htfiles

According to the Competitive Cyclist I should be riding a bike with a 51-52cm top tube (C-C) and seat tube (C-C) of 55-57cm. Such a bike would be longer in the seat tube then a traditional squared road/track bike (TT = ST) and quite the opposite of say current compact frames.

Obviously the seatpost can be simply raised for frames with the right TT length, or seats moved forward for frames with the right ST length but then the comfort/power from the fit may be compromised.

What do you guys think? At ~5' 7" I'm not particularly tall, maybe I have long legs and short arms or torso?

My current bike, a Pinarello Prince from 2002 has the following dimensions:
S-T (C-C) 51
T-T (C-C) 53
Setback 14.1
Seat Angle 74 deg 15 min
Head Angle 72 deg 30 min
Fork Rake 4.3

Here's the fit calc's inputs and outputs:

Measurements
-------------------------------------------
Inseam: 85
Trunk: 57
Forearm: 34
Arm: 61
Thigh: 61
Lower Leg: 54
Sternal Notch: 142
Total Body Height: 171

The Competitive Fit (cm)
-------------------------------------------
Seat tube range c-c: 55.1 - 55.6
Seat tube range c-t: 56.8 - 57.3
Top tube length: 51.2 - 51.6
Stem Length: 10.5 - 11.1
BB-Saddle Position: 72.8 - 74.8
Saddle-Handlebar: 49.8 - 50.4
Saddle Setback: 6.2 - 6.6

The Eddy Fit (cm)
-------------------------------------------
Seat tube range c-c: 56.3 - 56.8
Seat tube range c-t: 58.0 - 58.5
Top tube length: 51.2 - 51.6
Stem Length: 9.4 - 10.0
BB-Saddle Position: 72.0 - 74.0
Saddle-Handlebar: 50.6 - 51.2
Saddle Setback: 7.4 - 7.8

dmb2786

haha. i'd have to pull it up, but when i did that fit calculator, they recommended a pretty ridiculously shaped bike.

mr handy

I have had it spit out some pretty crazy numbers myself. But i have also had it hit the ballpark.

htfiles

I'm actually fairly serious, even if the fit calc spits out #'s that make me wonder if I'm a freak.

With my current bike's geo specs listed above, I've had to do a few things I'd rather not have:

• Saddle is quite high (and near the end of the seatpost's safe height).
• Short stem (80mm) with a slight rise
• Stem near the top of the fork steer tube

I'd rather have a lower absolute saddle height (with the same leg extension), neutral or slightly negative rise stem, and a less stretched out & more comfortable reach to the hoods.

I've identified three stages of action:

• make small adjustments and read fit theory online
• pay for a professional fit
• have a custom frame made

I'm at the first stage and trying to figure out if the Competitive Cyclist fit calc is unnecessary leading me down the path of thinking a custom frame is the only way to acheive the fit, look, and handling goals I'd like.

haimtoeg

Seems to me your arm measurements are off - 61cm seems too short.

ben_san

If your inseam is really 33.5 inches (85cm) and you are really 5'7" then that's a sensible fit. I have a custom steel frame with a 59.5 seat tube and 55 top tube that fits great with a short stem - I'm 5'9" with the same inseam.

uke

htfiles

@Ben_San Thanks, that's the sort of feedback I'm looking for.

First I measured myself for each measurement (so some were not surprisingly difficult to do). This was the result:
Inseam: 85
Trunk: 61
Forearm: 32
Arm: 58
Thigh: 60
Lower Leg: 54
Sternal Notch: 143
Total Body Height: 173

Then I had my girlfriend measure me and the results were those shown in my first post. Inseam was the same in both cases. I had a textbook held firmly pressed into my crotch (fun stuff...) and made parallel to the floor by being pressed against the wall. Then measured floor to top of book. Hope that makes sense.

I'll go through the measurements again including inseam and arm length.

patentcad

I'll bet the CC bike weight calculator also tells you the bike you're ordering will weigh 13 lbs. and cost $8,000. At least the cost figures are accurate.

htfiles

competitive cyclist's arm measurement description:

Continue to hold the cylindrical object and extend your arm in front of you, holding your arm parallel to the ground. Try not to allow your shoulder to come forward. Make sure that the object in your hand is perpendicular to your arm. Locate the Pivot of the arm to shoulder point and measure from this point to the center of the object, which should fall in line with your knuckles. Measure both arms and average the measurements.

htfiles

My bike may be a Prince but it's on the north end of 8kg. Not exactly light, nor $8k

Psydotek

I'll counter with this one:

patentcad

Buy it someplace other than CC. Save a few dollars.

DaveSSS 

You may be the first short person I've heard from that may have more leg length to height than I do. I'm 168cm tall with an 83cm inseam and 73.5cm saddle height. I see nothing unusual about the bike that you have, but you haven't mentioned any details about the stem length, stem angle or spacers under the stem.

I would pay absolutely no attention to the ouput from the CC fit calculator. It's just about worthless, IMO.

FWIW, I ride a 51cm LOOK 585 that has a 74.5 STA, 53cm TT length and 125mm HTL. I have a total head tube stack of 145mm, with the headset and one 5mm spacer. I use a 73 degree x 110mm stem to produce about a 12cm drop from the saddle to the bars. I use short reach Easton EC90 SLX3 bars to help keep the stem length at 110mm. No stubby stems for me.

uke

Cracked me up.

akansaskid

I'm 70" tall with a 34" inseam (to the ground). Competitive Cyclist's calculator tells me I need a 58-59 seat tube and a 55.5 top tube. Kinda hard to find bikes like that. Got similar results from the LBS Fit Kit guy doing what he called a Quick Fit (1st cut).

My current 1979 road bike has a 58 top tube and 58 seat tube. I have it set for a 78 cm saddle to BB height. Competitive says it should be 79-81. Not sure I could even reach the pedals with that. I AM sure that the 58 top tube is too long, as it's an awkward reach to the hoods. I started a thread a couple of days ago about bike fit tradeoffs for guys with long legs (https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=494803). DaveSSS and others had some good comments there you might want to read.

wankel

I too suffer from Velociraptoresque body proportions. I've been looking for a cross or touring bike with the magic 58 st and 55 tt measurements as well. The closest thing I found (with a reasonably long head tube) is the Ridley Crossbow/Crosswind. Of course you should also take head and seat angles into consideration as they affect reach significantly.

htfiles

Thanks. I'm in Australia so I'm not even considering buying from CC.

I'm trying to get the best fit from my Prince possible (even at the expense of the 'look' of the bike).

AND

I'm considering a custom frame if it's the only way to get the right comfort, weight distribution, and look. If I fork out for custom I want perfect fit and for it to look great too.

htfiles

Thanks for the post DaveSSS. Leg length to height ratio:
you: 0.494
me: 0.497

I will have to redo these measurements because no one's ever commented on me having freakish proportions.

I will also provide more information on my bike setup (in addition to the frame geo already posted). Are there specific measure measurements I should obtain? I'll supply the stem spacer stack height, stem length, stem angle (if I can find it). You've listed 125mm HTL. What's HTL?

Short reach bars are something I really want to look into. I almost always feel more comfortable with my hands just back from the hoods near the curve of the bars (FSA Omega OS).

htfiles

Thanks for your post. I read through the thread you've linked. It was really worth the read. Cheers!

dsellinger

Just had to say yay xkcd.

htfiles

@Wankel Thanks for the info. I'll look into cross bikes and the two models you mentioned. Head and seat angles affect reach but handling too.

I'm looking to achieve maximum comfort and performance for 60-80km road rides (37-50 miles). I'm 24yrs old, doing small group rides of 100-120km per week (not racing) plus anywhere from 40-100km/week of commuting currently on my 52cm Kona PaddyWagon. In my opinion I'm not super flexible and don't have great core strength but I don't have any metrics or comparisons.

htfiles

@ cartoon posters

I had no idea velociraptors were such an 'in joke' with gamers or computer programmers or whatever you guys do. Glad you're having fun though.

I thought of saying T-Rex instead, but I didn't want to confuse people that I might be tall, which I'm clearly not. Leg length to height, arm length to leg length ratios are what I was trying to get at.

DaveSSS 

HTL is head tube length. What's really important is the length, with the headset and spacers (total stack height).

Enthalpic

I did question 1, you make it 37.26m and die in 6.21s

I don't think problem 2 can be fully answered with a single angle. Wouldn't the solution be a curve, as the raptors would be constantly changing their directions as you move. I would guess the initial angle would be 60 degree off of either side of vertical, towards the injured raptor.