Triban 3 sizing advice

[Jouen]

Over Summer I started cycling and have racked up a few thousand miles on my heavy steel hybrid, now I've got my eyes on a road bike and have decided to get a Triban 3. I know the only true way to see if a bike is right for you is to try it out, but I live miles away from the nearest Decathlon and can't find the time to go anyway, so I was wondering if anybody had some advice.

My current hybrid has a 49cm seat tube and a 57cm top tube and I think it fits me quite well. I'm quite a small guy (5'6" with an inside leg of 29.5") so I probably should be looking at the 51cm/20.8" size (with this being the top tube length it seems). However, the 51cm model has 650c wheels which really puts me off because I'm used to 700c and there is so much more choice and availability for wheels, tubes, tyres and fenders. As a result I'm now looking at the 54cm/21.26" model with a 45cm seat tube and 700c wheels.

From research it seems like the Triban 3 is a small bike, with the 54cm being more like other manufacturers 52cm bikes. I've never ridden a road bike for any duration before so I'm not sure how the sizing guidelines differ from hybrid bikes. I'd like to know if anybody with similar measurements to me has any experience with the 54cm and what they would recommend.

Thanks.

 

[Robwiz]

I think you'd be fine on the 54cm – my son, who's a bit shorter than you, is fine on a B'Twin Forme 3 (the flat bar version of the Triban).

If you go to Decathlon's French website, there's a handy interactive size guide. In the text panel to the right of the picture, there's two rows of buttons with sizes – at the end of the second row there's a link 'Quelle taille choisir?'. Click that and you get a choice of riding style (sport or competition) and a slider to input your height. Slide it to your height (in cm) and it will suggest your ideal size. It worked for me.

 

[Jouen]

Merci beaucoup! It says I should be around a 54 which is fine. From what I've read online the 54 seems to refer to the top tube measured from the back of the seat post hole to the very front of the head tube, so in fact it's going to be slightly smaller than a 'real' 54 and smaller than my current bike. I'm thinking the extra length added by the drop handlebars will be more or less negated by the slightly shorter top tube, meaning the bike will be about the same size as my hybrid which seems comfortable enough.

 

[Robwiz]

Pleased to hear their site confirms intuition. You don't have to ride on the drops all the time! It will probably work better for you to set your bike up so that it feels right when you're riding on the hoods by changing the stem for a longer or shorter length, whichever would work best.

 

[dimples]

If it helps I am 5'7''/170cm. When I bought mine on sunday I opted for the 54cm and its ideal. I tried out the larger 57cm, while it felt marginally more comfortable on the drop bars, you rarely use them.

 

[Jouen]

If it helps I am 5'7''/170cm. When I bought mine on sunday I opted for the 54cm and its ideal. I tried out the larger 57cm, while it felt marginally more comfortable on the drop bars, you rarely use them.

Thanks, it sounds like the 54 is the way to go, I can always flip the stem to get a bit more reach if it's slightly too big but I expect I won't have any problems. How are you finding the bike so far?