Frame Job

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• @ridebikesdrinkbeer

  FFS stop talking about seat tube sizing like it matters.

  That would be a bit like you telling us your length without breaking it down.

  @ridebikesdrinkbeer

  I'm 6'3"³, mine's 585, my stem is 120mm, and my bike fits wonderfully.

  Meaningless.

• @the Engine

  I have two bikes - a steel Giordana and a Ridley Damocles Carbone. They live together in the garage and although they are both ridden by the same rider their frame sizes are very different and thus they treat me in different ways vying for my affections. One day I know I will open a garage containing two machines lying on their sides (drive sides up), I'll know what happened and (obviously) I'll write a play about it that will start like this:

  Two frames, both alike in dignity,

  In fair Callander, where we lay our scene,

  From ancient steel bike to new Carbone,

  Where oily chain makes civil hands unclean.

  Upon the fatal saddles of these two foes

  A pair of star-cross'd testes take their rest;

  Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

  Doth with their sensations bury their owners' zest.

  The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

  And the continuance of their owners' rage,

  Which, but their bicycles end, naught could remove,

  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

  The which if you with patient ears attend,

  What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

  "Star-cross'd testes" is a most excellent trope, sir.  And "bury their owners' zest" is the very height of tragic poesie. Chapeau.

• @ridebikesdrinkbeer agreed, but your mix of imperial and metric measurements is twisting my melon.

  I'm 183cm tall with a fairly long reach. My road bike has ETT of 560mm with a 130mm stem. My cx bike is also 560mm ETT but with a 120mm stem. The road bike is campag so I prefer my hand position behind the hood slightly for the thumb shift etc. My cx bike is shimano so I prefer to be closer to the hood for shifting. It seems simple but it took me a while to arrive at this position.

  The old 'bar should obscure front hub' fit principle has never worked for me. Does it work out for anyone?

• @ridebikesdrinkbeer

  I'm 6'3"³, mine's 585, my stem is 120mm, and my bike fits wonderfully.

  That's a classic post, mate. All caps berating of people talking about seatpost height, and then only giving your height in as justification for your frame fit.

• Check out the stem on this young stud.

• I'm 6 foot tall. All of my previous bikes were off the rack 56/56.5 frames with 100 or 90mm stems. I recently had a custom frame done by Hampsten and Steve fitted me to a 55TT and 56.5 ST with a 110 stem. Some other friends have custom frames and they are being sized to smaller frames with more stem (120mm+). This seems to be the trend with compact and traditional geometries.

• I am female, 5'10" and ride a 50cm Look. My track bike is a small Look. Personally, when I am lower in the front (which is often the case with a smaller headtube), I can activate my hamstrings better - much like being in TT position. My track bike buts my bullhorns about 4" above my front tire. I've tried the more "standard 53 and 54cm frames and they just feel too big.

• @frank

  @artman

  Look at this guy. He was pretty fast. Little bit o' quill stem showing there.

  And look at this guy who was faster than that guy. Slammed.

  This photo reminds me that most of Indurain, Delgado, and LeMond's bikes were actually built by Gueugneaud, who launched TVT after leaving LOOK and which eventually became Time. Most iconic carbon frames ever, if you ask me.

  And yet a slammed stem does not seem to be a requirement for winning multiple tours. Look at that stack height.

• @the Engine

  I have two bikes - a steel Giordana and a Ridley Damocles Carbone. They live together in the garage and although they are both ridden by the same rider their frame sizes are very different and thus they treat me in different ways vying for my affections. One day I know I will open a garage containing two machines lying on their sides (drive sides up), I'll know what happened and (obviously) I'll write a play about it that will start like this:

  Two frames, both alike in dignity,

  In fair Callander, where we lay our scene,

  From ancient steel bike to new Carbone,

  Where oily chain makes civil hands unclean.

  Upon the fatal saddles of these two foes

  A pair of star-cross'd testes take their rest;

  Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

  Doth with their sensations bury their owners' zest.

  The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

  And the continuance of their owners' rage,

  Which, but their bicycles end, naught could remove,

  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

  The which if you with patient ears attend,

  What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

  Give this man a badge. Some kind of badge. Sensational start to the play. Keep writing during the winter of your bicycle's discontent.

• @frank

  @ridebikesdrinkbeer

  I'm 6'3"³, mine's 585, my stem is 120mm, and my bike fits wonderfully.

  That's a classic post, mate. All caps berating of people talking about seatpost height, and then only giving your height in as justification for your frame fit.

  And in imperial measurements at that...