Roadie for the girlfriend.. frame size?
- Thread starter maxwolfie
- Start date
Newton
Likes Dirt
Firstly I'd say get into a bike shop and get her to straddle a couple of bikes, my best guess is that she'd be a 54cm.
harmonix1234
Eats Squid
Possibly a 52 or 54cm. No bigger.
Everyones different though. Some people have short legs and long body, or vice versa.
Everyones different though. Some people have short legs and long body, or vice versa.
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
Just went to five bike shops, and finished the day off more confused than when I woke up.
In summary:
She felt good on a S/M Merida Juliet 91 (2011), but we didn't think much of the Sora groupset.
She felt good on a M Scott Contessa (2010), it came with Tiagra but she wasn't a huge fan of how it looked.
In summary:
She felt good on a S/M Merida Juliet 91 (2011), but we didn't think much of the Sora groupset.
She felt good on a M Scott Contessa (2010), it came with Tiagra but she wasn't a huge fan of how it looked.
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leitch
Feelin' a bit rrranty
If you're going to buy off eBay or Bikeexchange (which I think you should) I'd just buy a 53 or 54cm (TT length - either 53/54cm square, or a 53/54cm TT sloping frame which will probably have a 49-50cm seat tube) bike and expect that you may need to muck around with some components...
Stem length, seat post setback, bar dimensions (ie type of drop), can all be changed to fine tune the ultimate geometry and fit of the bike.
Unless you can take your girlfriend to sit on and ride every prospective bike you may or may not buy, you will just continue to confuse yourself. If you want the piece of mind, get her to sit on one compact geometry and one standard geometry frame, and then just use those as guidelines.
Stem length, seat post setback, bar dimensions (ie type of drop), can all be changed to fine tune the ultimate geometry and fit of the bike.
Unless you can take your girlfriend to sit on and ride every prospective bike you may or may not buy, you will just continue to confuse yourself. If you want the piece of mind, get her to sit on one compact geometry and one standard geometry frame, and then just use those as guidelines.
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
I think she needs something with a longer CT length and a shorter TT length, though.
The small Merida apparently felt good, but afterwards I called the LBS again to talk a bit more about it and the guy turned me off it a bit by saying that the seat tube may not be long enough (after letting her sit on it etc.) Here's the link to geo. At the moment I am thinking of either a Small or Medium Merida Juliet 94 (not 91), which has the full 105 kit instead of Sora. Leaning towards the medium as TT length only increase by 10mm, but CT increases by 20mm.
Basically looking for a WSD bike that's "even more WSD" as my gf has very long legs and shorter arms/torso.
The small Merida apparently felt good, but afterwards I called the LBS again to talk a bit more about it and the guy turned me off it a bit by saying that the seat tube may not be long enough (after letting her sit on it etc.) Here's the link to geo. At the moment I am thinking of either a Small or Medium Merida Juliet 94 (not 91), which has the full 105 kit instead of Sora. Leaning towards the medium as TT length only increase by 10mm, but CT increases by 20mm.
Basically looking for a WSD bike that's "even more WSD" as my gf has very long legs and shorter arms/torso.
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wombat
Lives in a hole
I've sold a few of those Juliet 94s in the last few weeks, and by the sizing you posted I'd say their small would be about right, the 'medium' is the biggest size they do in that bike.
Not really sure why your local dude said the ST may not be long enough. It's not like it's so short that the post won't reach the right height, and if that's not a problem, who cares how tall the ST is? Reach is what's really going to matter, and the geo on those bikes is really a sort of compact frame, so the short ST is to be expected.
Nice choice of bike though. Dunno if you've seen it in the flesh either, but the colour of the pink in all the pictures is waaay off. It's closer to a really bright purple than the colour in the images.
Not really sure why your local dude said the ST may not be long enough. It's not like it's so short that the post won't reach the right height, and if that's not a problem, who cares how tall the ST is? Reach is what's really going to matter, and the geo on those bikes is really a sort of compact frame, so the short ST is to be expected.
Nice choice of bike though. Dunno if you've seen it in the flesh either, but the colour of the pink in all the pictures is waaay off. It's closer to a really bright purple than the colour in the images.
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
Hey mate, can you sell me one too?? (seriously lol). I wouldn't mind getting her to try a small and a medium side by side (either 91 or 94, as geo is the same). Would basically then be looking at 94 depending on price.
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maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
Sad panda!sure, if you want; for you, 10 bajillion dollars! Bargain.
This might help:
Weird thing is, the frame size (I.e. approx 55-56cm) does not match up with TT length at all, i.e. top tube lengths are far too long, even on WSD frames.
The frame size does not give you the top tube length. Eg. I have a frame size of 48, and my top tube is 51.5cm. You can go into a bike shop and get her measured to show you the top tube length and set tube length she needs. If you know these measurements, you can look for the right sized frame, and then be fitted properly to make minor adjustments Eg. Shorter/longer head stem etc.
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
Some basic measurements, i.e. 84.5cm inseam, 175cm tall, which match up fairly closely (84cm / 177cm) with what I got at home. One shop did take other measurements, but the guy had NO clue as to what he was doing, i.e. running around asking everyone else 1000 questions about what to do and generally being very uncomfortable and nervous about the whole thing. So I've basically erased everything he said from my memory.
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
Nah, gonna ring em today though.
Any other suggestions for bike manufacturers with funky women's designs? Orbea and Merida seem to have it nailed, Giant sort of.. a lot of the others are so, so boring and basic (I.e. silver with some red). NO woman is going to want to buy that shit!
maxwolfie
under-the-radar comedian
So far:
MERIDA RIDE LITE JULIET 91 SORA - $1035
GIANT AVAIL 3 SORA - $1050
EMC E-TAPE R-2.6 FEM TIAGRA - $1350
AQUA DAMA TTG TIAGRA - $1500
MERIDA RIDE LITE JULIET 94 COM 105 - $1800
GIANT AVAIL 1 105 - $1450
SCOTT CONTESSA SPEEDSTER 15 105- $1800
EMC E-TAPE R-2.4 FEM 105 - $1650
KONA LISA RD 105 - $1700
MERIDA RIDE LITE JULIET 91 SORA - $1035
GIANT AVAIL 3 SORA - $1050
EMC E-TAPE R-2.6 FEM TIAGRA - $1350
AQUA DAMA TTG TIAGRA - $1500
MERIDA RIDE LITE JULIET 94 COM 105 - $1800
GIANT AVAIL 1 105 - $1450
SCOTT CONTESSA SPEEDSTER 15 105- $1800
EMC E-TAPE R-2.4 FEM 105 - $1650
KONA LISA RD 105 - $1700