Helping a Man Pick a Bike

Hi all,
A friend of mine sent me an email today because he's looking for a bike. I will attach his lengthy note. I have my own ideas of what I think he's looking for but he has some great bikes shops down his way in the Madison area. Please note that he lives in the hilliest part of our state with lots of steep rolling hills. His daughter is 5 years old and around 50 pounds. Oh, and he's an engineer so he's into numbers, history and how it all works:D:

"I’m trying to understand the trend in road bike frame sizing, so I’m asking for your take on it.

Let me begin with my historical perspective. When I was in high school (1980), I bought my first 10-speed at Eau Claire Cycle. It was a used Schwinn 26” road bike. This was the size the dealer recommended at the time and it fit fine.

When I got out of the army, I bought a new 10-speed Schwinn at the same store. Bike sizes had changed from even to odd numbers by then. A 27” was too big, so I went down to the 25” bike and it has been fine for the last 24 years.

Now when I look at new bikes and review recommended road bike sizes for me the charts and salespeople all say I need a 60cm bike. That equates to a 23.6” frame.

I’ve been 6’ 2” tall with a 34” inseam for 30 years now; I’m not shrinking but the bike frames are. What is the rational for this? Is there a legitimate rational or mainly a marketing/fashion trend? Unfortunately, most of the salespeople I ask weren’t born when I bought my first 10-speed and they don’t know what I’m talking about when I ask these questions.

My own observations are that a smaller frame may save a few ounces of weight. However, many of the bikes I see in catalogs now have the seat sticking 6” out of the top of the frame and the handlebars way down below. In contrast, the seat on my 25” road bike sticks out about 3” and the handlebars are slightly lower than the seat. I always thought that was how it was supposed to be and that the drop bars were for when you needed more aerodynamic efficiency. I like my bike set up this way and if I bought a 60 cm bike, I’d probably have to purchase a longer handlebar stem to bring the bars up to a comfortable level.

I’ve been considering a new bike for a couple years now and this is what I’m currently thinking as well as comparisons to what I’ve experienced.

My old 10-speed doesn’t have enough range, ie. low enough gearing for the hills around here and neither do most of the typical “sport” road bikes sold now a days. The lowest gearing bottoms out at a ratio of 1.4:1 and I want something like 1:1 or even 0.8:1 ratio to compensate for the hills, my age and deteriorated physical condition, and also for a trail-a-bike for Leisha. My mountain bike went down to 0.8:1 so I know that’s how low I want to go.

I prefer the drop handle bar style of a road bike over the straight bars of a mountain bike for two reasons. Primarily, they allow for various hand holds which relieve strain on the hands. My mountain bike allowed only one grip and my hands would go numb (I tried a pair of those vertical extensions mounted on the bar ends and it didn’t help). Also, the drop bars do improve aerodynamics when you want to get down and boogie.

I much prefer the silence and low rolling resistance of road bike tires vs my mountain bike tires. However, I do want to be able to ride the old train tracks from Sparta to El Roy and also non-paved back roads, so I don’t want the tiny racing tires.

I bought my Trek Ascent EX mountain bike about 15 years ago and sold it last year. I didn’t like it for a number of reasons, but primarily, because I am not a mountain biker. I bought it to negotiate all the gravel roads that we had in MN (they have a lot more gravel than we have here in WI). Tina and I have only ridden off-road a couple times in all the years we’ve own mountain bikes.

I prefer a chrome-moly frame over aluminum and am definitely not interested in any thing carbon fiber. I don’t ever intend to be in a bike race again and a few extra pounds of steel do not concern me. What does concern me is comfort and that the aluminum frames supposedly “buzz” more than steel does. Also, the weight savings vs. absolute non-repairability of carbon fiber holds no appeal to me what so ever.

My next bike will quite likely be the last bike I ever buy and I want it to last for the next 30 years or so. I probably won’t become a huge biker, but I do want to enjoy riding a quality bike over the next three decades. For me a quality bike runs in the $1000 range.

The bikes that seam to fit all the above criteria are the touring bikes and to a lesser extent, the cyclocross bikes. Surly Long Haul Trucker and Cross Check bikes as well as Trek 520 touring bikes seam to fit the bill for me.

Back to the timing of my questions. There is a nice 2002 Trek 520 touring bike on ebay right now. It is a 25” frame. One potential customer actually asked the question, “are you sure it’s a 25” frame, my God that’s huge”. So, what do you think? Any bike salesman would say I’m crazy to buy such a huge bike, however, as I cruise around on my 25” Schwinn, I’m not so convinced.

Thanks,

John"


So what are your thoughts on frame size and bike selection? Considering he's in his mid 40's and wants a bike that's comfortable for the next 30 years, I'm surprised he wants dropdown handlebars but who am I? Especially if he'll be pulling his daughter now and probably packing gear at other times. He and his wife are outdoors people and I wouldn't put it past them to do a little touring now but he doesn't specifically say that. Ok, let me have those ideas!

Thanks,

Dar

He answered his own question: touring or cross bike.

I'd tell him what I tell everyone: go ride lots of bikes (with an open mind) and see what feels right. Ask questions, and listen to what the bike shop people have to say (sounds like he has already formed many opinions). If he wants this bike to be The One for the next 30 years, he'd be better off working with a good LBS than buying something off ebay.

Trek touring bikes, Surlys, and Jamis are all good places to start.

I would add Gary Fisher Crossbike and Salsa to that list.

The other thing I would add is that the critical measurement is the reach (ie; the effective top tube). Now that some frames slope & others don't, the notional size of a frame (as measured via seat tube length) doesn't mean a lot, as bikes which sound like they are the same size can have very different reach. For comfort the new-ish compact drop bars might work very well for him. They have the nice round shape I am sure he like (vs the anatomic shape) & the shallow drop means the drops are more usable.

I would add in the Specialized Tri-cross - we have seen a few customers w/ these & they are very nice.

If his daughter is 5 she is probably on a tag-along, so depending on the type, he might need to steer clear of a carbon seatpin.