and bought a mens 18 inch boardman road bike http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/boardman-end-of-season/boardman-road-sport-bike-2014off a local on a whim for an admittedly good price and thankfully it appears to be next to new.

Obviously it is on the large side, I have slid the saddle right forwards in the rails, but the reach is still too long for her. The stem is 120mm, how short could I go on a replacement stem without screwing up the handling completely on a roadie? Ideally about 70 -80mm would give her an acceptable reach.

How tall is your wife (and inside leg) there is only so much you can do to a bike, before it ends up being a bad purchase.

120mm is long for a road stem, my bike came with 90mm. You could easily go to 70mm imo, and don’t forget you can get different bars that don’t extend as far forwards. They might be called ‘ergonomic’ bars, which is a silly name since what the hell are normal drops? Deliberately designed to be unergonomic?

Given how hard it is to get a proper fit for people who’ve bought the “right” Boardman frame size, good luck!

She is 5 foot 7 inches, the post is a lay back one so I could get her a inline one as well. It is only likely to be used for shortish rides and getting fit at the moment so hope I can find a compromise that works.

sit her on the bike (her sitting herself on, optional) hands on hoods, get a long ruler and ascertain the line of sight between the front hub and her eyes, the bar should obscure the front hub with the correct stem fitted.

Probably the same thing as mol mentions but a friend ffrent name. short reach drop bars.

Ok thanks I didn’t know about short reach bars, will look into them thanks.

Buy a new frame and sell the other one?b

Have you tried asking your wife to be taller?

(Also a shorter stem I’ve used as low as 80mm without any issues)

Even a really short stem, IF it introduces any handling issues, will be far less significant than the discomfort caused by too long a reach. That could easily cause her to give up on the bike altogether, if she’s only in it for fitness. No-one wants to ride far on an uncomfortable bike.

what you have here, OP, is a new bike for yourself 😀

She would soon get used to the handling with a 70mm stem, it won’t be that different. With short reach/compact bars, probably in a narrower width too, you might not have to reduce stem length quite so much.

Be a little wary of slamming the saddle right forward, that changes knee and hip angle which can cause its own problems.

Wouldn’t it be easier to get a new wife to fit the bike? Just sayin’

Spin the post 180 degrees so the layback is facing-front…

Wont the top tube hurt her ‘Moo-Moo’ ?
I’m about the same size as your wife, inside leg 31 on a good day that bike still sounds way to tall and long. Can you change the bike?

I’m 5″2′ and i bought a 44cm bike. It came with a 90mm stem that originally felt way too long, having come from mtb’s the position felt wrong. I used a 70mm stem, then an 80mm version, now back on a 90mm as i’ve got used to the vastly different position, it takes time to adjust to it.
I would concentrate first on getting the saddle position right, when that’s done you can look at the bar position. Be ready to accept she’s bought the wrong bike though.

As above its probably too big . I found years ago when I used to use road bikes that too big a frame wasn’t a good idea when I nearly emasculated myself. You can always make a small bike feel bigger but it’s hard to dothe rreverse. .

Shameless plug here but I do have a 52cm Scott Contessa frame and fork (cheap) if you feel a smaller frame would be better.

Yeh to be honest I would have steered her away from this bike, but she bought it on a complete whim from a work colleague and I don’t want to discourage her from giving cycling a go by telling her she got it wrong.

I think I will try a cheap 70mm stem from superstar and if that fails then may just re-sell and try again I am sure she could get her money back for it.

18 inch road bike? Sounds tiny to me. Probably only got 650c wheels on it at that size.
What size is it really?

And mucking around with short stems, slamming the saddle forward and as far down as it will go is a hiding to nothing. It’ll handle like shit and be a miserable experience.

Get a cheap frame in the right size and swap everything over.

molgrips – Member

120mm is long for a road stem, my bike came with 90mm. You could easily go to 70mm imo,
LOL at the standard STW response. go-on just tell him to fit a 50mm or you’ll just get woozy thinking about that ‘long’ 70mm

What is the actual size of the road bike? 18 inches = 46cm ish.

For someone 5’7″ that should be plenty small enough.

120-90 is the “normal” range for road stems on a bike with racing geometry, shorter and the handling goes to shit, longer and you might have needed a bigger bike. The comfort geometry bikes i’ve ridden, really don’t inspire confidence in any way, shape or form. Even with a correct fit. But they are far more tolerant of tiny stems.

This is also dependent to a degree on the reach of both the bars and the shifters. I know i had to get a 10mm shorter stem on my last bike as the new bars effectively have 10mm more reach due to the shape.

120mm is long for a road stem

No, no it’s not. 110mm is about normal for a road stem, anything under 90mm is short, over 130mm is long.

Anyway, I’d not want to go much shorter than 90mm on a road bike. Compact and perhaps narrow (38mm maybe) bars and a straight seatpost will help too.

And yes, the frame is too bit but it’s important to remember that the people here rides bikes a lot and so know what the right size frame feel like, people who ride less don’t and so will often be fine on a frame that doesn’t fit them on paper, particularly for short rides.

Edit, actually, is 18″ too big? that’s a 46cm frame, so small in road terms, it may actually be about the right size.

What we need here is pictures, has she got a skin suit?

Careful Steven !

I’m not the tallest, I have no idea what frame size my best bike is, but it has a tiny stem – the bar is almost touching the frame. Narrower bars and shallower drops. Handles ace.

hmmmm just checked the frame and it is 55.5cm frame which according to boardman site will fit someone 5ft 7 to 6ft 3 so might get away with it. If she starts getting into it properly we can always upgrade it, if she doesn’t then spare bike for me 8)

That sizing info sounds a bit guff, at 6’3 I think id break my back riding a bike that small 🙂

On the link to the bike you provided (which didn’t quite work) the size for 5’5 to 5’9 is between 51.5 and 55.5 so it could fit at a stretch, but women typically have less reach/stretch than men so you might need a very short stem if she is of average proportions.

You shouldn’t be moving the saddle forward to help with reach. Saddle adjustment is only for correct leg extension, correct tilt of the saddle (based on your saddle to bar drop) and the rails are for what we call ‘knee over pedal spindle’. Instead of a new stem spend money on getting a proper bike fit done.

Road bikes require a proper dialled in fit because your position on it is the same for huge lengths of time. Your overall height is just a small part in frame sizing – everyone has a different body composition.

If the frame is far to big or small and the fit is poor she will hate it and never want to ride it. Go see a LBS with a good track record of bike fit for advice…

Every bike manufacturer will measure bike frame sizing slightly differently and have different geometerys so spitting out numbers and converting inches to cm is relatively pointless.

As others have said, don’t use the saddle position to adjust reach.

Get the saddle position so when she is sat down and the cranks flat/level, her front knee should be over the front pedal axle.

Once you have that, then adjust the stem length (and height!) to suit her reach.

For someone who doesn’t ride much, or has just started, I wouldn’t worry about putting too short of a stem on the bike.

Handling will be screwed anyway if it’s too big for her. Fit whatever stem length you like. Same goes for the saddle position; I would ignore advice regarding knee over pedal spindle etc. This is the sort of stuff bikeradar serve up. Position the saddle where she feels most comfortable.

I would recommend a good pair of padded shorts and potentially a different saddle.

+1
KOPS is a vague, waffly starting point for a basic fit. Given that the frame is vaguely the right size.

This frame is so far off the right size it’s almost comical.

I would ignore advice regarding knee over pedal spindle etc. This is the sort of stuff bikeradar serve up

Ignore advice over a fundemental part of bike fit? Bikeradar say a lot of rubbish, usually with people having massive over extension of the legs and the stem slammed but correct KOPS can trnasform a riders comfort from short to day long rides.

KOPS is a vague, waffly starting point for a basic fit

KOPS is a pretty scientific part of any bike fit from MTB to road if you are clipping in. It is altered based on what your needs are (Triathlon for instance) but for 95% of people correct KOPS is a hugely important part of an overall bike fit.

I’m sorry for being argumentative. It sounds fundamentally that the bike is the wrong size which I think we all agree on (without seeing) but don’t disregard scientific bike fit fact!

buy her some of these

Ignore advice over a fundemental part of bike fit?

It’s not.

KOPS is a pretty scientific part of any bike fit from MTB to road if you are clipping in.

It has absolutely no basis in science whatsoever.

I’m sorry for being argumentative.

You aren’t, just badly informed.

Regardless, having the saddle over the cranks will mean supporting your leant over upper body with your legs is near impossible, putting a lot of weight on the hands. Fine for aero-bars, not for this lady just getting into riding.

bazingaeuan – Member
I would ignore advice regarding knee over pedal spindle etc. This is the sort of stuff bikeradar serve up
Ignore advice over a fundemental part of bike fit? Bikeradar say a lot of rubbish, usually with people having massive over extension of the legs and the stem slammed but correct KOPS can trnasform a riders comfort from short to day long rides.

KOPS is a vague, waffly starting point for a basic fit
KOPS is a pretty scientific part of any bike fit from MTB to road if you are clipping in. It is altered based on what your needs are (Triathlon for instance) but for 95% of people correct KOPS is a hugely important part of an overall bike fit.

I’m sorry for being argumentative. It sounds fundamentally that the bike is the wrong size which I think we all agree on (without seeing) but don’t disregard scientific bike fit fact!

Please stop trolling. The OP is after some serious advice.

Your wife bought a medium Boardman. That world-champion inspired geometry was actually the same as a Giant TCR. I bought one for teen1 used when he was about that height. It will fit. But not with a 120 mm stem.

Saddle position first. Get set her saddle height and layback before thinking about the bars. I like the lemond formula of 88.3% of you inseam. This works well for me when the saddle is not too far back. Since she is a lady, she will want to take pressure of her lady parts. The saddle should not be too far back, and KOPS is as good a starting point as any.

Only then can you think about reach. start with the bars level with the saddle, and switch to a cheap 70mm stem. This will bring the bars closer. She may go to an 80 or 90 mm stem eventually. That bike has 44 cm bars. Since she is likely to be smaller of shoulder, a 42 or even 40 cm bar will bring the hand position even closer

It’s a good bike. It can fit her and when set properly, she’ll enjoy it. If you are local to me (Berkshire) I’m happy to fit her.