Originally Posted by
masi61
A size 50 road bike for someone 5’3” should be workable. We could be of much more assistance if you could give a decent side photo as @rm -rf suggested.
You might try a zero setback seatpost if that doesn’t put you too far forward. This will bring the tops of your handlebars a bit closer.
Also, you didn’t say if this is a road bike but I’m assuming it is a drop bar road bike since you mentioned that your other bike is a hybrid.
I too am confused by some of the contradictions in your set up. Saying the frame is 2 sizes too small then saying that the seat is as low as it can go makes no sense to me - please clarify.
Being overweight with a belly does change your fit since getting low and being able to ride the drops might be uncomfortable for anything longer than a minute or so. Still factor in the drops in your mind because you need these drops as a safe descending position and for the pain reducing variety that they afford.
Bike fit is a bit of a moving target for most anybody I think but even more so if your weight yo-yo’s. As I have aged, I have learned to ride in a lower position without severe back or neck discomfort. I’ve even had herniated disc surgery but it doesn’t prevent me from getting into more of a racer position. So for stem fitting - I will flip my stem to get some upward rise if I’m too out of shape, but once I have 800 or 1,000 miles under my belt for the season the stem can get put back to horizontal. The type of stem that has an angle adjuster bolt with a built in protractor might be a useful tool as you experiment with different heights +/or angles. Once you know closer to your ideal stem length/angle, you can lose the protractor stem and just get the size stem (rigid) you need. I have a little metric tape measure that I use a lot and sometimes take fit notes and record them in a journal. You might check the top tube length, stem length and other measurement that could illuminate the difference between the hybrid that you are comfortable with and the new bike.
I wish you luck with optimizing your fit and look forward to that photo. Maybe you could have someone take your picture from the side while you are riding - the visual would really help us internet bike fitters provide some true feedback.
I purchased the setback post based on your suggestion a couple of weeks ago. It did help with my lower body positioning ---my knees were too far forward.
Although I did buy a post with the same length as the original , it "bottoms out" when inserted with about 5 inches of post exposed. Luckily, that is a fine height for me--I am not overstretched legwise even with various fore/aft positions. I got it tilted and the person did it too high, wayyyy too high up so when I rode it again it was a mess...I had to get someone else to adjust it level again and the fore/aft got screwed up in the process. I have been experimenting to get a good position with that, but so far I have not had issues with the height no matter what.
I have read a lot of the posts in this subforum and what I'm thinking is that maybe my arms are proportionally short and my legs are longish for my height.
Thanks for the point about the drops, I'll keep that in mind.
I have an adjustable stem on my hybrid and I do indeed like being able to play with heights. I would like to buy one for the road bike which is why I was trying to figure out if it needs to be longer or shorter. I would have thought longer before the little rotation experiment, but as was stated above, seems like my reach is too long in that direction.
From reading other posts, this may be related to flexibility too, not just belly size (ugh I hate discussing a belly!)
@
fietsbob I feel very......can't even think of a negative enough adjective.....but I really do wish the handlebars could be higher! I know that takes the "road bike" out of it but maybe all of this other stuff is just a roundabout way of compensating for that.