Excuse the muffin top (yes I have one), but I do not have an enormous gut as shown in the pics, it's a loose shirt hanging down post ride and stuck to my back with sweat so not the most flattering.

Me:

I'm 5'5" 165 lbs and I *think* my legs are average (30" jeans inseam) but my torso is really short, while my arms are a little long. Fingertip to mid chest indicates that my armspan is 2" more than my height.

The Bike:

The bike is a 48s, which for Colnago is the equivalent of a 52 for any other manufacturer (52.7cm ETT). It has a geometry that splits the difference between race and endurance, sort of an in-between.

The Feel:

I bought this bike earlier this week and it's really, really comfortable in all positions, but I'm stretched ~1.5 cm when on the hoods and only the hoods. Tops feel good, drops feel great (when holding the flat part of the drops, I actually cruise in this a lot just as comfortably as the tops), and way down in the drops feels really good as well and I can do that for a good while also. I'm comfortable standing out of the saddle and pedaling hard and it's only my first road bike. So far I've had it out for a few 20 mile rides and had no pain of any kind anywhere.

By the LeMond 0.833 x inseam rule and a self-measured pelvic inseam (admittedly not a great measurement doing it by myself), the saddle should come up another 2-2.5 cm or so, depending how good my measurement was. I should also note I can touch the ground while sitting on the saddle and can bend my toe a bit in that position as well, so the saddle probably is low. Standover is right at the limit with the jewels resting solidly on the tube, but in real world dismounts it's just fine - my small Sirrus is the same way for this. Saddle is currently set dead center on the seat post, not moved forward or back at all. I also don't fall forward if I put my hands where they should go on the hoods and then lift my hands off the hoods.

I have not yet done the included fitting for it (in the process of scheduling), so this is the off-the-shelf configuration with just a ballpark saddle adjustment to get out on the road. Stock stem length is 90mm, all spacers are under the stem (note Colnago requires one small 5mm spacer above the stem).

Literally my only complaint is the hoods reach is a tad long. I seem to meet every rule of thumb for this being the right size, at least with the saddle where it currently is (elbow at front edge of saddle to fingertips at edge of handlebars is right on, front hub is obscured from view whether I'm where I should be on the hoods (slightly stretched) or where I naturally want to put my hands (a little bit back, not enough to change the hub view location), and to my best knowledge my torso/shoulders are at about a 90 degree angle). Note that the pic is ever so slightly skewed as I am using my left arm to hold myself up against the countertop.

Other Info:

I rode a 49cm 2018 Specialized Allez (the equivalent of the next size down on this Colnago). Specialized relaxed the Allez geometry a bit for the 2018 models. The 2018 has a 51.5cm ETT, which is the exact same as the next size down of this Colnago I bought (which was unavailable to test ride). The Allez for the most part felt awful and cramped; the bike felt really small under me which wasn't a bad thing, but it was just so cramped, knees in chest, painfully cramped drops. By comparison, the moment I sat on this Colnago and started rolling it immediately felt like the one, like it was just perfect. I actually didn't notice the slightly long reach until about half way through my first test ride. I did also find a size chart for this Colnago saying that someone 5'3"-5'6" with a 27"-30" inseam should be on a 48s, which puts me right there.

The Pics:

The bike as it sits:




Where I should be on the hoods (note I still have a tiny elbow bend, but I can also lock my elbows here if I want):




Where I feel most natural on the hoods:



The Question:

I wonder if the bike is too big because of the reach (and I suppose the standover could be a wee bit better in true standover test mode (as opposed to real world dismounts)), but when I look at the pictures the bike does not look too big under me at all and I meet all the starting point rules of thumb for fit. I should note though that I might be slightly more stretched if that saddle does come up. The identical stem is available in 80 or 70mm, I did order an 80mm and I will bring it to the fitting just in case they want to swap.

What do you think? Is the bike the right size or is it a size too big? Obviously I am still on crappy platform pedals and indoor soccer shoes (waiting for 5800 pedals to arrive) and need to do the fitting, but just based on what I've described and what you see, do you think I'm on the right size bike? It seems like a nearly perfectly fit bike off the shelf sans a centimeter or two to the hoods, so it seems like it should be easy to dial in? Can't imagine such a small variance on one single measurement when all else is right would make or break a frame size as being correct or not? I honestly think I'm just paranoid from spending the entire week reading every fit thread on the internet.

Good eye on the brake levers, the bars are level (may look angled up in pics) but after I said I'd take the bike and before I picked it up later that night the sales guy I had been working with said he scooted the hoods up the bars a couple millimeters (just what little he could do with the limits of the existing bar tape). To be honest I can't really tell any difference in reach and the start of the hoods are still basically flat with the bar tops so I'll probably mention at the fitting to just set them back down a tad to where they were so the brake levers are vertical again to give me a tad more brake squeeze in the drops.

I do wonder if the slight reach is just my mediocre flexibility. I do have a bit of weight on the hands but I think some of that is just a need to improve core strength...when I catch myself leaning on the hoods I can stop doing it and take the weight off while staying on the hoods, so that's good.

The bike size looks good. Some tweaking is always necessary to get things perfect, and as your body adapts and fitness changes.

I don't think the saddle looks too low, going by the angle of your knee at full extention. Those formulas always seem to want to put my saddle-to-bb or saddle-to-pedal 2-2.5 cm too high. Have a look at Steve hogg's take on saddle height. That seems to make more sense to me than the formulas do.

Ride it for a while, see what feels right, see what feels wrong. Get clipless pedals. Ride it some more. Then get a real fit.

You Tube

Thanks, took it out again for 20 miles yesterday and was pretty good about not letting weight be on the hands, and the thumbs on the hoods felt really ergonomic, but my hands still wanted to rest a little bit back on the hoods - still think the reach to the hoods is just a bit long and also feel the saddle angle should be tilted up a degree or so, but I haven't adjusted the saddle height yet either. Was going to raise it 1-1.5 cm and loosened the post pretty much all the way and it wouldn't budge, the LBS had the same problem and had to kind of manhandle it and said it was common for the integrated Colnago clamps to be stubborn, so I just tightened it back up since I didn't want to mess anything up.

Still feels like the right size overall, just gotta reduce that reach a little and I think it will feel great.

400-500 miles on it now, did the fitting today with the LBS owner. Saddle came up about 1.5 cm and the fitter basically said either the stock 90mm or the identical 80mm stem I brought to the fitting would work. Decided to try the 80mm since I lengthened the reach a bit by raising the saddle, so I'll ride for a while with that and reacclimate and report back. Just rode it around some side streets for ten minutes so hard to gauge the reach change but the saddle height is much, much better.