The age old question....should my next bike be a cross or touring bike?

[Blueberry]

BIG NOTE - if you were in my shop I would be putting you on a bigger bike than any racing style bike. Go read about the bike on our website. Happy Shopping

SkyKing-

I'm curious about this....for the Straggler and the Cross Check. I find that I ride a 52 cm road frame, but a 50 cm cross check/straggler (since the BB is higher, I have to size down to get the same effective top tube). Have you not found this to be true?

[pll]

I've been curious about this, too. The size 50 CC is equivalent to my road bike, a Pinarello race set-up. But it sounds like I'd need a larger Surly? How would I even figure this out? I hate being too stretched out. I assume it's stack and head tube height, and a touring bike should be more upright?

OP, I didn't mean to get so far off your question about Surly's. I love Surly's. It's just I know of quite a few petite TE'ers on Salsa VAyas. The smallest Vaya's have 26" wheels and very high head tubes. Makes standover less of a problem, and possibly mitigate toe-overlap, while still having a very high front end, allowing the rider to sit up a little.

The reason a high bottom bracket is problematic in a petit bike is that it implies higher standover. It's generally at least 1 cm higher than a comparable road bike. I know some women on this forum have a 25-27 inch inseam, or thereabouts, and struggle to find a bike that is small enough in the top tube and has low enough standover. The Vaya has excellent low standover, while still a high enough front end (head tube) to be upright and comfortable.

To me, the Surly Cross Check is more a classic diamond frame (higher standover, lower front end). The regular Surly Straggler is too, but they are coming out with a sloping TT Straggler soon. (See website). Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the standovers are any lower on that model (sloping), which doesn't make sense. The main difference is that it has 650B wheels, to the Straggler's larger 700c. Which implies a difference in handling. (Note, these are suppositions on my part, people like Sky King would know more).

Cross bikes do have a more classic geometry because you need to run with your bike on your shoulder... here's a video that shows the techniques (handy also for carrying your bike up stairs to an apartment): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBAbZzFeT34
I also think cross bikes have a slightly longer wheelbase for stability and a bottom bracket that is a little bit higher than a road bike (for clearance over obstacles).