djhdnz

What are some race frames with geometry suitable for someone with a long lower body, and short torso?

Right now i'm on a Caad, which my fitter says is a terrible choice. Bit of a shame as i love that bike.

Everything suggested is a boring endurance/sportive type ride. I race lots of crits, hilly road races, so looking something more suited to that. ideally from a mainstream brand as i feel they are better value

airforce1

Hope you find an answer. I have the opposite problem: short legs, long torso.

Kontact 

Anything with a relatively tall head tube/stack for its size. Those bikes are tall for their length.

rm -rf

What does your fitter say about your current bike?
Too much reach?
Bars too low or too high?

A few geometry examples in size 56:
Cann. Cadd12: stack 551, reach 387
Trek Madone: stack 554, reach 395. "race"
Trek Domane: stack 591, reach 377. "endurance"
Trek Emonda: stack 577, reach 387. "long ride"
Spec Venge pro: stack 564, reach 395. "race"
Spec Tarmac pro: stack 565, reach 395. "race"

fietsbob

up sloping top tubes are a common thing in frame design now, but for long legs mayne start with a tall seat post
on a horizontal top tube frame with the kind of top tube lengths you find comfortable..\

Your time may have arrived to order a custom frame..

Kontact 

Why would lowering the effective bar height with a level TT frame be the way to deal with long legs and short reach? That's the opposite of what he needs.

It is also what he already has with the CAAD.

Carbonfiberboy 

Women's specific frames are all like that. Nothing wrong with pink.

79pmooney

How long are your arms? I was 6'1/2" with 34" Pants inseam and 34" shirt sleeves. Arms that go forever. (Edit: my wingspan was 6'2" + on very narrow shoulders before I broke my collarbones. Now my wingspan is a lot less, but my reach forward hasn't change. I'm the guy who can reach anything at a crowded dinner table without getting up.) Seated I look short. My challenge on bikes was always finding long enough reach although I never knew this until my 40s. I raced a 59 cm Fuji Pro with longish horizontal top tube and 11 cm stem. I rode it slammed (all my stems were dented from the headset nuts) and made it a point to ride with my arms bent at close to 90 degrees to keep my back horizontal. Years later, I was having real comfort issues with a stock largish touring bike I was using as a commuter. Drew it up on graph paper, then added my old race bike as best as I remembered it. Saw that the commuter handlebars were far closer to my shoulders. I also noticed that I could put a roughly 30 degree line through my racing bike handlebar tops. That line would be perpendicular to a line from my shoulders, so handlebars anywhere on that line would be approximately the same distance and my arm bend would be the same. Also that at the much higher level of my commuter stem (dictated by the much longer headtube), it would require a 189 cm stem to reach the sloping line.

I gambled. Had a local framebuilder make me a traditional stem in steel and 18 cm long. 180 mm. Long! First ride - wow! First real ride was 75 miles of fix gear hills. No pain! Now all my bikes have stems that put the bars on that line.

I have all my bikes drawn in CAD, all sharing a common bottom bracket location. WHen I look at a new bike, I bring a tape measure. I get enough dimensons to draw up the frame with the to p of the headtube. Now I know what stem will be required to reach that line. Unless a stock stem can be purchased or I am willing to spend (and wait) for a $200+ custom, I pass on that frame.

If you have followed me so far, you see that the short top tube, long headtube frames that fitter suggested would be, for me, close to torture, even though as a long legged, short torso'd guy, that's what I "should" ride. I am not going to say your fitter is wrong. I've never seen you. But do listen to your body.

Ben

CliffordK

What is your height? Male/Female?

There is a Gitane Traveller that is perfect for a short body/long legs

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...requested.html

CliffordK

I'm not convinced it is too bad to size-up a frame, especially with the new sloping top tubes.

However, some of the vintage MTBs have a unique geometry.

My 26" to 700c Litespeed conversion has a horizontal TT with about a 53cm ST (to top), and 60cm TT.

And, of course, using long stems, 120 or 130mm or so. Perhaps even longer, one can get extra length.

Kontact 

The ideal was the old "compact" frame, which was a standard geometry road frame with a short seat tube. So it was sloping, but with a low head tube. But that geometry isn't seen much anymore.

AnthonyG

Some more details would help people give you suggestions.

Nominally, if say you currently ride a standard 56cm frame what you are looking for is a 54cm frame that has a tall head tube length for a 54cm frame.

So in this example you want the 54cm frames "Reach" with the 56cm frames "Stack".

fietsbob

Dont take it As Is ..forks with uncut steel; steering tubes can bring up the handlebars .. No to Carbon steerer forks in this situation

have dealer get replacement fork if factory pre cuts fork too short. (unless flipped and slammed race posture is wanted)


You are free to make out his shopping list.. as to brands , from the dealers you know he can visit.

Kontact 

That doesn't answer the question of why someone with long legs would purposely choose the opposite geometry of what would help them, as you suggested.

fietsbob

Stubby stem, high rise steerer ?

As I said time to consider a made to measure custom frame, built just for you, the mystery rider, (Noob OP)

who is unhappy with anything conveniently mass produced.
but they want convenient branded stuff..

good luck , shut off the computer, go to a bike shop and try bikes in person , Kid.


here all you get is arguments, not solutions..









...

Kontact 

You're implying that a bike that is tall while not being particularly long would be unreasonable for someone who's legs are tall but reach is not.

Why do you say that? And why would a low and long bike with a custom fork steerer be better? I'm just trying to understand your suggestions and why you are against the obvious solution.

Wildwood 

Love that CAAD, keep it.?

ccinnz

Agreed... I'm 6' with a 35" inseam and ride a 62cm Guru Praemio R, most in the head tube which is some 24cm which is large. I love it. I prefer a more Eddie fit and this is perfect. You can also see it is tall for its length.

tangerineowl

Eddy Merckx Milano 72.

RayLee

Nailed it, I am only 6'2 but have more leg than average for my height so its always about finding a taller stack.

OP I found the Specialized Hover bars (15mm rise, pretty short reach, shallow drop) helped me make a decent fit perfect. They have 2 aluminum models in several widths one with flare and one without for $55 and a carbon without flare for $275. I have both of the aluminum models

flared aluminum
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ho...=219074-134016

standard aluminum
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/ho...=219271-133188

standard carbon
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/s-...=219676-131213

fietsbob

women tend to be proportioned like that.. but would rarely be 6'2" outside of like the WNBA..

Kontact 

No, they are not. Women and men are proportioned the same on average. Women bend at the waist differently than men.

fietsbob

Degree anatomy & physiology ?

Trakhak

It appears that Kontact is right. Georgena Terry (who introduced the concept of designing modern bikes for women in the 1980s) says this:

"There are studies which measure the lengths of men’s and women’s legs, arms, upper bodies, and so on. These measurements show that women have shorter legs and longer torsos than men as a proportion of their heights."

https://www.womenscycling.ca/blog/geo...ifferent-mens/

She goes on to explain why many women (regardless of their leg/arm/torso proportions) are more comfortable on bikes with female-specific geometry.

Kontact 

The guy who designed the Kontact saddle does. And I worked for one of the top fitters in the US for several years. There is a bunch of DOD data on body proportions available to anyone who wants to read it.

Basically, you were just repeating a wives tale.