kdosi

Hello!
I've got a friend who wants to sell his bike to me, but I'm out of town right now and can't try it out. I'm 5'9 and it's a 59cm bike. I know that's generally for taller people, but could it work?

Tusky

A lot of questions to ask. What kind of bike? What kind of cycling do you want to do?

Feed your info into the calculator here and get an idea of what might work:

Bike Fit Calculator | Find Your Bike Size | Competitive Cyclist

kdosi

Thanks, Tusky!
It's a 1994 Trek 1220. It's a road bike, but I'll mostly be using it to commute around the city.

LGHT

Wow that's a pretty big bike. I'm the same size and used to ridge a 58. It wasn't "optimal", but for the price I made it work with a much smaller stem. I now have a 54 and it fits like a glove, but the 58 was manageable.

JohnJ80

I'm 6'0" and having a frame made. The frame maker is essentially putting me on a 56. I had a 57/58 bike before and that was marginal.

My guess is that unless you have longer legs than average and longer arms than average, it wouldn't fit.

There is nothing worse than a bad bike fit.

J.

zs3889

I'm 5'9 too and I own two road bikes that are both 50 cm (one of them is 1994 Trek 2120). The seat post and stem are pretty high but they are not overextended and I haven't had any problem with the fitting. I would imagine 59 cm to be too big for me.

ThermionicScott 

Don't buy it until you can try it out. People vary, and height is a poor predictor of whether a particular frame will work for you.

CoMotionRider

I am 6' and all the charts have me on a 58. I got fitted after having some issues on my Cannondale (which actual size is 57.5) and the fitter said I was on the max size I should ride, and that a 56 what I should be on. My guess is that the 59 would be way to large.

jefft72

I am about 5'10" and bought a craigslist Centurion last spring that is about a 58cm. It is too big for me, but for rides <50 miles I felt good. My saddle is lower than you would normally see, but it worked. It currently has a 110mm stem.

What I have found out recently as I have been riding longer rides (>50 miles) is that my arms get very fatigued due to being stretched out. I ordered a shorter (80mm) stem with hopes that it could help the bike fit me better.

Short answer, in my experience I was great on rides <40 miles. Longer rides more stressful.

MRT2

I am 5'8" and ride a 55 cm bike. My guess is, 59 cm is way too big. It is no bargain if it doesn't fit.