Road-bike fitting help.

galwayguy85

Hi Guys.

My old Trek 1.2 (58cm frame, year 2011) was a write-off in a recent accident. With what little money I got from insurance I've decided to get a new bike and get a slightly higher quality ride along with it.

I am looking at a ROSE XEON TEAM GF-3000 at the moment. Link below.

https://www.rosebikes.com/bike/rose-xeon-team-gf-3000-818850/aid:818874

I've been to Rose's German store already and tried out that particular model. I live in Germany btw, despite growing up in Ireland.

I was impressed by the ride. It was a 59 cm frame.

I am trying to order the bike online at the moment. There are several things to config such as the size of the frame, naturally, and other variables I've never been forced to give much thought to... my last bike, the Trek, was bought directly from the store and little or no measurement was ever done. I just got on with things and rode it!

I am 183 cm in height exactly. I weight between 85 and 90 Kg (depending on the season!). My inseam is 80 cm.

My guess is that I would be best off with the 59cm frame? The next smallest and the next biggest are 57cm and 61cm, respectively.

For cranksets, the options are all Ultegra FC-8600. There are four to choose from...
50/34
53/39
52/36
46/36

Which to choose? I have no interest in racing etc. I really want a comfortable bike for group rides with my local club. I get most satisfaction from hilly-rides.

Also can anybody clue me in on what length crankset to get?

165mm
170mm
172,5mm
175mm

... are the available options. 175mm is the suggestion the website is making based on my intended frame size (59 cm)

The cassette is a Shimano Ultegra CS-6800 11-speed. The only other choice is a Shimano Dura Ace CS-R9100 11-speed for 160 euro more! I think this choice is already made for me.

The chain, I'll leave as is.

There are load of other things to choose from, such as bar-tape etc. I'll stick with the default choice here. Some items, such as the brake type, for example, don't afford you the option to change anything.

The next area that concerns me is the stem? Again, comfort (with the odd dash of speed on the downhills) is my priority here. The test bike I rode had a 110 mm stem and it seemed a good fit.

I have attached a screenshot of the default suggestions.

Thanks for the helps lads.

nilhg

OP, firstly I'm no expert so take the following with a big pinch of salt but looking at the Rose and your old Trek it would seem to me that a 59cm Rose would be slightly bigger than a 58 Trek and that it's usually easier to make a slightly too small frame fit than a slightly too big.

Going by your quoted inseam measurement and Rose's guide on the geometry tab you'd be going for a 53 or 55, I'd suggest emailing Rose with the details you gave us above and getting their input, they are usually quite good about things like that, it's not in their interest to sell you a bike that doesn't fit.

As for the crankset your Trek would most likely have had 172.5 and 50/34 if that was OK for you no real reason to change though with the move up to 11 speed and an 11-32 cassette 52/36 would probably work well for you as well.

Stem length will depend on the frame size you choose, so best discussed in that context

galwayguy85

Hi nilhg

Thanks for your well-informed feedback. Really appreciated.

I tried using the calculator on the Rose website but was somewhat surprised when it suggested the 53 and 55 cm frames. The 58cm Trek (which I still have in the garage) has much the same geometry as the Rose I intend to purchase. 53 vs 58/59 cm seems like rather a large gap?

When I was at the store, they took and recorded my measurements. The two slightly different models of bike, as far as I can recall, were both 59cm. The first model was more of a race-type bike and I was hunched over the bars completely. Was far happier with the riding posture on the GF-3000. I've tried contacting the store to get my exact measurements (as they recorded them) but have had no joy.

I've tried using other bike measurement websites to get an idea of the size and the majority come back to around 58-60cm frame size. Strange.

nilhg

If it's any help to you I'm 185cm and 83 inseam and I ride a 56cm Felt, though the geometry on that is fairly extreme, long and low, my winter bike is 60cm Trek which has about the same reach but much more stack, it shouldn't work but I have over 35000km done on it without any issues....

My brother is probably between us in size, he had a 55cm Rose pro sl, recently he traded up to the model you're going for in a 57.

Re the online calculator, inseam is the measurement that seems to make the biggest difference, your 80cm would suggest you have shortish legs and a long torso, if that doesn't seem correct I'd redo that measurement.

ximo

Hi!

I'm no expert either and didn't had the chance to check the geometries from Trek or Rose. I agree on the advise from nilhg.

For what is worth, I'm 185 tall and around 85kg weight. I know I'd never be confortable in a frame larger than 57cm, being 56cm my generally preferred size.
I think one of the most important things for comfort is to get the reach right. It will depend on the length of your torso, your arms and your flexibility. I guess you are much flexible than me and have shorter legs and therefore longer torso.
Lately I'm a fan of this guy:
https://youtu.be/3BoRGbutUec
He has many videos on many aspects of a bike fit.
Maybe a professional bike fit could be very convinient to help you to make the right decision?

Another option is, if you are confortable on your current bike, take a piece of paper, measure your current bike configuration and stick to it.

Far from an expert either, but while researching new road bikes recently enough before going into shops for one and browsing online size charts they would have put me on anything between a 49 to a 56 frame depending on brand, go back to the rose shop and get it right I say , everyone is different and you a spending way more than I did and on a brand that will make a bike to fit you!!!!!

rtmie

I have bought two rode bikes but not from cgf range, bought a pro SL and a Xeon CRS. I am 184 tall with i84 inside leg.
In both cases I went for 57 frame.
But I needed to get a longer than normal stem,130mm.
So in short I'd say 57 or 59. If you have the advantage of being able to go to the shop then get their advice on size.

To the more general points:
First they are great to deal with and super bikes in my experience, definitely recommend.
Wrt crank set - depends on fitness / desire to race. In general 50/34 is the leisure cyclists friend and is probably what was on your trek.
Crank length is usually standard at 172.5 unless you are especially tall or on a smaller frame.
For cassette the ultegra is all you need , I wouldn't see need to goto Dura ace for extra money.

Wrt to stem length, don't worry excessively, Rose will allow you to exchange stem with a period of time after purchase, I think 6 weeks. Again avail of your ability to visit store and get advise. If not get something approximate, and get a fit locally and replace. If you drop a frame size maybe go a slightly longer stem.

galwayguy85

All wonderful advise guys, I really am amazed at how insightful everyone is.

The snag with Rose is that they only have 2 stores in all of Germany. I travelled to one of them about 4 weekends ago. I had to wait 2 hours to get an assistant and thus hop on a bike to test it out!! In the store I was at, you could not walk out of the shop with a bike under your arm. Everything must be ordered and can take 3-4 weeks to arrive. Despite this, most agree that they make good bikes.

I'll contact them again on their general support line and see if they can help me decide between frame sizes. But you've helped take a lot of the mystery out of the other variables.

Thanks.

rtmie

I found them very good at dealing with queries, even some of the clueless ones I sent when buying my first bike. Don't be afraid of sounding newbie or stupid - ask them anything you need to make you comfortable in your purchase.
As a direct only supplier that has to be core to their service.