new to the city, new to road bikes

[vvill]

@GovernorSilver 146969 wrote:

I only say this because you said you’re new to road bikes. You might want to test ride a bunch of them before making a final decision. I test rode about 10 road bikes. By the time I got to the 5th bike, I was more comfortable with riding on road bikes and was thus better able to ascertain a good fit for myself. If you buy from a store, try to buy from one that will give you a basic fitting, just to have the saddle, handlebar, etc. set in places that are right for your body.

Very true. I found road bikes awkward at first too (about 5 years ago) coming from only flat-bar/MTB but referred to one of the online fit thingies where you enter your measurements and it recommends a few size options depending on how aggressive etc you want your fit to be. It was a size smaller than what the sales person suggested (at Performance Bike) but ended up working really well (I still ride that bike) – although honestly I never had it dialed quite right for about 3 years until I got a professional fit.

[KLizotte]

Yeah, and when you do try out a bike, be sure to take it up and down the biggest hill you can find. That will tell you a lot about how well it fits (since you are going to “extremes”) as well as whether the gearing works for you. I learned this the hard way when I ignored the sense of real fear I had when riding downhills on a bike I purchased. Turns out it was a size too big for me (I’m only 5’2″ so the vast majority of bikes are too big).

[BobCochran]

I totally agree that you should try out a bunch of brand new bicycles before making any purchase decision. I also agree with the suggestion by KLizzotte that you should ride each test bike up a hill and see how you feel about that. Bicycling up Erie Street made me realize that a given test bike was not quite right for me. (Not that I know anything about climbing, grin.)

Bob

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

If you don’t have the experience to know in detail why you want to buy and maintain an antique Italian racing bike to commute on, you should probably hold off on doing that. Buy a cheap used road bike to learn all your long term bike maintenance mistakes on for a year or two, or a built to purpose hybrid commuter and once you’ve ruined that bike and know better invest in the bike you will love.

[GoldieE46]

thank you all for the extremely amazing answers/suggestions.

Yes, I did go already and like I said the store recommended 63cm. It felt super awkward at first but maybe because this was a new posture for me. So should I go with what feels right or what they suggest for my hight?

the guy with the red bike has not answered yet:(

[GovernorSilver]

@GoldieE46 146977 wrote:

thank you all for the extremely amazing answers/suggestions.

Yes, I did go already and like I said the store recommended 63cm. It felt super awkward at first but maybe because this was a new posture for me. So should I go with what feels right or what they suggest for my hight?

the guy with the red bike has not answered yet:(

Ultimately you’ll have to live with the bike you buy – until you sell it anyway. Keep in mind that stores and people tend to match you with a particular size bike based on just your height, but the real answer might be different, depending on the measurements of your arms, thighs, torso, etc. The owner of the bike shop that sold me my road bike made doubly sure that the bike was indeed the right size for me, by checking all the measurements and making sure the bike could be adjusted appropriately. You could stand next to another 6′ 2″ person and there might be differences in the lengths of your thighs, torso, lower legs, etc.

Keep in mind also that while drop bar bikes encourage more of a lean than flat bar bikes, there is actually a variety of positions on road bikes. Mine was designed with a “relaxed” geometry, meaning one should be comfortable riding it for hours, whereas other bikes were meant for racing postures (more aggressive), all the way to the extreme lean of triathlon/time trial bikes.

What might “feel right” for you right now might not feel right later. I thought a 51 cm bike was ok for me, until I came back a couple of weeks later and tested the bike again, and the 2nd time noticed how close my knees were to the handlebar – a fairly uncomfortable, cramped feeling I didn’t notice before. That’s why I think it’s a better idea to wait until you’ve test-ridden more than just one or two bikes – in my case I had to ride at least 5 before I had a much better idea of what “feels right” for me.

[hozn]

My (mostly-secondhand) experience with salespeople in stores is that they will recommend the size of whatever they would like to sell you.

If they were recommending a specific frame in size 63cm then you should not assume that means that any other frame would work in that size. And like others have mentioned height alone is not a good way to size for a frame. Torso length is more meaningful.

But road bike sizing is not very helpful; the sizes refer to the seat tube (and no consistency in how that is measured either) which is not really the measurement that matters (you can always extend the seatpost). Better is the top tube measurement, but also relevant is the head tube length that you need to be comfortable and what that will do to the effective top tube (more spacers/taller HT means less effective top tube length). So a 63cm classic Bianchi *might* measure like a more typical modern 60cm frame. You need more geometry details.

There are plenty of online calculators to help you figure out what size frame would be recommended for your body dimensions, so if you don’t want to test ride bikes you can just get the recommended size and then grow into it. Your fitness/flexibility has potential to change dramatically as you shift to riding a different type of bicycle, so having a bike that can accommodate a more aggressive position in the future is probably a good plan.

[huskerdont]

The first road bike is often a lesson in learning what you really want. I mean, assuming you have space for another bike after this and money to buy another one, you will ride the first one and learn what you like and don’t like about it, which will refine your knowledge and taste such that your next purchase will be more appropriate to your needs.

That said, since the seller hasn’t contacted you and that gearing may be a bit difficult on hills (chainrings and cassettes can be swapped out, but I don’t know how involved it would be on a bike like this), it might end up being for the best, even though it is a beautiful bike. If you do look at it, definitely ride it up a reasonably steep hill.

[vvill]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 146975 wrote:

If you don’t have the experience to know in detail why you want to buy and maintain an antique Italian racing bike to commute on, you should probably hold off on doing that.

This is a really good point. I still mix and match parts on two of my cheap bikes where I like to try out different things. I’ve spent more on various parts that have come and gone on these bikes than what I paid for them new! But hopefully, I can say I’ve learned a lot and enjoyed it too.

Coming from a heavy MTB (esp. with knobby tires), even something like a flat-bar 700c hybrid will be a lot more efficient for a commute, and flat-bar bikes are generally a fair bit cheaper than drop-bar bikes. e.g. http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1190307_-1_400319__400319

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that it’s usually easier to size up on a frame that’s too small rather than size down on a frame that’s too big. You can get longer seatposts, and longer/angled stems without adversely affecting handling too much (especially for a commuter bike), but you can’t push in a seatpost any more than what the seat-tube can take, and less than a ~80mm stem often feels “twitchy” on a typical road bike geometry.

[GoldieE46]

guys, I am impressed by everyone’s knowledge, experience and willingness to help me. Many of you made extremely good points and vvill comment about the sizes was funny.
So here is what i think…wait for the seller to respond and go test ride some bikes over the weekend. I was planning on camping but it looks like heavy rain in Shenandoah. Also, weather is getting bad, so I hope prices go down a little too

[GovernorSilver]

It was actually during a climb up a hill (I think it was going up 15th St NW, from U St) that I realized the bike I was test riding really was too small.

Spokes Etc. seems to have several sales a year. They currently have several Trek and Specialized road bikes on sale.

I bought my road bike from Proteus in College Park, during their Small Business Saturday sale. Maybe they’ll do another one this year. I recall riding a variety of sizes in the 52-56 cm range – the co-owner who worked with me encouraged trying a variety.

[GoldieE46]

interesting GovernorSilver
My local experience was…take this bike, now get on it, ok, now lift it up. Yes, you’re 63cm. Go outside and ride it.

[GovernorSilver]

@GoldieE46 147038 wrote:

interesting GovernorSilver
My local experience was…take this bike, now get on it, ok, now lift it up. Yes, you’re 63cm. Go outside and ride it.

Mine has varied from shop to shop. I’ve noticed a lot of shop sales people do tend to just say your size is XX cm after asking you your height. There was one guy who even told me to go ride a Specialized Allez Sprint DSW without bothering to check on size or anything – he was just in a hurry to get rid of that bike – which must have been a poor selling model because Specialized removed it from their website. That model was a single chainring (aka “1x”) road bike – a bit of a curious design for a road bike not meant for single-track racing. You see 1x on a lot of mountain bikes and CX bikes, but almost never on pure road bikes. But, I digress…

The experiences I’ve had shopping at Bikenetic and Proteus are probably not the norm. You can tell those shops are run by people who love, love, love cycling and enjoy talking about it and helping others with the cycling life. They want you to try lots of bikes and don’t mind doing the extra work – every single bike had its tires, saddle, etc. checked before I got to ride on it.

[GoldieE46]

an update on my bicycle purchase… it starting to feel like I am purchasing another house

Went to another local bike shop and was measured for a 58cm bike (shrank over the past week?:rolleyes:). It definitely felt more comfortable. Like I previously said, the 63 and even the 61 felt super awkward. Oh and I was told, 59cm for a straight handle and possibly smaller frame size for a bike with dropped handlebars WTF now???
Oh btw the guy with the red bianchi has not answered yet :confused:

[dbb]

If you are willing to consider a hybrid, Bike and Roll sells off some of their inventory every fall. Last year, the sale began in late October.

[Author]

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