Did some test riding today!

[marni]

yay for a sweet new bike. Congrats.!

[Dragonfly5]

Hi Jolt, I see you are in Southern Maine. I'm up here in Lewiston and my LBS, Busytown Bikes sells Jamis bikes. I'm currently riding a 44cm Jamis Ventura Comp and I like it. (I just bought it last October and it's my first road bike so I'm still getting used to the feel of a road bike) I don't know how far "south" of Portland you are, but Frank at Busytown is great and it might be worth a road trip.

[Jolt]

Hi Jolt, I see you are in Southern Maine. I'm up here in Lewiston and my LBS, Busytown Bikes sells Jamis bikes. I'm currently riding a 44cm Jamis Ventura Comp and I like it. (I just bought it last October and it's my first road bike so I'm still getting used to the feel of a road bike) I don't know how far "south" of Portland you are, but Frank at Busytown is great and it might be worth a road trip.

Thanks for the tip...may be worth checking out depending on how everything else goes...kind of a haul though b/c I am in Sanford. As far as the Portland shops, I was impressed with Back Bay Bicycle on Forest Ave. for stocking small sizes! It was also nice to see women working in both LBSs I went to (the other was Gorham Bike & Ski, also a good shop but I didn't hit it right for finding my size to test ride). BTW, I think it was the Ventura Comp that I test rode at EMS, but in a 48cm.

[colorisnt]

I'm about 5' tall and have a tiny reach. I fit the 46 perfectly. They didn't even need to swap out a stem or anything but YMMV. Prior to this, I had a 47 cm road bike and it honestly seemed to have a longer reach that now I realize was probably TOO long.

[Jolt]

I'm about 5' tall and have a tiny reach. I fit the 46 perfectly. They didn't even need to swap out a stem or anything but YMMV. Prior to this, I had a 47 cm road bike and it honestly seemed to have a longer reach that now I realize was probably TOO long.

Wow. I definitely should look at it then (if I can find a Surly dealer in the area that has the small sizes in stock)...maybe I can find a great deal too. How is the toe overlap situation on the 46cm? I've read some things about it being pretty significant on the small Cross Checks, but for all I know that may have been on the 42 which is likely too small for me anyway. Not a fan of having the wheel hit my foot while taking a right turn on red (this happened on my test ride of the Masi CX Uno), particularly on a bike that could end up having fenders put on at some point.

[colorisnt]

I haven't had any major problems with it based on the fact that I think i have pretty tiny feet. I could see how it COULD happen, though, since it happened to my boyfriend when he was riding it. But, he's a size 14 mens and 6'2''.

[Jolt]

I haven't had any major problems with it based on the fact that I think i have pretty tiny feet. I could see how it COULD happen, though, since it happened to my boyfriend when he was riding it. But, he's a size 14 mens and 6'2''.

I have pretty small feet too (size 6.5), will be interesting to see if it's an issue. In my research, I have come across a couple of other bikes that look like they'd be worth test riding. Anyone know anything about the Redline Metro Classic? I see that it comes in a 44cm size; the TT is 52 cm which sounds a little long but the bike appears to have a taller front end much like the Volpe so it may work reach-wise. I also saw the KHS CX100 but the standover is 29 11/12 inches on the XS size which wouldn't give me much clearance.