somebikeguy 

Hi all I am looking for an older cantilever brake style Ritchey Swisscross. In a very general sense, would I look for dimensions similar to my classic steel road bikes, such as my 90's Lemond Alpe d'Huez or my '69 Bottechhia? I'm confused by the size charts I've found online as the Large nominal 57 does not sound all that large to me. I am 5'-8" and intend to use the bike for road and gravel riding, none of it competitive. Will use the largest tires that fit, presume 38 or maybe 40 if 650b. https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/ritc...nti-2012-2017/

Ritchey's website (which only shows the new model) doesn't have sizing guidance by rider height. https://ritcheylogic.com/bike/frames...-disc-frameset

My two road bikes measure as follow, and they're comfortable to me. I ride them with very little seatpost stick-out.

Top Tube C-C: 58.5 Bottechia, 57 Lemond
Seat Tube C-Top: 58.5 Bottechia, 56.5 Lemond
Standover 80.5 Lemond

Also... if ya got a Ritchey gathering dust, send me a pm

KeatonR

I had the original Swiss Cross, in the late 1990s. Should never have parted with it.

I'm 5'11" and wear pants inseam of 30". I had the 58cm Ritchey originally but ended up trading it in for the 56. For me, that was a perfect fit. Since then, I've owned a 55cm Lemond Poprad and now have a 56cm Gunnar Hyper X and a 56cm Surly LHT. Attaching pics of the three bikes so you can see how much seatpost I have showing.

somebikeguy 

Much appreciated. I called Ritchey and they said "Small" aka 51cm is recommended for "5'-3" to 5'-8". I know that lots of seatpost seems to be the way for compact frames but this being a more or less classic road frame I'm not seeing why I wouldn't aim for a larger size and use less post. Photos of my two road rigs below.

Ritchey also advised that Reach and Stack are the dims they'd pay most attention to. Again this steers me closer to the 57cm.

Reach Bottechia: 40.5cm
Reach Lemond: 41cm
Reach SC 51cm: 37-38cm (canti vs disc)
Reach SC 57cm: 39cm

Eric F 

Hmmm...My thought would be much smaller, but people have their own preferences. I'm 5'-9" with a 32" inseam. My Lemond Zurich was a 53. Most of my bikes are 54 or "Medium".

Does it work to use a frame built for 700c rim brakes with 650b wheels? I would think the brakes wouldn't line up properly, but maybe I'm wrong.

somebikeguy 

I should say - both my roadbikes landed in my lap and I've ridden them for years. I never fussed much over their fit but they both feel good. The only new bike I've bought and consulted on sizing for is so different its not useful (small Cotic Flaremax full susp)

grolby

Are you looking for a 90’s Swiss Cross or the more recent 2010’s model? Geometry for the former might be hard to come by. I happen to have a copy of the geometry chart for the latter, as I owned a 2014 Swiss Cross before upgrading to the current gen disc brake version. I’m 5’5” and rode a 51, which fitted more or less perfectly. That would be a very small size for someone 5’8”. The 53 or maybe the 55 would be more appropriate. I see what you mean about the 57 being closer to your road bikes on reach, but the thing is, the Ritchey Swiss Cross is not a “classic road frame” at all. It’s a cyclocross racing frame, to an even greater degree than the current disc version. If you plan to ride it on gravel or off-road, which I assume you do, you won’t want to have the same reach that you have on your road bike, you’ll want it to be shorter. My cyclocross bikes have usually had around 1.5 - 2 cm less reach overall than my road bike. Someone taller than me might have proportionally even more reduction in reach than that, but 2 cm is a good starting point. The 53 and 55 cm models of the 2010’s V1 Swiss Cross are only 3 mm different in reach (380 vs 383 mm) but 2 cm different in stack (558 vs 579 mm), so stack and stand over are probably the factors to decide on.

somebikeguy 

Thanks all. Im looking at the Canti frame from the 2010s with carbon fork and revised headset. Yes i want to ride on and off road. Some pure road riding then as gnarley as I feel happy doing on approx 38s with mild knobs maybe. I think I found a 55 that could work…

Eric F 

I'm doubtful that the frame will fit 38s, but I could be wrong. CX frames - particularly of the cantilever era - were often designed around the UCI max tire width of 33mm.

somebikeguy 

Ive read a few comment this frame can take 38s and the disc can take 40s. Ritchey confirmed on the disc and said the canti was ‘a bit below’

somebikeguy 

Recall also reading that 650b doesn't buy much addl width on account of the chainstay shape.

Would be happy to hear from someone who has tried!

Eric F 

Good to know.

Lots of good tire options out there. I'm currently really enjoying a 35mm Pirelli Gravel M (front) and H (rear) combination on my gravel bike. They roll pretty well on the road, and grip as much as I need in dirt (which typically includes singletrack with some moderately chunky sections). I've run 38s and 40s on my bike, as well, and have found that the 35s serve me just fine. That said, lots of folks are happy going wider.

Eric F 

How would that work on a rim brake bike? It seems to me that the brakes wouldn't line up with a different rim diameter. Maybe I'm missing something.

somebikeguy 

With caliper brakes you have bout 20mm adjustment, after that you buy long reach brakes ie tektro. I dont know about cantis, maybe someone can weigh in.

Eric F 

You might want to research that a bit more. As I understand it, even long reach caliper brakes don't have enough adjustment for 650 wheels on a frame built for 700s. They also suck for power. With a cantilever brake, the brake posts would need to be moved lower.

somebikeguy 

Yep for sure and what I was saying is that my understanding is the swisscross will handle the tires I want to run at 700c and there are very small returns from going 650 ok this particular frame so Ill likely stick with 700.

grolby

It fits 38s just fine. I wouldn’t try and push it further but it has very comfortable clearance at that size. People who haven’t owned or ridden the specific bike should really stop generalizing about cyclocross frame clearance based on UCI rules. There are some canti cx frames out there that max out at about 35 but most of them aren’t that limited. If they don’t have personal experience with the bike or specific information from someone who does, they just don’t know.

I wouldn’t try and mess with the wheel size on a rim brake cx bike regardless. The chainstay shaping thing is about the current disc bike.

t2p

just judging by exposed seatpost - those two bikes are very close to being a size too big - if not too big

I don’t believe a gravel bike sized in a similar manner would be an ideal choice if you plan to ride on challenging areas and / or dismounting frequently