6'6" beginner rider wonders: 62cm or 64cm Trek frame?

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm a little discouraged that I can't just go into a store and put
down $1,000 to get something brand new in the right size. I really
didn't want to get into ordering stuff online and parting together a
bike.

There's a lot of things to take into consideration on this thread, so
I'm thinking on it. I really don't want to buy a frame on eBay and
peice stuff together. I don't know how to fix this stuff myself and I
don't want keeping the bike operational to be a constantly ongoing
effort. It's going to be hard enough for me to find time to ride, let
alone hot-rod around with tweaking it.

The benefit to buying a new bike from my local shop is that they'll
fit and re-fit it for me and give it free lifetime tuneups.

I'm using the bike this year to train and my end goal is to complete
the Seagull Century in October. Even though I'm really large, does
anybody here think a 62cm or 64cm compact will be "good enough" to not
kill my back or knees? I'm not going to ride it across Europe or
anything, just around Maryland.

Kyle Bramblesglarb wrote:

snip

I'm using the bike this year to train and my end goal is to complete
the Seagull Century in October. Even though I'm really large, does
anybody here think a 62cm or 64cm compact will be "good enough" to not
kill my back or knees? I'm not going to ride it across Europe or
anything, just around Maryland.

It's like that old Midas Muffler commercial where the customer is at a
competitor and asks if they have a muffler that will fit his car. The
response by the service writer is "Fit? We'll _MAKE_ it fit! They
proceed to weld on a bunch of pipes and adapters and they end up with
something that conceivably could work.

You could certainly take a 62 cm or 64 cm compact frame and make enough
changes to it to make it rideable. A shop that sells those would want
you to take that route. You might need a very long S curve seatpost, and
a couple of steer-tube extenders (or get an uncut, very long, fork), and
a new stem with a longer reach.

I think my first choice would be one of the 64 cm non-compact frames,
i.e. "http://bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/mercier_serpensIX.htm".
It's expensive, but it's a Reynolds 853 steel frame and it has very good
wheels and good components.

Second choice, and cheaper, would be
"http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/mercier_corvus.htm"

LBSes hate Bikes Direct with good reason, and for most people there's
little reason to buy from them versus from a shop. In this case, your
local bike shop would probably understand why you did what you did. You
still might need to make some small modifications, but a lot fewer.

A second option is to find an old 64cm or 66cm frame and build something up.

A third option is to fly to Europe and get a Koga-Miyata 64cm road bike.

It's all pretty crazy, but it's a result of where the bicycle industry
has been taken in order to survive. People that are outliers in size
have always had a hard time. Used to be very hard to buy bicycles for
short people, now it's hard to buy them for tall people. It's just not
profitable to make large frames since the sales level is so low.

Depending on where you live, a custom frame may not cost you as much as
you may think. My nephew lives near Minneapolis and was going to buy a
Rivendell, but his shop told him that there were so many frame builders
around that used to work at Trek in the olden days that he could get a
custom frame built for less than a Rivendell. The problem is that you're
then stuck buying all the other components at retail, which makes the
complete bicycle very costly.

Both of those Mercer bikes look very nice. It's hard for me to
concieve ordering something I've never gotten to see in person,
though. The Corvus is an attractive price for me, and the components
sound good. 105's and Tiagra? That's as good as I could expect to
afford. Of course, I'd have to drag it into my LBS and pay them to do
the remaining 10% of the assembly.

Kyle Bramblesglarb wrote:
Both of those Mercer bikes look very nice. It's hard for me to
concieve ordering something I've never gotten to see in person,
though. The Corvus is an attractive price for me, and the components
sound good. 105's and Tiagra? That's as good as I could expect to
afford. Of course, I'd have to drag it into my LBS and pay them to do
the remaining 10% of the assembly.

Probably not. The remaining assembly is pretty trivial, and you probably
want to learn how to adjust the brakes and gears anyway. You probably
want to check the wheels for trueness, and bring those into a shop for
truing which is likely to cost you $20-25 a wheel or so. I usually go to
REI for truing since the turnaround time is very fast, and the usual
charge for members is less than what's posted (they give you a break if
it's not too much out of true). The shop I'd prefer to go to is usually
so backed up with repairs that they can't do it quickly.

I think the bigger issue is that there is really no warranty when you
buy this way since you're obviously not going to send the whole bike
back for service (unless something major breaks like the frame which
isn't likely on a steel frame bike). But you're really only talking
about the first year where any bike would be repaired by a shop at no
charge to you.

If it's delivered and you hate it, or it's not the right size, you can
always send it back, but you'll be out the return shipping charges.

Reviews on the bikes from Bikes Direct are generally good, though some
LBS people say that they are lousy of course. One thing that's
misleading is the Bikes Direct "price comparison." While their bikes are
generally a good value, the "Compare at"or "List" price is very
inflated. For the Corvus, they say $1600 for a comparable Trek or
Specialized, but really, there are no comparable products from Trek or
Specialized any more. That bike is comparable to my old Specialized
Sirrus (not the current model), but Specialized has not offered such a
bike in more than 15 years.

You're stuck here. Buying a non-compact, 64cm frame bike gives you no
great options. An LBS would be your first choice, but that choice isn't
available.

On Mar 11, 11:45*am, Kyle Bramblesglarb
wrote:
Both of those Mercer bikes look very nice. *It's hard for me to
concieve ordering something I've never gotten to see in person,
though. *The Corvus is an attractive price for me, and the components
sound good. *105's and Tiagra? *That's as good as I could expect to
afford. *Of course, I'd have to drag it into my LBS and pay them to do
the remaining 10% of the assembly.

Both the Trek and the Mercier have the same 61cm top tube length, the
only measurement that really matters. If it was between those two
only, and you're not tight for cash--I'd stay with the LBS. Not only
does it cost to build a bike, but if you get the Trek and want to
change a couple things, like the stem, you can often have that done
from the shop's parts bin or catch a good deal.

Again, SMS flaps his lips about frame material, and again I'll say
that he's strangely hysterical about steel with no evidence to support
his enthusiasm. At the $1K price point, you'll get a tough frame made
by apolitical robots, regardless of whether the thing is magnetic or
not.

Kyle Bramblesglarb wrote:
Both of those Mercer bikes look very nice. It's hard for me to
concieve ordering something I've never gotten to see in person,
though. The Corvus is an attractive price for me, and the components
sound good. 105's and Tiagra? That's as good as I could expect to
afford. Of course, I'd have to drag it into my LBS and pay them to do
the remaining 10% of the assembly.

I'm 6'10" and haven't offered my advice yet, mostly because it's
complicated.

For a reasonably mechanical and highly motivated individual, the DIY
route would probably get you the best result for the least money. On the
other hand, I can understand perfectly why someone might not want to get
into all that & just ride a bike.

In my experience, some bike shops are very interested and skilled at
fitting problem riders, others -- not so much. I don't know what your
selection is, but if you have choices, evaluate them all.

I don't have a problem with mail order discount sellers, I've done my
share of bottom fishing and Ebay'ing, but I have a degree in mechanical
engineering, like to tinker, and have 4 cyclists in the family to
outfit. I've looked at Bikes Direct, and they appear to be a good value.

If you really never want to get your hands dirty (I know guys who take
their bikes to the shop to be *cleaned*) then try to develop a good
relationship with a local bike shop. You'll pay a bit of a premium, but
it's usually worth it -- nobody goes into the bike business to make a
fortune. Time is money, yours or anyone else's and there's nothing wrong
with letting someone else do something they like and you don't.

I'm not too negative about riding a slightly small bike (frame). For
many years, I rode a 63 cm bike (all I could find at the time), these
days I ride mostly vintage 68's, but I have one new-ish 68 that's a bit
more like a 64 (new frame sizing methods). On that bike I had to get a
little creative to get the bars high enough. I also mountain bike, and
it's a bit harder to fit those bikes.

If you're not interested in racing or fast club riding, consider a
touring bike, they're generally a bit nicer for tall people. Other than
that, a competent bike shop should be able to get you comfortable on a
frame that's a bit smaller than ideal. Mountain bike seat posts are
plenty long enough, there's just the problem of getting the bars to a
comfortable height and "reach" (the distance from the saddle, so you're
not scrunched up).

I agree it's not worth spending a fortune when you're just starting out
& you don't know what you want or even if you'll stick with it. Given
what you've said, I'd say your best bet is to shop for a shop. If you
get serious down the road and want something different, you can always
sell it.

On Mar 11, 7:44*am, Kyle Bramblesglarb
wrote:
Thanks for all the advice.

I'm a little discouraged that I can't just go into a store and put
down $1,000 to get something brand new in the right size. *I really
didn't want to get into ordering stuff online and parting together a
bike.

It's like buying pants. You go into a store and they don't have your
size. What do you do? If you're just fooling around and/or you need
something _right now_, then you buy sweat pants or shorts or whatever
and you tolerate them. But if you need to look and feel your best,
you keep looking until you find a store that has your size, or you
take your measurements and mail-order what you need, or you have a
tailor alter the next closest item or even make some just for you.

If you were buying a bike for playing with the kids, or for going down
the street to the store, or for getting to and from the bus stop for
your daily commute, you wouldn't need to spend so much attention on
fit. But you're doing a century ride, and hopefully picking up a
habit of distance cycling in the process. So you have to sweat this
particular detail.

There's a lot of things to take into consideration on this thread, so
I'm thinking on it. *I really don't want to buy a frame on eBay and
peice stuff together. *I don't know how to fix this stuff myself and I
don't want keeping the bike operational to be a constantly ongoing
effort. *

All bikes need some upkeep. Good quality components need less
attention than cheap stuff, but in some regards new bikes need more
upkeep than simpler older bikes. Just buying a new and factory-
configured bike doesn't mean you'll have to service it less. You are
talking about buying a bike with low-spoke-count wheels and brifters,
for Pete's sake. You'd be fooling yourself to think it would need
less mechanical attention than something old-fashioned with 36 spoke
wheels and downtube shifters. Get used to the idea that no matter
what you wind up with, your bike will need occasional service to keep
working at its best.

It's going to be hard enough for me to find time to ride, let
alone hot-rod around with tweaking it.

Again, you seem to assume that a new Trek might magically arrive
perfectly set up for you and never need tweaking? That's not
realistic. Any bike will need setup, just like it will need
maintenance.

The benefit to buying a new bike from my local shop is that they'll
fit and re-fit it for me and give it free lifetime tuneups.

A good local shop will fit you to any bike you bring in. If they'll
do more in this regard for a bike they just sold you than for any
other bike, then they are not a service shop-- and you should go find
a shop that is a service shop.

Figure out what they mean by "free lifetime tune-ups". My shop
charges $50 for a tune-up, and it really should be more expensive
because it usually involves a lot more work than the price justifies.
Other shops can and do charge a lot more, yet still deliver a service
that's worth the cost:

http://www.rideyourbike.com/tuneup.html

Free lifetime tune-ups means either cursory examinations and minor
adjustments, or a pretext to getting you in the shop and selling you
replacement parts whose markup includes the cost of your tune-ups, or
something else along those lines. Don't pay more for less bike, or
worse yet buy a less than ideal size, based on some free-lunch
marketing concept.

Heck, even a flat rate tune-up is a marketing gimmick compared to fee-
for-service pricing. It just works acceptably for most people most of
the time.

I'm using the bike this year to train and my end goal is to complete
the Seagull Century in October. *Even though I'm really large, does
anybody here think a 62cm or 64cm compact will be "good enough" to not
kill my back or knees? *I'm not going to ride it across Europe or
anything, just around Maryland.

If that's your approach, then what's so wrong with your current
mountain bike as to justify spending a grand on another improvised
solution?

Like I said before, I have several bikes that started out too small,
which I made to work OK with special stems, handlebars, and
seatposts. You can do that too. But I encourage you not to spend a
lot of money doing that.

Chalo

Peter Cole wrote:

If you're not interested in racing or fast club riding, consider a
touring bike, they're generally a bit nicer for tall people. Other than
that, a competent bike shop should be able to get you comfortable on a
frame that's a bit smaller than ideal. Mountain bike seat posts are
plenty long enough, there's just the problem of getting the bars to a
comfortable height and "reach" (the distance from the saddle, so you're
not scrunched up).

There are always extra long seat posts, steer-tube extenders, and longer
stems. But if it's at all possible, it's better to get a larger frame so
the use of these devices is limited. They do affect (negatively) the
ride quality.

I don't think the issue here is saving a few bucks from Bikes Direct
versus going to an LBS, it's that there are no new, non-compact, large
frame, road bicycles sold by any shop in the U.S. anymore. Anything you
buy from an LBS is going to require some creative (and non-free)
modifications to make it work.

Here's what the o.p. needs:

"http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/bik/1638512330.html"

SMS wrote:
Peter Cole wrote:

If you're not interested in racing or fast club riding, consider a
touring bike, they're generally a bit nicer for tall people. Other
than that, a competent bike shop should be able to get you comfortable
on a frame that's a bit smaller than ideal. Mountain bike seat posts
are plenty long enough, there's just the problem of getting the bars
to a comfortable height and "reach" (the distance from the saddle, so
you're not scrunched up).

There are always extra long seat posts, steer-tube extenders, and longer
stems. But if it's at all possible, it's better to get a larger frame so
the use of these devices is limited. They do affect (negatively) the
ride quality.

I don't think the issue here is saving a few bucks from Bikes Direct
versus going to an LBS, it's that there are no new, non-compact, large
frame, road bicycles sold by any shop in the U.S. anymore. Anything you
buy from an LBS is going to require some creative (and non-free)
modifications to make it work.

Here's what the o.p. needs:

"http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/bik/1638512330.html"

No, what he needs is someone to build that into a bike he can ride. I
agree it could be done within his budget, I've done it for half his
budget, but I didn't charge out my labor.

Per Kyle Bramblesglarb:
I'm a little discouraged that I can't just go into a store and put
down $1,000 to get something brand new in the right size. I really
didn't want to get into ordering stuff online and parting together a
bike.

Couple years back I had the luck to have an extended conversation
with one of the bigwigs in a major bike manufacturing company.

What I got from him was that once one exceeds 6'3" in height,
off-the-shelf solutions are not going to fit.

I'm about 6'5" and my experience would support that.
--
PeteCresswell