Sorry Brits, if you clicked in here hoping for a good looking question, you've come to the wrong place.
I'm in the market for a new bike, been shopping around and checking sizes and prices. Recently I've been looking at Canyon's Ultimate AL. Good price for the spec (despite the exorbitant shipping), positive reviews from owners and bike mags, I was all ready to go. For most bikes I've been looking at, it seems a 54cm frame is perfect for me. When I typed the admittedly limited measurements into the Canyon fit calculator, it suggested a 56cm frame. After doing some research, I found a couple of comments in various forums with people saying the Canyon fit calculator suggested a larger frame size than they usually ride... but there was only one dude who said that he went with the suggestion and the bike was too big for him. The rest had no follow-up comment, or at least none relating to frame size.
I'm 180cm tall, with an inseam of 83cm. For those of you with more knowledge about bike geometry than me, any advice? You can see below the geometry charts for the CAAD10 and Focus Izalco, both of which I liked in a 54cm, and then the chart for the Canyon. You can see that the 56cm Canyon's effective top tube is about 1cm longer than the 54cm models of the other two. Seattube length looks to be about 1cm longer also, but it's tough to tell with the Cannondale chart measuring to the top of the top tube, and the other two going to the top of the seat tube.
I have heard that when you're in between sizes, you should go with the smaller frame... so... any advice guys?
I'm in the market for a new bike, been shopping around and checking sizes and prices. Recently I've been looking at Canyon's Ultimate AL. Good price for the spec (despite the exorbitant shipping), positive reviews from owners and bike mags, I was all ready to go. For most bikes I've been looking at, it seems a 54cm frame is perfect for me. When I typed the admittedly limited measurements into the Canyon fit calculator, it suggested a 56cm frame. After doing some research, I found a couple of comments in various forums with people saying the Canyon fit calculator suggested a larger frame size than they usually ride... but there was only one dude who said that he went with the suggestion and the bike was too big for him. The rest had no follow-up comment, or at least none relating to frame size.
I'm 180cm tall, with an inseam of 83cm. For those of you with more knowledge about bike geometry than me, any advice? You can see below the geometry charts for the CAAD10 and Focus Izalco, both of which I liked in a 54cm, and then the chart for the Canyon. You can see that the 56cm Canyon's effective top tube is about 1cm longer than the 54cm models of the other two. Seattube length looks to be about 1cm longer also, but it's tough to tell with the Cannondale chart measuring to the top of the top tube, and the other two going to the top of the seat tube.
I have heard that when you're in between sizes, you should go with the smaller frame... so... any advice guys?