Morning guys.

I’m debating one of these
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-tdf-limited-edition-mens-road-bike-2014-54cm

Partial logic is for a cheapie bike for holidays, partly as a road training too for now/winter etc

Size OK ?

Seems to be a decent enough machine for the money ?

Is it a compact frame? As they can be measured differently to traditional frames. Top tube length is more crucial on a road bike though. I’m 6ft2 and ride a 58cm frame (not carrera) with 57.5cm top tube

At first glance, a 54 does seem small, but they are all differnet in how they measure up.

fwiw im your height, and ride 58 cm Trek’s.

Try it on for size.

I had a 54cm for my son (that he never rode) but I’d say too small for you at 6′.

I’m just over 5’11” and found it small. My road bikes are 56cm.

It seems more of a black art but I had a 54cm Voodoo, too small and I’m 5’10.

The other Roadie I owned was a 56cm… but can’t work out why Halfords sizings would imply it’s different for this, if it’s actually not.

Definitely too small.

At 6ft you should be looking at 56/57/58.

A lot of frames are very different, size wise. My road bike is 56, cx is 52, but they measure up pretty much the same size.

Too small IMO, you’ll want a 56 or maybe a 58 depending on your proportions.

All frames vary… I’m 6’0 and ride a 54 Cervelo. Also have a 56 and there is little difference between them apart from stem length, spacers and seat post. Smaller frames often have much shorter headtubes so can be more appropriate for some body shapes.

Go and check it out, Halfords seem to have a issue with measuring things, I’m 5ft5in and ride a Felt 54cm, but it’s a similar size to the 48cm Women’s TDF my wife was looking at, she ended up with a 43cm as the ’48’ was massive…………

They’ve just called to tell me it’s ready, so going to shoot into town in a while and potentially bring it back later. Apart from sizing discussions, anything else wrong with the plan ?

You will towards the upper limit of the bike but it won’t be clown like. If you are struggling for room stick a longer stem on it. I have am just fitting some nice new cranks to a 51cm TDF and top tube comes up as 54cm. Compare that to my roadie which is 52cm and has a top tube of 53cm. The 54cm TDF should be fine. I am 5’8″ and the TDF large is way too big for me.

Make sure they fit the forks the right way round 😉

A lot of frames are very different, size wise. My road bike is 56, cx is 52, but they measure up pretty much the same size.

and vice versa for me; road bike labelled as a 52, CX bike labelled as a 56, both have 55cm effective TT’s which suits me at 5’10”.

You need to figure out the TT length and how that fits you, manufacturers sizing by seattube is anachronistic and of little use.

Any update?

Weeksy I’m just about to sell a Defy M/L 105 for not a huge amount more than that.

No update sorry,never got there on time Sat and have been at Anfield for the football all day today.

The suspense is killing me.

I bought a 54TDF a few weeks ago, just soI could release the Croix de Fer from the Turbo.

I though it might be a bit small for me (6ft 1″) but as it was specifically to stay on the turbo, it didn’t really matter, well, if anything it’s a tad long but does have a long stem.

I can’t complain about the size at all, but as may prefer smaller bikes. A 58 Allez was too big for me (IMO) large Enduro too large, 20″ inbred was ok, just, CdF is a 56. Now on a Santa Cruz Blur (large) but they do come up small compared to other brands large frames.

Well I’ve just been and sat on one in Halfords, not one I could buy as it’s reserved and I’ve reserved one in a different shop. The TT is HUGE in length, the 54cm was easily big enough for me, it’s not beyond possible I could do with a slightly smaller stem on there arguably. So I’m happy that a 54cm fits well.

Just need to complete the decision between this and a used Genesis I/O 29er SS that has recently come about again 🙂

I’m still torn on this one, mostly because last time I bought a Road bike, I really didn’t get on with it… only kept it 3-4 weeks and 200 miles, I don’t mind riding on the roads, but can’t stand the ‘flighty’ way the road bike felt. Climbed well and worked well… but must admit I never really felt at home on it… Maybe I didn’t give it long enough…. Hmmm who knows.

Option 2 at the moment is still under price discussion.

Option 3 is the Pinnacle Ramin 1 I nearly bought a couple of weeks back, but that one at £400 in Evans is blowing the ‘budget’ hugely.

I keep looking on Ebay/PB etc but there’s very little else within budget and distance (Berks + 70miles) that jumps out at me as a viable ‘winter’ bike for my money available.

There was a decent looking CUBE up on ebay, but I snoozed and loozed 😉

Any other inspirational ideas would be more than welcome.

Interestingly I thought I’d update a bit, the TT length is 2″ longer then my mates Triban5 which is a 56. If anyone is interested I can measure stuff up tomorrow.

Nope- the Triban is a 61 believe it or not!!! Remember how silly I looked on the 56 😀

In general, with the compact frames and range of stems available, and ease of changing, frame size isn’t as critical as it used to be. At 6 ft, you would be a 56-58 and the standover height used to determine which size fit.

Now you could ride a 54 with a 120mm stem, a 52 with a 140mm stem (and regulation team kit for the full pro look) or a 58 with a 100mm stem.

As already mentioned, the biggest difference (other than the odd half a degree in head and seat angle which you won’t notice) is head tube length. That’s why pros ride very small frames with long stems – to get the bars low.

If the 54 was a bargain, and all that was available, i’d happily buy it. I’d probably not go smaller for a first road bike though, unless you have a good chiropractor 😉

Weird part is though… it’s also got a 120mm stem on there along with a long TT. Bottom of my back is aching today after first ride last night, but I’m not worrying yet as it’s obviously a completely different riding position to my AM29 lol 🙂