Road bike shopping for short person

[goldfinch]

Well, decision made and I have a new bike, a 43cm 2011 Trek Madone 4.7, with 650 wheels. Here it is in the kitchen of the family cottage, in front of the sink I used to get baths in as a baby.



I ended up having discussions with two fitters, one who does bike fits down in Minneapolis and works with several shops. The other works at a bike shop in Duluth, Minnesota near my home base. The Duluth fitter is well recommended by local people I talked to who bike extensively. The local guy is really well liked.

Both agreed that the very small Madone would work for me and that I would not have to go custom unless I wanted to. Both favored the carbon fiber Madone over the similarly sized aluminum Lexa. I vacillated a bit and then decided that I would buy the stock bike. I save some money in the process and it also addresses the fact that I now am in the transition time of year and will be gradually heading south over the next few months. I got a good deal on the 2011 Madone, one of few left at the factory. I also am getting a complete fit for no extra cost. At the preliminary fit on the Madone he determined that I needed shorter shafts on my pedals (I am going for speedplay) and those custom pedals are on order. I also am getting a new seat post because my beloved Terry Butterfly carbon seat would not fit properly on the stock post. In the meantime I am riding the bike with my powergrip pedals and the stock seat. The brakes were adjusted and unlike several other small bikes I have tried, these ones are easy for me to operate.

The stock seat is horrible and can't wait to get my butterfly back. But other than my ***, everything else feels great! Though I just got it and don't even have 25 miles on it yet.

Yesterday I rode it 18.5 miles, our first nice day in a long time. I would have gone further but for the seat. I rode a nice varied ride to get a feel for the bike and for shifting before I get my clipless pedals. I went up and down the rolling hills in the area, shifting through most all the gears. This is my first experience using "brifters." Once in a while I would mix up whether I was going up or down on the rear derailleur and also would not always pick the best place to shift to or from the big chain ring and the small. Nevertheless, by the end of the ride I was getting pretty comfortable with shifting and knowing where I was at in the sequence.

One big worry of mine was the gearing as it is a compact double and not geared as low as the mountain gearing on my Quick. I previously had ridden a couple of slightly larger bikes (a 44cm Cannondale and Specialized Ruby) and thought that they were not geared at all low enough for me. (They also were too big) So, I was prepared to change out to a more mountain gearing set up, which turns out would be a bit fussy but doable on the Madone. The particular ride I did yesterday had three hills that I always have to go up in the lowest gear on my Quick. I wondered if I could make it up the hills in first on the Madone. I was surprised. I was able to do every hill. On the three steepest hills I was pedaling slow but I made it up. On the Quick I could spin the pedals faster than the Madone. Nevertheless, I made it up. I also used the lowest gear on a couple of lower but longer hills, that worked fine. One thing for sure, the Madone flew down the hills!

My current plan is to keep the gearing set up for the winter in flat Texas, and then see where I am at in the spring and where I plan to ride. My hunch is that the gearing is going to be fine for the kind of riding I do.

My first ride, four miles the day before in the wind and cold, the bike felt a bit twitchy. The twitchy feeling has mostly gone away. Instead, I would call it responsive. However, I had a couple of awkward moments looking over my shoulder.

I really like varying the hand positions, which was one of the reasons I wanted a road bike. I am a little concerned about whether the reach is a bit too far when I am on the hoods. It probably is. I tend to slide a bit forward on the seat if I ride the hoods for several miles. However, part of the problem was due to trying to get comfortable on the Second Worst Seat in the Entire World (The first being the seat on my old so called comfort bike). Otherwise, I can ride on the tops and drops with ease and comfort. Even the hoods feel fine, I just found myself pushing back on the seat to get in the right position. I'll talk to the fitter about it.

This bike takes roughness in the pavement far, far better than my Quick, even when I reduce air pressure on the Quick tires. It is smooth. It is quiet. I even am faster.

I am happy.



I do have some things to mull over as I incorporate this bike into the fleet. One is that I am stealing the seat off of my Cannondale. So, I need a new seat for the Cannondale but hate to spend a pile on another leather Butterfly. I am stalking the for sale threads here for a while, and eBay. I do like the butterfly shape.

My other issue is carrying stuff on the Madone. I only have room for one water bottle. I suppose I am stuck with that? Also, what about my pump? It is about 8 inches long. Do you think it would fit on the frame? I will not put a pump on the bottle holder anymore. I broke the holder off on my Quick when my pants caught on the pump.

Finally, it is now getting dark earlier. I have to think about lights. I have none. I do have a rear blinking light that I use on my helmet.

[Koronin]

Congrats, nice looking bike.

[azfiddle]

Congrats Goldfinch. I love the blue color, and am very happy for you that you found a non-custom option.

I must be a bit bigger than you, as the 44 cm Ruby does fit, but my most recent tweak included turning the seatpost around to get the saddle closer to the bars!

[goldfinch]

Congrats Goldfinch. I love the blue color, and am very happy for you that you found a non-custom option.

I must be a bit bigger than you, as the 44 cm Ruby does fit, but my most recent tweak included turning the seatpost around to get the saddle closer to the bars!

My fitter said that moving the seat closer would then mean my position over the pedals would be wrong. So, no matter what I was too stretched on the Ruby.

[Owlie]

Very pretty!

[Crankin]

You may have to dump the pump for CO2. I had a pump on my 47 cm Madone, but on the bottom side of the top tube and then later on the down tube. DH had to jerry rig some clamps that would work on the carbon. There is no way I would do that on my Kuota, since it has unique shaped tubing.

[Sylvia]

Love the color. Nice looking bike.

[Caddy]

Congrats! Looks like a lovely bike. I wouldn't worry too much about gearing; that should be fine for most of your needs.

My bike fitter said that ideally you should change your hand position every 5 minutes. That might help with the sliding forward on the seat problem.

[roo4]

Oh my! That is one gorgeous bike! Ride well.

[KatzPajamas]

Goldfinch~Beautiful choice! Hope you can get in some rides the next few weeks!

[goldfinch]

My new seatpost came in so the bike shop was able to put on my Terry Butterfly seat today. Happy! Now if the weather would give me a break! Next week my pedals will be in and I want to be really comfortable riding this bike before hand.

[smittykitty]

She's real purdy!!!! Congrats.

[goldfinch]

I am loving this bike. Very comfortable and I don't feel too stretched out on the hoods anymore. I still have to go in for my complete fitting when my pedals come it, but I don't think that much more will have to be adjusted. I rode my usual route (16 to 18 miles) with my cousin yesterday and charged up the hills that I was worried I could not do with the Madone gearing.

Thank you Trek for having such a nice bike in a very small package.

But.

My bikeshop said that my Madone was not going to be available in such a small size in 2012. That is why I jumped so quickly on buying one of the last three tiny Madone's. I just checked out Trek's 2012 models. No Madone WSD 4.7, it is now the 4.6 and the smallest is 47 cm, not the 43 I have. The Madone 4.5 WSD which doesn't have quite as nice components comes in a 44cm size but the top tube is nearly two centimeters longer than on my 2011 bike (49.9 vs 48). It doesn't say if the wheels are 650s or 700s. Given the longer top tube my guess is 700 wheels. I need and like the 650s.

I am very glad I got my bike when I did.

[Koronin]

goldfinch, also next year's men's Madones are not going to come in the 47cm size. Also when looking at the WSD 47cm they've changed the geometry to what the men's 47cm had been. I had no idea they also were getting rid of the 43cm Madones as well. The 47cm's are 700s. When we were at one of the bike stores they discovered that for us.
I'm very happy you were able to get the bike you wanted and needed. My husband and I both ended up jumping at getting Felt F5 bikes. His is the 51cm and mine is the 48cm one, and mines going to be one of the limited edition ones. The one they currently have is the 51cm, so they had to order mine. When he went to order it he found that they still had some of the limited editions if I wanted that one instead. Yes I had to jump at that.

[goldfinch]

goldfinch, also next year's men's Madones are not going to come in the 47cm size. Also when looking at the WSD 47cm they've changed the geometry to what the men's 47cm had been. I had no idea they also were getting rid of the 43cm Madones as well. The 47cm's are 700s. When we were at one of the bike stores they discovered that for us.
I'm very happy you were able to get the bike you wanted and needed. My husband and I both ended up jumping at getting Felt F5 bikes. His is the 51cm and mine is the 48cm one, and mines going to be one of the limited edition ones. The one they currently have is the 51cm, so they had to order mine. When he went to order it he found that they still had some of the limited editions if I wanted that one instead. Yes I had to jump at that.

No more extra small Lexa either, the smallest is 47cm.

I guess the tiny bike market is not big enough for Trek. Disappointing for us short folks. It looks like all that is left with less than 50cm top tubes are the Felt and the Terry for non-custom options and those can be hard to track down to try.