RoadWearier

It's a 56cm. I am 5'10 with about 33 inch inseam. While comfortable it seems a lot smaller than the large hybrid I was riding. Is it going to be a problem?

chain_whipped

You're good. +1 on Medici. Just lose the barf tape.

RoadWearier

Yeah and I'm going to ask for new bottle holders. The yellow is pretty bad. I tried to take the pedals off with an adjustable wrench and some basic Allen wrenches and it was a no go (I know about the threads but they still wouldn't loosen). So for now I'm just going to change to flat pedals. It's a cool bike.

clubman 

You're a little longer in the inseam at that height, so a longer/taller stem may be in order. Maybe a little setback in the seat post?

You likely know all this. Nice frame.

rustystrings61 

Yay, you got it! Congratulations!

jiangshi

Try a 120 or 130 stem

Chuck M 

It doesn't look to be a terrible fit. Take some short neighborhood spins and get a feel of it then go from there.

Ditch the adjustable wrench for a pedal wrench.

You have a nice house.

base2 

The ergonomics of those hoods and bars with the big sweepy-swoopy would drive me nuts. If it were me I'd swap for some modern 31.8 ergo bars and an Innicycle headset to allow a threadless stem.

But at 5-10 on a 56 it's hard to go wrong...Is it comfortable? Then you did good.

Classtime 

Awesome second bike. It looks like your legs are short for your height and I don’t know what inseam means. I’m 5’ 10” and wear 34” long Levi’s. My Medici is a 59 with a 57cm CTC top tube, a 120mm stem, a Concor clamped in the middle of the rails raised to 76.5cm saddle height. When you find a larger Pro Strada just as nice, buy it. See if you like the fit better. Then…
Meanwhile a bird in hand…

A great place to start with fit (in addition to asking for our advice), is the method made popular by Greg Lemond.
Another picture of the bike — drive side— without you on it so we can see the seatpost, saddle, stem?

USAZorro

I think you're close. I like clubman's guidance. If you're used to a hybrid, it likely will take a bit to adjust to lower bars. I'd start by rotating the bars up 5 - 10 degrees before doing anything else and see how that feels. If it still feels "too low" might want to raise it a bit (if you can do so safely) and ease into a lower position as you get used to it. Of course, if you aren't trying to get every bit of aero advantage out of it, just get it comfortable. As for stem reach - ride around a few curves and see what you think of the handling. If it feels like it naturally goes where you want, don't monkey with stem reach. It it feels "twitchy", go longer. I can't imagine you should go shorter, but if steering feels sluggish, try shorter reach.

Very nice bike, btw.

bikingshearer 

I agree that nothing looks obviously amiss in your photos. I can't say more than that without seeing you from the side actually riding, at least in photos and preferably in person. Even then, all I could offer is whether it looks right to me, and while I have the benefit of a bunch of years riding, I am no kind of bike fit expert. But as mentioned, the real test (and ultimately the only one that matters) is if it is comfortable to you. Somebody like me could get you reasonably close. An actual bike fitter working with you can dial it in.

Example: A friend had Dave Kirk build him a frame some years back. (Gawd, it's beautiful.) Dave said my friend needed X (I think it was a longer stem than my friend was used to). My friend said "But I like Y." Dave said "trust me." My friend, being a bright fellow, trusted Dave. Dave was right. Like me, my friend knew enough to get the fit pretty close. Dave Kirk knew how to make it spot on.

John E

I would rather have a frame that is slightly too short in the top tube (easily compensated with a longer reach stem, as suggested above) or slightly too short in height (again, easily compensated), than one that is either too long or too tall for me.

I am 5'8" tall, and a 55 C-T road frame is perfect for me. I rode a too-tall-for-me 23" Nishiki Competition for 20 years, but it was so short in the top tube that I made it work and actually needed a stem with a 130mm reach.

The standard advice of being able to stand comfortably over the top tube and "elbow against the saddle nose, fingertips just reaching the top of the handlebar" works pretty well for me.

joesch

lots of good better fit suggestions, +1 on longer stem

kroil and a pedal wrench

clipless pedals are really nice once you get used to them
clips and classic pedals for period correctness

Enjoy!

jdawginsc 

Congratulations!

I am a hair under 5’11” with a 32” inseam. 56.5cm is my perfect frame for the most part. I can make 55 and 57 work okay.

Steel Charlie

Those are some thick heeled shoes ! You have less room than you think you do. Minor adjustments will make it fit just fine. Tilt the bars up until the hoods are in a comfy place to ride on.

Beauty of a bike BTW. Don't let some smooth talker cheat you out of it. You can ride that one till death do you part and never regret it.

shoota 

This is the correct answer. It feels small because of the bar/brake lever situation.

RoadWearier

Yes. I have raised the stem up to maximum height (actually maybe 5mm above that) and have rotated the bars up. Definitely seems to help. Brakes needed work. Put n regular $10 Walmart pedals for now. I'm just trying to get it rideable before I start investing in it. The chain was dry and rust tinged and the chrome forks needed the tin foil trick which helped. The front side pull brake is not contracting evenly. But it shifts Beautifully. Better than any bike I have had yet. The gears are whisper quiet.

rustystrings61 

This is so vastly superior to the other bikes you looked at!

I highly recommend the Eldi pedal wrench - I got mine 20+ years ago and use it all the time.

You may want to consider getting a Nitto Technomic stem, which would not detract from the bike’s looks and would unobtrusively get you another inch or so in height. You might want another cm or so in the extension length, but those are fine stems.

Seriously, AWESOME score on that one!

thinktubes 

Size should be right. Bars look a bit narrow for a broad-shouldered lad

RoadWearier

Thanks man. I ended up getting it for $100 for an even better deal. I rode it all over the city today about 17 miles. I finally understand the joy of a GOOD steel bike. Despite the skinny high pressure tires it is FAR smoother than any aluminum bike I have owned and at least to me equally as nice a ride as the two carbon fiber bikes I have had. Obviously not ever going to be sub-20 pounds, but even with the ****** $10 Walmart pedals I put on it, it was only 26 pounds. Not too bad. Average speed on my Trek FX3 was in the 12ish mph zone. This was 14mph with what I would call moderate effort. I was worried about the gear cluster with these steep hills we have but it was no problem. Maybe I finally found a keeper!

I'll look at that stem. One problem I did have was that the old stem seems frozen in place. I THINK I raised it with a mallet by pounding UP on it, but it was 10:30 at night when I was working on it so it might have already been where it was. It WILL not come down despite my pounding on it. Maybe I was doing something wrong. I dunno.

GeezyRider 

The front brake cable looks taut. Perhaps that is preventing the stem from going up any further?

RoadWearier

That could be true. The cable has been incorporated into the handlebar tape. I'm hoping if I free it up I'll have more length. Maybe wishful thinking but who knows?