Every time I read one of these "what size should I order?" threads, I'm glad I ride steel bikes with horizontal top tubes. At least you pretty much know where you stand with those, size-wise. Modern frame geometry is plain weird, IMHO, and just seems to cause endless buyer confusion and badly fitting bikes. I really don't know why they insist on all the silly angles and extreme sloping top tubes. They don't give you any benefit over a regular frame.
With the old-school stuff, you could easily compare an equivalent sized Raleigh, Dawes, or Carlton etc as a 23" frame was a 23" frame no matter who made it. All you then had to deal with was small variations in top tube length and stem reach.
