flipped4bikes

Seems very helpful to me, IMO. You want good SO, but not so much that your reach is severely compromised. Seems that a 52" or 50" is a better frame size than 46" ever will be.....

isotopesope

fwiw, my wife is 5'6" and we wanted to get her a cross-check. i typically fit bikes for myself mainly based on top tube length... however, with much too much scrutinizing on the SO height compared to her inseam, we went with the 42. she didn't want it to be a "koochie krusher". ha!

the smaller sizes are VERY compact. more than we thought. we got her 42 and built it up, but it was too small. especially the top tube. we probably could've used a longer stem and lots of seatpost, but it really was just too small. the standover must be measured up at the headtube, where the top tube is the highest... also where you're not really going to be standing. so it's the actual standover, but not really an "effective" standover.

we're going to get her another frame, either the 50 crosscheck or the 48 soma doublecross, but we're going to focus on the effective top tube length of around 53 to 54cm, and worry less about the standover, as both makers have compact geometry on the smaller frames.

hamr22

Alrocket: Just pick a size, ride the crap out of it. If you can't make it fit with adjusments and adaptation, figure out what size would work better and sell the frame on ebay. People scarf up CC's all the time for darn near reatail price.

Alrocket

Might be helpful if I was starting off with zero information. As you can see from the extended discussion in the thread, I've been thinking a lot about it.

Yeah that's what I'm thinkin.

I read somewhere (probably Surly CC page) that the SO was measured at the 1/2 way mark on the (real!) TT.

I did better than that - I got the LBS to order the 50 with the proviso that if it doesn't fit they order in the next instead. Don't even have to go as far as ebay, although you're dead right - I've been watching CC auctions and they go like hotcakes.

Thanks guys, hopefully my 50 is the business

highlyselassie

Is there not something of similar dimensions you can try out at the LBS?

Alrocket

We couldn't find anything suitable that was built up. I did try a Claude Butler Levante in the other shop, but CB aren't interested in putting detailed specs online from what I can see.

Anyway I want to see the CC geometry in reality. And if the 50 is too small, no worres, I'll be ordering a 52 instead. They're treating me good cos I'm a regular, nothing to do with my plan to get an Ultegra groupset which made the $$ signs appear in their eyes

hairlessbill

I thought that last bit of advice from the Surly guy was pretty insightful. Your personal preference and riding style go a long way into ultimately determining which size/geometry frame you choose.

When I first started seriously riding, I rode a 50cm Peugeot Triathlon which had a pretty aggressive geometry (it was the 80's) - high seat, low stem. It was great for young knees and a young guy who was a wanna-be racer.

For offroad riding I like the smallest frame I could fit into because northeast singletrack tends to be very technical so I had in succession; 15.5" Fisher, 16" Bridgestone, 17" Klein. All pretty small bikes which I also used on the road extensively. I toured for 14 days on the Fisher, centuries/commute on the Bstone, MS150's on the Klein. I could make all of those bikes work for whatever I needed by swapping the stems/handlebars and messing with seat setback because the effective top tubes were long enough for these options.

Over the years I acquired a 52cm Radac, a 53 Paramount, a 56 RB-1, and a 42cm XO-1. The only bike I couldn't get to fit me correctly was the XO-1 because it was too small and I everytime I had enough stem to make it fit it felt like I was so far over the front wheel that I looked and felt ridiculous. Riding offroad with that much weight on top of the front wheel would have been suicidal.

So in the space of 20 years or riding I went from a 50cm frame where there was significant height difference between seat and stem (it looked so cool!) and gearing for younger knees (42/52 with 13-21 freewheel) to my current 54cm frames (my RB-1 and Surly - triples on both with 13-32 rears) and gearing/position for battered knees and less-limber back. Those bikes are used for long rides where there is usually a long climb (welcome to Colorado!) followed by a long descent. Anything smaller and I always felt a little crimped for air. The 56cm RB-1 was great for climbing but felt a little too stretched out on the flats and descents. I made that bike work for me too with a short stem but that's how I settled on 53/54cm being the right size for me and my riding.

You can make practically any bike within your range of sizes work but within that range I think you have to decide how this bike will primarily be used and how you are going to ride it. The guys who recommended that I stick to my road size based that on the fact that I told them I was not planning on doing races or serious offroad riding, just road riding and some local fireroads.

halfro

Just curious what size frame you ended up with. I'm 5'6" so I'm thinking a 50 or 46. Thanks...

Elisdad

I'm 5'6 with a 29 inseam and I ride a 49cm Jake the Snake. I've not raced it yet, but it seems to work well for me as a trail/road bike.

DSJ13

How tall are y'all and what size sirrus do you ride?