Bike Size Questions

Dario wants to get in to cycling, but he is struggling to find the correct size frame to suit him. He’s been to a few cycle shops and they are just confusing him as they each tell him a different story as to what he should be buying. We try to help him and anyone else out there trying to make head or tail of it all!

Question: I am considering, at age 68 and decent physical shape, to get a road bike and try for a Sprint next April. An Orbea dealer lent me an Onix TDF (57) while I was told by a TREK – SPECIALIZED dealer that the appropriate size for me (5’10.5″) is a 54. Confusing, isn’t? What do you think I should do?

Hi Dario,
Getting the correct size frame is a tricky job, you can be lucky and just sit on a bike and know “that’s the one!” But usually it can take years to find the exact size and look that suits you perfectly, plus you have the problem of changing styles, all fun!

OK, so you have looked at Orbea, Trek and Specialized, good choice of bikes. There are different ways of measuring bikes, this could be why the shops gave you different sizes, and on the other hand it could be that they wanted to sell you the size they had in stock.

You didn’t tell us anything about your inside leg measurement, as we have explained before this is a very important statistic for working out your frame or bike size, but we shall explain how to know what the correct size is for you.

Once you have decided which bike you like and can afford, then stand over the bike and you should have between 2 and 4 inches between the top tube and your crotch, this is only a rough guide. The exact way is to sit on the saddle with your feet on the pedals, with one foot on the pedal at its lowest your leg should be nearly straight, but with a little flex in the knee.

The length is a little tricky as you may not want to be bent over the bike as much as a racing cyclist in his peak of condition and a few years younger, so sat on the bike you should feel comfortable with your hands on the top of the brake levers, not too stretched. Then with your hands on the top of the bars you should be very relaxed but still able to pull on the bars when you are climbing. You should also be able to put your hands on the drops of the bars and still feel comfortable and be able to pull on the bars when you are riding fast on the flat, your arms should have a bend in them, not straight and not so bent that they are at a right angle, somewhere between.

I hope we have helped Dario? Let us know how you get on.