one at your size (6'3") without finding out whether it's L or XL you need.

My riding is 50/50 too, over the past 20 years, 10+ road/drops bikes must have passed through my garage, they never last more than a few months as I mostly always grab a hybrid, I keep trying but am maybe fixed in a "hybrid" position forever.

 

[Sharky]

I am 6' with 33" inside legs and have had Decathlon road bikes and find their L bigger than others I've had. My cousin at 6'5" can't ride them so I wouldn't buy one at your size (6'3") without finding out whether it's L or XL you need.

My riding is 50/50 too, over the past 20 years, 10+ road/drops bikes must have passed through my garage, they never last more than a few months as I mostly always grab a hybrid, I keep trying but am maybe fixed in a "hybrid" position forever.

My riding is 99.9/0.1 in favour of a road/drop bikes. But on the one occasion when I did assemble a flat bar bike, I firstly put the saddle in the identical position (height and relative to the BB) as my road bike. Then set the handle bar the same relative position (reach and height to the saddle) as the flat horizontal part of the drop bars. Then added handle bar extensions.

This made the position on the MTB, riding on the bar extensions, identical to the road position, when riding on the brake hoods. My road bikes have compact drops, so not too severe a change in position and really only used for cornering and descending, when greater control and lower center of gravity is better.