djdelarosa25

Hi there! I bought my first road bike two days ago after using my dad's bikes for more than a year. In that time, I got pretty acquainted with all things cycling and you could say I know a few things about bikes.

My bike is a Giant Contend 2 and here's the geometry chart (giant-bicycles(dot)com/int/contend-2-2021#geometry). I'm 165 cm tall with a 77 cm inseam and according to the recommended sizing range, I could go for an XS or S. They didn't have any S available, so I went for the XS, which I was okay with since I thought I'm on the lowest end of the recommended range anyway if I went with S, and with XS I could get a longer stem and all that to compensate.

Here's a picture of my bike. (i(dot)imgur(dot)com/OK4xJ6X.jpg)

I took the whole day today and yesterday setting it up and finding what works for me. I swapped the 80 mm stem on it with a 100 mm one and to be honest, even 100 mm feels like the max I could use since I have a pretty short torso compared to my legs. It rides pretty similarly to my dad's old bike that I was using. Does everything look fine with, though? It kind of looks too small to me because of that sloped top tube, even though the reach is already pretty long for me with a 100 mm stem. Did I **** up by buying XS instead of S, or is everything alright and I'm just being pedantic?

Thanks a lot!

By the way, sorry for the manner in which I linked my stuff. I'm a new member.
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surveyor6

I am not able to see your attachment pic.
You may need to resize it smaller for it to appear.

alo

Here are those links.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/int/c...-2021#geometry

https://i.imgur.com/OK4xJ6X.jpg

AlmostTrick

Ride it around. How does it feel?

I'm taller than you but also have the longer legs vs torso build. It does seem you could have also fit the small, which would have given you less seat post length, and maybe the need to shorten the handlebar stem. Riding the larger size when in between sizes is my preference, but everyone is different.

Iride01 

Realize that when you rode that other bike, it might not have been set up perfectly for you and you simply got used to it. So don't necessarily go by the differences you feel between the two bikes. Unless you are having a real issue of pain.

If you ride this bike for a couple hundred miles and find that something it really causing you an annoyance, then you might look back to the other bike and try to figure out what is different about the two that might be causing you pain or other issues.

You can fit in a variety of positions on bikes with varying geometries and be perfectly comfortable or issue free on them all.

icemilkcoffee 

pic assist:

Looks fine to me. If it works for you it works for you. Don't let the purists tell you you've got too much seatpost showing. A long exposed carbon seatpost is the best suspension you can have.

AlmostTrick

I agree. My seat post comment only comes from experience as one with a similar long leg/short torso build that the OP claimed to have, and what's been more comfortable for me. If it works is what counts.

djdelarosa25

Thanks for all your comments! Finally I feel validated lol. I measured my dad's old road bike that I used and it has the exact same top tube length (51 cm) as my new bike, so hooray! The only difference is due to Giant's Compact Road Design; the seat tube on my bike is significantly shorter (43 vs 48 cm), but hey, I still have a lot of seatpost left.
Hmm, I do have that with my dad's old bike and even my friend's bike that's larger than what I would ride, but I very rarely encounter it so it's a non-issue for me.

It is! Good eyes, how did you know?