[mega_biscoito]

Hello!
Last year I bought a Trek Soho. When I bought it I didn't understand much of bikes.
I went with the bike home and then I became with some doubts about the size.
I told the seller that but i trusted him, because he said it was the right size for me.
During 6 months i couldn't use the bike because i was outside of my city.
Now I returned. I still think the bike is a little small.
I saw many formulas in the net, like the lemond formula but I don't know which is the right size for me.
It is also impossible to try the bikes, because here is a small village and there aren't so many stores with trek bikes. To do that I would have to make 100 miles to go to a city.
My bike is a trek soho 17,5. When i bought it there was no correspondence to which size that refered. Now in the site there is an information that 17,5 is an S, and 20' is an M.
I am 1,81 m , I think that is 5'11'' in USA.
I don't know for you what is right? It should be the M, because i am thinking in trading my bike to another soho 20' (sell mine and buy other used).
What are the main formulas you can use to calculate the bike fit?
Another thing I would like to convert this a bike, to a little faster bike, like the trek 7.9 fx. Which main changes can I do to improve the performance of the soho?

thanx
Micael, Portugal

 

[blakcloud]

With what you describe the bike is indeed too small. At your height I would be looking at the large and not the medium.

If I had to buy a bike unseen, I would look at it this way: the Soho comes in five different sizes to fit most people who range from 152 cm to 193cm in height for a range of 41 cm. Now they make five different sizes so divide the 41, by 5 and you get 8.2 cm. So extra small would be 152-160, small 160-168, medium 168-176, large 176-184, extra large 184-192 (obviously I rounded for simplicity sake). This is just a way to eyeball size for a bike and of course, there are different variables to look at. Things like leg length vs body length but as I said this is a rough estimate. There are fit calculators but they mostly work for road bikes with drop bars and are geared for the more advanced cyclist. Places like wrenchscience are a good place for the fit calculator.

As for your second question, why try to make this bike better when it obviously doesn't fit you? If you were hell bent on improving the bike, my advice would be new wheels.

Cut your losses, sell the bike buy something that fits and better suits the riding you are doing.

 

[mega_biscoito]

Thank you. I like the bike because is beautiful. Well the wheels are something I like the most.
Well right now I am seeing that this bike doesn't fit also in the activity i would like to know. I am starting to ride more in this bike, since for long time I bee out. I've been doing 30 km / 3 times for week (i am again with a lot of work) but I am seeing now that i have had bought an road bike. Know I have lost much money in this one, don't have time to look for another until november and I afraid of making another mistake. Since know litle about the world of cycling.

 

[mega_biscoito]

but i think it should be an M, because now in the trek site i saw that for 5'11'' (1,80m) it shoul be between 19,5-21 and in road bike 54-56-58.