Wallonthefloor

I am not sure if it is too large.. It rides great but the story goes, I took my All City singlespeed to the shop to get fixed up and I have been wanting another one so to get home I pulled the trigger and purchased it! Now I made sure by asking the mechanic to look at my record in their sales that it is the same size as the other bike I had purchased there and he must have misread telling me that it was. So I ride home and people are telling me "thats a big bike!" and I'm like yeah.. I check my receipt and my old bike is specified to be 52cm the new one is in fact a 55cm! I am not sure which bike I fit correctly?



52cm

55cm

as you can tell on this one I am using much less seat post.
I think Im going to flip the stem and probably cut the fork.
I still don't know which size bike is correct.
Currently with the same amount of spacers the saddle lines up with the handlebars.

jma1st3r

where is that tape measure? measure first.

Iride01 

Is there another post you made in another thread sometime between you joining in 2011 and now that you gave your measurements that I'm supposed to go back and find? <grin>

So lots to consider. Too big in one of those old style frame really depends on if you can get the bars at a comfortable height when you have your saddle at the correct height for you. Though the higher the saddle can be from the frame, it might soften ever so slightly some of those road bumps.

I don't care for flat bars on pavement for riding more than an hour. People are probably getting tired of me stating that. But there it is, again. Doesn't have to be drops, but any other bar style will be better IMO, for riding any distance on pavement.

Flat bars have an advantage for some off road riding. So don't think me a total hater.

Number of spacer under the stem doesn't give anything to compare to the other. The frames are different sizes and the head tubes are longer on those old bikes as they get bigger. So the stack is higher and the same number of spacers put the bars at different height to your properly set saddle height between the two bikes. Or if the head tube is the same, then the stack is changed by the BB shell drop.

Wallonthefloor

Somebody else the same height 5ft11 is riding the same bike 55cm mine is still stock.
I think it looks more normal and fitting without the spacers, and yes I agree the wide bars are just for show, more comfortable are probably these mustache bars as pictured here, I do not own.
So I have different ranges of adjustability for both bikes I'm still deciding which one is the right size. blue vs pink

AnthonyG

Going by how much seatpost is exposed, the pink bike isn't too big for you, yet there is also the reach factor to consider.
Do you feel that your reaching too far forwards for the handlebars on the pink bike?
Are the handlebars too high on the pink bike?
Is the stem too short on the pink bike to make things work?

The pink bike is simply like an old school fit for you. The blue bike is a more modern fit for you.
Neither is right or wrong, they both work so its really about what you like.

xroadcharlie

I'm 5' 4" on a small frame bike and swapped bikes with a fellow about 6' tall on a large frame bike. My biggest concern the few minutes we switched was the standover height. The peddle stroke was off too, But I was OK with that. If I had adjusted the seat height I found the over size frame to be very comfortable. IMO if you're comfortable on the bike go for it. We put too much emphasis on numbers. There are far to many variables for a chart. It's a good starting point though buying new. Mostly it's when you can't stand over the bike, or if it's difficult to control that an oversze bike is not good.

jma1st3r

Bikeinsights.com

Assuming its the all city "big block" ...

The 52 vs 55 wireframe doesnt differ much in terms of reach and stack drastically.

Wallonthefloor

the wide bars are curved a little bit Im feeling pressure on my outer palms/wrists, Im wishing it was a straight bar or maybe farther away on the pink bike.

Parkyy16

Here are the steps you want to take generally if you already have a bike that fits well.

1. Make sure your saddle height is the same between the two bikes, provided that you're using the same shoes, pedals, and crank length(you can measure from center of bottom bracket to the top of the saddle).
2. Set the saddle setback(put the rear wheel perpendicularly against the wall, measure from the wall to the center of the bottom bracket, then measure from the wall to the tip of the saddle. The difference is the saddle setback).
3. Check the saddle height again if you changed the saddle setback. Generally every 3mm you move forward or backwards, 1mm of height needs to be changed(3mm forward, 1mm up. 3mm backwards, 1mm down).
4. Now, on to the front of the bike. Measure from tip of saddle to middle of the grip(where your palms will be on a regular riding hand position) - middle of the hoods on a drop bar, middle of the grips on flat bars
5. If too long, try to flip the stem up and/or place more spacers under the stem. If you don't have more room under the stem, you need a new stem(shorter).
6. If too short, try to flip the stem down and/or remove spacers from under the stem. if you cannot lower more or if the saddle to bar drop is too severe, you need a new stem(longer).
7. Stem length is fine within a surprisingly wide range. Generally, I've found that even a 50mm stem will feel fine for most road drop bars. It takes a little time to get used to the slightly twitchier handling, but it's not severe. If you have to use a stem lower than 60mm to get the reach you need, the frame is probably too long for you, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Some people like a faster handling front end on certain type of bikes. For fixed gear street riding, I can see some advantage in a faster handling front end.

When you're setting up the front of the bike, you're going to generally need to go for a ride at least once(the length of your usual rides on this bike). Pay attention to any pains, numbness, and discomforts that may appear. Depending on the discomfort, you may need to change the front of the bike. The rear of the bike is likely going to stay very similar through different types of fit.

Hope this helps, I just went through setting myself up on the front as well for a road bike. I knew the sizing was correct from a previous bike fit, just needed a few mm dialed in here and there. Had my first pain-free ride a few days ago, excited to get out there again after the weather clears up here.

AnthonyG

OK, well then the pink bike is definitely NOT too big. The only way that the pink bike could be too big is if you were forced to reach further for the handlebars than you wanted to.

stevel610 

Which one is more comfortable for you to ride? That one's the right size.

Wallonthefloor

Kind of just thought the size looked right and made the impulse buy before even riding it. I have realized there is no space in my standover height on this 55cm. Im not sure if this is a problem at all on my 52cm its an inch gap at least. Although the bike is to serve a different purpose how would the handling be effected with this size up for me?

AnthonyG

Meh. Are you riding the bike or standing over it? Standover clearance was never even a consideration in the old days, let alone the most important consideration to size a bike. At some point someone "invented" standover clearance, as the most important consideration in bike fit as a quick and lazy way to size bikes.
The larger bike is an "old school" fit. There was a time when everyone rode bikes sized like that and "standover clearance" hadn't been invented yet. The smaller frame is a new school fit. It's not right or wrong.

Only you can tell how the handling differs and report back to us, however fit and balance is only one factor. You need to look at differences in wheelbase and trail (head tube angle and fork offset) as well.

Rolla

Live and learn.

You bought the bike, so you tell us.

zandoval 

In the 90's I got a ChroMo FUJI for a great price. It was way to big for me in that I could not stand over the bar even on my toes. I rode it for several years and other than getting on and off it did not have any problems. Called it "My Horse"...