Quote Originally Posted by Catriona View Post
No idea, long arm or torso or something - because I'm actually fairly upright on my bikes.


Which is probably part of what's going on... I only have my seatpost a few inches above the top tube - you probably have a fair amount of exposed seatpost, which given the seat angle, means that you're probably relatively further back on your seat than I am and have a longer effective top tube because of the higher seat.

I think
Pretty sure its not that - I can certainly straddle a 48 (they even tried to sell me one) - especially one with compact geometry, I can even ride it, but I can tell right away that I'm too stretched out. On my 44 even though I did move the bars in a bit it felt better immediately.