Originally Posted by Gary Fountain

Thanks for the photos and it looks like a nice bike. I can fully understand wanting to make it your long term bike. As I intimated earlier, it is difficult to comment on a bike fit from a photo and the angle the camera position to you, the subject, can change our (the viewer's) perspective but it's much better to have a photo or two, or three than nothing at all.

That is true. A 2 dimensional image can only convey so much.

The third photo shows your right leg extended quite well but your heel is down and I'm wondering if this is your natural riding position?

I would like my saddle to be higher. I never noticed that I dropped my heels like that. It’s a holdover from MTB cornering and control techniques. I do it habitually when I coast on any bike because I trained myself to always do it on my MTB. But that’s only useful when I’m standing crouched, or with my seatpost dropped.

My view is that it does look small for you but not as bad as I imagined. Your body looks like it's pretty well in proportion to your height - no disproportionately long legs or arms, etc. I'm also a little perplexed as to why you like a very short stem as I would naturally start at a length of, say, 120mm. Perhaps you do have disproportionately longer legs and my initial opinion of your body's proportions is incorrect?

I believe that raising the post and stem made the fit much closer. I also think that I may think I need a short stem because of what @dddd said about me sliding off the rear of the saddle. I never considered that before, but on my old MTB I raced, it was much faster for me with the saddle forward and higher than I initially thought it should be. I also had a pretty long reach on that bike. But never felt uncomfortable (other than the unnatural grip angle of all mtb flat bars)

Is there any way of putting your components back onto your old frame and take some setup measurements? It sounds like your old frame was a better fit?

Unfortunately I sold it about 6 years ago. I’ve had this bike for 4 or 5. I just never really rode it longer than an hour or 2, and I always thought I had just lost my form.

How long have you been doing these long rides for? Is it a case of just putting up with the pain until your body gets used to it? Perhaps aching wrists, neck and back might come from riding second rate roads and riding long distances? Road vibration often transmits through the front fork to your hands causing pain. It could go some was into making your whole body react to a poor road surface. You are riding a long way. You may need to develop methods of relieving your body from your constant riding position to alleviate foot pain, etc. while out on a ride.

It is probably At least partially the need for me to condition more. I have put in some very long days on the bike in the past, but I have only been adding the miles on starting this year after having about 4 years gap. I think a large issue is speed. With groups I ride with I often spend long times coasting and it always wears on me to be off power especially over the cracked pavement.

My son is 6' 3" and I have tried to give him 62cm frames with 130mm stems but he still complains that the bike is too small. You, on the other hand feel a more compact riding position is more comfortable. Everyone is different. The comfortable position is what you are after and your old bike was much better for you. I, on the other hand usually ride a 58cm frame but I honestly can't drop my frame size to 57cm as I feel too cramped loosing power and it starts to hurt my body more. I can, however, go up in size to 60cm and be comfortable. I even have bikes with a 62cm seat tube and can ride them with more comfort then a 57cm frame. But.....everyone is different.

Seeing your old frame was a 62cm, I think that is a good place to start your quest for a good quality frame. I really hope you can re-assemble your old frame enough to take some set-up measurements and perhaps start your frame search again. I would probably sell the frame you just bought and look for another 62cm frame. You may loose valuable money doing this but if you are going to be riding long distances, it will be worth it in the long run. Don't disregard the top tube length as these can change significantly on a 62cm frame. And....an 80mm stem does sound really short. I recommend looking at Italian style frames that often have a longer seat tube to the top tube.

I believe you’re right here. I believe that I’m highly intolerant of smaller bikes... my mtb is much longer, my cruiser which I’m comfortable on for 2-3 hours is relatively huge compared to a road bike. The root of the whole issue could be mostly down to insufficient saddle height.

I wish i could get my okd frame back, but it was stolen a week after I sold it.
If my frame is 'my size' I'd probably set myself up on the bike in stages. First, I'd set my body on the bike. Height of saddle to give a slight bend of the knee whilst the pedal is at it's lowest while actually riding and saddle position backwards or forwards to position my knee correctly. An indicator of knee position I have sometimes used for a road bike: With you in position get a friend to drop a vertical line down from the front of your knee and see where it intersects your foot on the pedal while the pedal crank and foot are at a 3 o'clock position. I have been told it should intersect at roughly the pedal axle position. Sometimes a re-positioning of the saddle can adjust this position.

After this, I would adjust my handlebar reach. On a frame the correct size and using an average length stem, the reach should automatically be reasonably close to right. Thats why I do this adjustment second.

All this can change depending on the frame's geometry as well as the purpose for the actual bike. I've had frames with very relaxes seat tube angles (70.5 degree) and upright seat tube angles 975 degrees). As well as differing tube lengths. Basically I try to achieve the same position for my body but the purpose of the bike can change that.

Perhaps paying a good bikeshop to measure you up for frame fit might be money well spent. But finding a bike fitter that actually knows what he/she is talking about might be another difficulty.

As you said at the beginning of this thread, "My bike doesn't fit.....". Your seatpost has to be extended well past it's safe limit to find a comfortable length. You need a different bike.

I agree with all of your bike setup methodologies, if I had been mentally vigilant I would have measured 4 years ago before I bought it. Then again before I built it up! Haha. I also can see from the pictures that the angle of my back is unnatural and I need to do some core exercises and stretching so I am able to properly take advantage of a longer reach.

Originally Posted by RiddleOfSteel

I'd say your saddle height looks like it's in a good spot. Saddle setback as well. You seem most natural in position in that second photo, IMO. A 62-64cm frame (CTT) with a shorter (57cm or so) top tube seems like a good fit. That classic bar profile/drop in combination with those 8-speed levers is also increasing your reach. Compact-profile bars would, set up correctly, disallow an elevation drop (where the tops of the hoods transition to the tops of the bar) and a smooth bar-to-hood-top transition would allow a flat plane for your hands to rest on, getting you pretty darn close to your second photo where you're riding "on the tops" (of the bars). You're pretty darn close, just need to find a frame to play along.

Yes I think a 64/58 would be amazing! The STI shifters did increase my comfort but I couldn’t quantify why. I want to try out a modern drop to get that nice flat area! A second “tops” sort of. .

Originally Posted by thinktubes

You look a little crunched up around the neck and shoulders. Maybe experiment with a lomger stem.

Earlier this year I moved my seat a few mm forward. This resulted in neck pain that didn't go away unit I went with a 1cm longer stem.

If I've learned nothing else in decades of cycling, it's that small changes can cause big differences in fit and comfort.
I definitely need to stretch out, it’s like a catch 22 that sitting more upright causes more pain that seems to be cured by sitting even more uprightly

Originally Posted by dddd

Adding a couple of notes here.

If a bike's saddle is too low, the rider will find themself sliding rearward on the saddle, perhaps even past the rear edge, in search of leg extension.
This then forces the rider to reach further forward to the bars.

I also often see riders using too much saddle setback, and so then needing a shorter stem to restore a comfortable reach to the bars.

So a bit of raising and moving forward of the saddle corrects at least a couple of the problems that I see.

"...I also slid my seat slightly forward. I put my seat to the max line...."

slightly forward really helped my knees especially. Noticeable difference. But I definitely need it to be higher.
Glad to see that some of my favorite "fixes" seem to have paid off!
But don't let the MAX line affect where your final bike setup ends up, just get a longer post. I'm also a lightweight, and since a forward saddle position further reduces bending force of the post I can certainly bring the line out of the lug a good bit while experimenting with fit.

The foward positioning of the saddle also eases the effort of the rider's getting out of (and back into) the saddle, which can improve the preservation of valuable momentum during such position changes, and also spares the rider's tired knees.