Ok so I need to find out what size road bike will fit me.

But its taking the bladder walking into a shop and trying their bikes.. then buying second hand isnt it? Although I suppose it must happen a lot

There a few websites where you can get a rough estimate of what size bike you might need without upsetting any shops.
Or you can use Halfords as i’m pretty sure their staff who get minimum wage really don’t care if your taking the mick

you have to ask if it’s taking the piss??

how are halfords going to fit you properly?
one clueless idiot showing another clueless idiot.

if you need to find out what road bike will fit you need to be fitted properly by somebody who knows what they are doing.
this costs money but once done you will then know your ideal effective top tube measurement and ideal stem length.
once you have this you can apply it to any frame once you know the ETT.
a size like ’56’ is meaningless it’s the ETT that matters.

Er….

if you need to find out what road bike will fit you need to be fitted properly by somebody who knows what they are doing.

No, no you don’t.

this costs money

Only if you pay for it.

He’s buying a second hand road bike, not aiming for the Tour de France.

Just go and have a sit on a few bikes, in Halfords, at your mates, do a bit of research, look at what you can adjust; top tip: the headtube height means that the bars are the least adjustable.

It’s not rocket science, it’s riding bicycles.

Do you really need to pay money to get sized properly MrSmith?
I don’t reckon you do, the mumbo spoke about sizing is one the biggest myths in cycling. Its not rocket Science.

firstly how tall are you and whats your inside leg?

Do you really need to pay money to get sized properly MrSmith?

if i look at the various online size calculators they all come out with various results, all but one would put me on the wrong size frame. anecdotal evidence like “i’m 5ft10 and ride a 58” is next to useless as we are all built differently and have have different levels of flexibility plus the variance in different manufacturers ways of sizing.
i could ride anything from a 53 to a 58 or a ‘large’ depending on manufacturer, i know this because my ideal ETT is 56.5 with a 120 stem (this can vary again due to stem angle and head tube height)
road bikes are not like mtb’s, my mtb is too small for me but it works as i don’t do all day seated ‘xc’ on it and am happy to compromise for how it handles the fun bits.
i certainly wouldn’t want to be sat in the saddle on a badly fitted road bike for any length of time. i have done this in the past and it led to knee problems that were rectified by a proper fit and a pair of footbeds/shims. the best £100 i spent on cycling.

Do you really need to pay money to get sized properly MrSmith?
I don’t reckon you do, the mumbo spoke about sizing is one the biggest myths in cycling. Its not rocket Science.

no it isn’t rocket science, it’s a bit of biology, physiotherapy, bio-mechanics and experience that goes into getting a good fit, either that or you leave it to chance or trial and error.

having tried the former without getting lucky i settled for the latter as it saved me wasting time trying different stem lengths/frames/discomfort riding long distances.

if i look at the various online size calculators they all come out with various results
But you are willing to pay someone to come up with a similar result, and you therefore believe in what they have to say?

i could ride anything from a 53 to a 58 or a ‘large’ depending on manufacturer
But you’ve paid to be told this important info?

we are all built differently and have have different levels of flexibility plus the variance in different manufacturers ways of sizing.

Exactly, so why pay for one set of predjudices over another; that’s what the whole ‘bike fitting’ racket is about….

…and your set-in-stone measurements will change over time anyway, making your paid-for-info a starting point, nothing more.

having tried the former without getting lucky i settled for the latter as it saved me wasting time

It’s not ‘wasting time’, it’s part of developing as a cyclist, getting to know yourself and your own preferences instead of being told what you should ride.

This is the first site that came up when i googled ‘road bike sizing’
http://www.road-bike.co.uk/equipment/bike-size.php

If you follow the first part to establish the correct frame size, then everything else can be adjusted afterwords. The real problem with roadbikes is that there are so many variables in the frame sizing labeling. Ie i have ridden bikes labelled, 63cm, 56cm Large, XL, 54cm, 23″, 25″ and they have all been right for me.
I reckon toptube measurements are the ones you should go by.
Ie if after measuring you work out you need a 56cm bike, then most roadbikes with a 56cm, toptube will be right.

there we go, no science. Can i have my £100 please

if i look at the various online size calculators they all come out with various results
But you are willing to pay someone to come up with a similar result, and you therefore believe in what they have to say?

yes because i trust a professional more than i trust a guide found on the internet. the person who wrote the guide isn’t there watching me cycle on the turbo, assessing flexibility,videoing knee tracking/stability and asking questions about the riding i do.

i could ride anything from a 53 to a 58 or a ‘large’ depending on manufacturer
But you’ve paid to be told this important info?

i paid for a bike fit, this meant i knew exactly what ETT/stem i needed.
i could then apply this to any manufacturers size chart and instantly know which frame size would fit me and what stem i needed.

we are all built differently and have have different levels of flexibility plus the variance in different manufacturers ways of sizing.

Exactly, so why pay for one set of predjudices over another; that’s what the whole ‘bike fitting’ racket is about….

because those prejudices give me the ability to cycle in comfort for long distances and injury free, something internet assesssment and anecdotal sizing or trial and error would not have given me.

…and your set-in-stone measurements will change over time anyway, making your paid-for-info a starting point, nothing more.

yes they will, i have already flipped my stem and dropped the bars a few mm as my flexibility has improved.
but what you call “a starting point, nothing more” has meant i haven’t had to buy different sized frames/stems and go through a process of trial and error to get to a good fit (and put up with lower back pain/discomfort and knee miss-tracking spotted by the bike fitter).
so that £100 is looking like even more of a bargain compared with spending a year of faffing around buying different sized frames/bars/stems and riding an uncomfortable bike in the hope that i find a good fit by accident.

hmm didnt think the thread would get like this

some more info

yeah im not looknig for a state of the art composite bike to win the king of the mountains on.. well not yet anyway 😆

looking for an entry level giant defy or trek or similar.. 400 quid approx these would be new.. but if i can get the same thing second hand .. that might be better

obviously it needs to fit reasonably well.. as if I buy on ebay for instance.. I need to be certain

loads of shops have these.. but if I was a shop keeper and just provided a fitting room service id be pretty miffed..

if you are coming from a mtb then going and sitting on a bike in a shop floor is only going to get you so far, it will probably feel very wrong even if it’s the right size 🙂

when i sat on the jig bike for my first road bike the first thing the fitter said was “so you’re a mtb’er then?”
have any of your mates got road bikes you can try?

I think they’re (^) all right – depends

I’m not riding all day; max is about 2.5 hrs, average 1.5. Perfect fit is pretty irrelevant for that IMO. If you’re out all day I guess you could hurt yourself with a wrong bike

i think he wanted help not an argument about it ah stw never fails 🙄

http://www.evanscycles.com/help/bike-sizing#road

I am 5 9 and prefer 56- like large bikes- for example but needed to shorten the stem
Assuming you are getting a first cheapish one go to a bike shop and try at the sizes suggested to see what feels right.
They are longer and you do get toe overlap on front wheel fwiw.
Just wait till you ask about compact or triple 😆
e-mail if you want advice

I’m with crikey and Steve-Austin on this. Road cyclists (and increasingly mountain bikers) seem to have become obsessed with the numbers. half a degree here, a couple of mm there. For most of us (and by that I mean 99.9999%), it’s of little consequence.

I’ve bought/built three road bikes now and each time, just bought whatever frame size was recommended by the manufacturer for my height. They’ve all been used for reasonably long days sportives and/or multi-day tours and do you know what? They’ve all been just fine with a wee bit of adjustment to bar height, saddle height and stem length.

To the OP – many bike shops offer a fitting service. For something basic, you should expect to pay no more than £35. That will give you more than enough information to go on and will salve your conscience as it will all be in the open. As Steve-Austin says, don’t go by arbitrary frame sizes. Depending on the style of “road biking” you’ll be doing you’ll be looking at different sizes anyway.

that evans chart puts me on a 58-59 or XL
my condor is a 55
just sayin 🙂

This is STW, you get argument for free!
I don’t agree with Mr Smith, but Star Trek is on.

http://vimeo.com/15476540
L’Eroica report / DAY 1 / Gaiole In Chianti – The Village gets ready
http://vimeo.com/15491104
L’Eroica report / DAY 2 / Flea Market & Bikes distribution
http://vimeo.com/15520631
L’Eroica report / DAY 3 / The Race