Hello All,
I have posted many times here in the last few months regarding questions on which bike to buy. I have been having a lot of trouble finding something that fits me well. I am 6'4" tall, 36" inseam with short to average length arms. My problem is on the very large frames my inseam fits well, but I feel too layed out due to my short reach. Or, I find a bike that feels great cockpit wise, but then I have a bunch of seatpost out to get the leg extension. I'ts driving me nuts, just when I think I have found the perfect bike someone else comes along and says it is too small, or the salesman will say that the size you need and then I feel stretched out. ARGH!!!!
I have heard of shops that do a professional fitting, but I don't know of any locally. I found one in San Diego (Trek Bicycle superstore), but thats quite a drive for me. Anybody have a shop in the LA area that they like that offers this sort of service. Also, does anybody know of a shop that sells both Specialized and Lemond? I like a bike from each and would love to test them out back to back rather than at different stores where I forget which one I liked better.
On a side note, I really like the way the 2004 Lemond Buenos Aries feels cockpit wise as well on the test ride. I was convinced this was the one. I then later went to another shop to look at another bike and they had a BA as well in the largest size (61cm) and there they said it was too small. I did have quite a bit of seatpost out (8" or so estimate), but that brought the seat in line with the stock stem. The stem has a fair amount of upward angle to it. So my question is if the large amount of seatpost extension brought the seat to a suitable location in relation to the bars on a stock setup, isn't this how much it should be extended by design? I dont believe there were any extra risers if any? How much seatpost extension is too much when shopping for a bike? None of the bikes I tested had the post past the min insertion point. Should I give up on compact geometry, based on my size?
So many questions, please help
Best regards,
Marc Webster
I have posted many times here in the last few months regarding questions on which bike to buy. I have been having a lot of trouble finding something that fits me well. I am 6'4" tall, 36" inseam with short to average length arms. My problem is on the very large frames my inseam fits well, but I feel too layed out due to my short reach. Or, I find a bike that feels great cockpit wise, but then I have a bunch of seatpost out to get the leg extension. I'ts driving me nuts, just when I think I have found the perfect bike someone else comes along and says it is too small, or the salesman will say that the size you need and then I feel stretched out. ARGH!!!!
I have heard of shops that do a professional fitting, but I don't know of any locally. I found one in San Diego (Trek Bicycle superstore), but thats quite a drive for me. Anybody have a shop in the LA area that they like that offers this sort of service. Also, does anybody know of a shop that sells both Specialized and Lemond? I like a bike from each and would love to test them out back to back rather than at different stores where I forget which one I liked better.
On a side note, I really like the way the 2004 Lemond Buenos Aries feels cockpit wise as well on the test ride. I was convinced this was the one. I then later went to another shop to look at another bike and they had a BA as well in the largest size (61cm) and there they said it was too small. I did have quite a bit of seatpost out (8" or so estimate), but that brought the seat in line with the stock stem. The stem has a fair amount of upward angle to it. So my question is if the large amount of seatpost extension brought the seat to a suitable location in relation to the bars on a stock setup, isn't this how much it should be extended by design? I dont believe there were any extra risers if any? How much seatpost extension is too much when shopping for a bike? None of the bikes I tested had the post past the min insertion point. Should I give up on compact geometry, based on my size?
So many questions, please help
Best regards,
Marc Webster