How did you find (or are still searching for) "the one [bicycle]"?

[Ana]

It is the absolute most comfortable and responsive bike I've ever ridden. I don't even feel like there's a bike under me. So while I did not go through the custom process, the bike was made by someone who really understands fit and bikes and bodies. FWIW, my body type is pretty average--I'm neither short nor tall. I'm a smidgen less than 5'6" tall. I have long legs with very long femurs and a short torso.

How did you discover you had long femurs? Long in general or long for your height?

[emily_in_nc]

How did you discover you had long femurs? Long in general or long for your height?

I'm not the person you're asking but will butt in anyway. I suspect she means long for her height, which affects the optimum geometry of any bike you should choose (or have custom built).

I realized I had long femurs for my height when I had to push my saddles all the way back on their rails PLUS use a setback seatpost to get my knees over or behind the pedal spindles on my bikes. Without this, my knees would be in front of the pedal spindle when a plumb bob was dropped from my knee straight down. On my older Terry Isis with a 73-degree STA, I could get my knees behind the spindle with the setback seatpost and saddle all the way back on the rails, but on my Aegis Swift with a 75-degree STA, I could just get my knee over the spindle with the same saddle and seatpost. I wouldn't be able to ride bike with a steeper STA than 75 (I'm short so many bikes in my size have a 76 degree STA), and even 75 is not optimum since it requires me to have my saddle so far back. Like Trisk, I need a slacker STA (for me, 74 would probably be fine, she needed 73). Once I realized this, I developed a bit of a fascination with it, and when I was sitting beside a woman of similar height, say in an auditorium, I'd line up my leg with hers and eyeball where our knees were in relation to where we were sitting on our butts, and typically, my femur was slightly to quite a bit longer than the other woman's.

[tulip]

How did you discover you had long femurs? Long in general or long for your height?

What Emily said. I was told I have long femurs when I used to ride horses. Apparently (and it's not something I ever noticed) I look good on a horse and I would have made a great dressage rider because of my long legs and long thighs. Not so great for jumping, which is what I was into.

As for bikes, I didn't get into the angles and all because I haven't taken the time to figure it all out. But I do know it's important for the knees to be above the pedal spindle. I'm very relaxed when I ride, probably due in part to my decades of riding and watching professional racers, but also because my bike fits so well.

Here's a photo of a pro rider with excellent position on the bike. He has long femurs, too.

http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesbl...voight-of.html

[tulip]

I would only add that I don't believe in The One in life. There is not One Right Answer or One Right Person or One Right Bike. This is what life has taught me. My Luna is wonderful, and my next one will be, too!

[Selkie]

I would only add that I don't believe in The One in life. There is not One Right Answer or One Right Person or One Right Bike. This is what life has taught me. My Luna is wonderful, and my next one will be, too!

Very wise and very true, so sayeth the proud owner of two Lunas.

[lunacycles]

Femur length should always be taken into consideration when getting a fit OR custom bike. I always get that measurement. It is pretty much the baseline of the frame design. Oddly, I find that a lot of builders do not.
I sound like a broken record on this point, but a lot of very small stock bikes come with fairly or extremely steep seat angles. This is to reduce reach, but is a magic trick that really creates more problems than it helps. If you have a long femur and are set up on a bike with an overly steep seat angle, you have fairly good odds of developing knee problems. If you have front of the knee pain on your small stock bike, look at your knee's position over the bottom bracket/crank before all else. If you want to know where your position is relative to "neutral"/"ideal" pm me and I will explain how. It's not hard.

Tulip: I have left the garage and am in a "real" shop now! Come visit on your next time through.

[Miranda]

On the body part lengths, there are calculations the fitter does with your measurements. I have my measurements, some of which makes more sense to me in comparing them to one of my cycling books I have at home.

The book is: Bicycling For Women, author Gale Bernhardt, copyright 2008 VeloPress.

The first chapter is on bicycle fit and anatomy. When I went shopping for my current bike, I was told I was a woman and should therefore get a woman's special bike. Supposedly all woman are long legged and part of the bike design was around that I was told. Well... I'm more shorter legged and longer torso...

One thing Gale does in the first chapter of this book is a side by side comparison of a man's measurement of body parts to an equal height woman...

Her model is 64" or 5'4". I'm 5' 4 1/2" (64.5"). In this chart, it shows the average femur length to be 15.4" woman, 15.49" man (page6)....
If I'm reading my fitter's notes correctly, my femur is something like between 12.6"-14.1"--so shorter. The torso Gale's gives in her example is 17" woman, 16.77" man. My torso is 21"--longer. Grip (hand) to shoulder, woman 22.43", 22.27" man. My grip to shoulder is 22.4"--average, or slightly shorter for my height of 64.5".

Gale also notes some type of calculation (page 10) that figures in these variations and how if you over too far one way or the other, then you may be a candidate for a custom frame.

It's a pretty good book so far. It might be available at the library for free as well.

You can have someone help you measure yourself at home too. DD tried to help me and we weren't so accurate (things need to be done with a level tool etc.). Thus, I went to a professional. Maybe an experienced cycle pal that has had a fitting might be able to help ball park it. My measuring fit in Mayberry prices was $60. The big city price for a full fit was $325.

Just some more thoughts in finding the path to "the one" .

[Ana]

I would only add that I don't believe in The One in life. There is not One Right Answer or One Right Person or One Right Bike. This is what life has taught me. My Luna is wonderful, and my next one will be, too!

I mean "the one" in the sense that you find your optimal fit/material I guess it could be expanded to "the first bicycle you had that made you swoon and made you felt like you were one with it"

I do not believe in "the one" as a general concept either in the sense that it is the one and only for you, but I believe in an enlightened beginning

You know, that "eureka!" moment that makes you think "so this is what bicycling is supposed to be like! No wonder so many people love it!"

[celerystalksme]

Hello fellow Ann Arborite!!!!

I have not read the other users responses and will just respond to your original post...

I have and have had many roadbikes...Specialized Roubaix, Trek Pilot 1.2 are bikes from my past. I currently have a Look 595, BH Connect, Blue CX6.5 and a Cervelo P2C.

They all fit great despite their wildly variable geometries. What I have found is, as long as the frame is a good general fit, you can get comfortable by changing all the things around it...saddle, saddle angle, saddle fore-aft position, seat height, seatpost setback, crank length, stem length, stem angle, bar height, bar rotation, brifter placement, bar width and a couple other things...

Course, once you're COMFORTABLE on the bike, that does not mean the ride quality will be great. The quality of the actualy ride you experience will be a combination of the fit and fit tweaking...but also the frame material, frame geometry, wheel, tire, tire pressure, etc.

If you're set on going custom, and you don't have the experience of having owned or test ridden zillions of bikes, you really just have to trust the fitter's judgement...or the bike builders judgement. Ask around on what custom builder or fitter to use before taking the plunge!

Locally...Scott Quiring has a very good reputation as a builder...and I think Jess at Two Wheel Tango is a excellent fitter!