Fit issues

[Caren]

Long story short, 4 years ago after riding my ex husband's waaay to big mountain bike to prove to myself (and him) that I would keep riding, I went out and bought a Cannondale cyclocross bike. At the time we lived out on dirt roads, I was terrified of traffic and there was no way, absolutely no way my shy introverted self was ever going to do organized events or group rides. Fast forward through a really ugly divorce and moving home to be around family, I'm still in love with riding but I've found that I prefer paved roads, local group events and now I don't think twice about riding 20-30 miles. I've signed up for a Bike MS charity event and I'm really hoping this will be my first 100 mile event.

But, I think the bike is just to big. After 3000 miles on it, I'm about out of small adjustment changes to make things work better. I know myself, I got this idea in my head and I wouldn't let the guy at the LBS talk me out of it. I wanted that bike and no amount of his "knowing better" was going to change my mind. I got a 50cm frame (which I've heard and found through searches that Cannondale recommends you size down for a cyclocross, meaning it would be like a 52cm frame) and I just think with my 5'3, 30 inch inseam, it's just to big. I could switch out the bars for something narrower, I could try a shorter stem to bring things closer and maybe shim my levers but am I just going to find after all of that work that it's just patching a sinking ship?

I have a decent component group now, Shimano 105, and any road bike in my price range is going to be lower than what I already have. Should I consider buying just a frame? I see there is an XS Look frame on the FS boards here, and just swap all of my current components to a new frame and then gradually update them as they start to wear out, or just buy an entry level road frame in the right size and upgrade in a few years? I'd really like it to be the last bike I buy until someday the kids are grown and I can afford a custom lugged frame. I guess I know just enough to be able to feel where I still have issues and I *think* I know how to fix it, but I don't know near enough about anything that matters to really make an educated decision.

Sorry for the novel!!!

[Caren]

The Cannondale is a CX9, I want to say from '09. It's a great bike, it was just worlds above and beyond that old Walmart mountain bike and honestly, it took me almost 1000 miles on it before I learned enough about my body and riding to start tweaking things for a better fit. I had a professional fit done and that improved things even more but the women that owned the shop did mention that she thought it was to big as well but understood I couldn't afford a new bike yet so she did the best she could. The fit improved my overall speed by about 2 miles an hour just because my knee and seat position were better, but it's just not going to get any better.

I'll look into all of the ones that you mentioned, thank you so much for the recommendations! I'd really like to stay around 2k, I could probably go as high as 2.5 if I didn't need to do anything else at all to it for at least a few years and I was able to sell my Cannondale. I guess part of my problem is I don't know how much of my issues with say my shifters and braking not feeling crisp are because I would benefit from a better grade of components or just because maybe I can't reach quite as well as I could and just having a better fitting bike would make a world of difference. I know it's probably not worth being irritated about, but sometimes a light tap is enough to shift and then sometimes I have to tap and then nudge it again to get it to shift over all the way.

Having the bike shop pack and ship is a great idea! I didn't know you could do that. Selling as a complete bike, could I remove my peddles and saddle since most likely someone is going to want their own anyways? I have a fizik arione here that I could pop on it if it needed a saddle to sell.

I do really appreciate your suggestions, I've been going round and round about this in my mind for over a week now and I needed some advice from someone who knew more than me. And the divorce, bad as it sucked going through it, it was the best damn thing that ever happened to me.

[Owlie]

Cannondales run big anyway--I'm just shy of 5'7" and ride a 51cm Cannondale road bike (or that's the plan when I can afford it), or a 48cm CX. Waay too big. You could try some fit changes, but I agree that it's essentially putting Bandaids on the problem. The CX9 is a really nice-looking bike, and CX bikes are popular and hard to find used. Sell it and get yourself a new road bike. It's far more expensive to buy everything separately than it is to get what you want all at once.

If you're willing to spend $2k, you can get a very nice bike! Carbon with 105 if you play your cards right. Fuji and Giant are good bang-for-buck companies, though if you need a women-specific design, you might be out of luck. Or look at the the Jamis Quest. Mm, steel. What sort of riding are you doing? Are you going for distance or speed?

[thekarens]

Felts were on sale in one of our local shops. I saw several good deals this past weekend.

[Caren]

For 2 k, you should be able to find a full carbon roadie with 105 components if you look. There are always good sales.

I don't know that I want a carbon frame though, I've only fallen over twice (early clipless accidents) but I don't want to worry about it getting knocked over in the garage (though I take excellent care of the one I have now) or crashing or something and having the frame just be totally useless. I love my kids, but I have three boys and I always plan for the likelihood that they will damage something. We have one Specialized dealer within 20 minutes of me and the owner is a great lady, the one that did the fitting for me, but I hate the thought of taking up her time to get an idea of the size I need, and if I need a women's specific bike or not, and then not buying something there.

What sort of riding are you doing? Are you going for distance or speed?

I would really like to do both, if I can. During the week I manage to get away almost everyday for a 15-25 mile ride and I like them to be quick but then on the weekends I can normally get a couple of hours both days. I'll have more time as the kids get older so I want to make sure I get something now that I will be happy with 10 years from now. I hate change and I hate shopping so I'll take a year to find the right thing if I have to just so I don't have to do it again.

And may I reiterate: your CX is a VERY common size, which means a lot of people are in the market for it. Settle on a price and stay more or less firm.

Is there somewhere to look to get a good idea on pricing? I'm not out to gouge anyone and I certainly understand it's a used bike, but I'll need to get as much as I can for it to justify selling it for another one. And I'll have to get a new one first before I sell my current one, the Bike MS event is at the beginning of August and I'm sure I'll need every bit of training time to get ready.

That Ridley is beautiful! I love that internal cable routing to, so clean looking. I haven't heard of them before so I'll have to check that out. I know I said it earlier, but I really appreciate the help. As much as I love my bike, and can't imagine not riding, I know next to nothing about all of the pieces and parts.

[Caren]

Oh boy. So it's possible that I'm so embarrassed that I considered not even logging back in this morning. I wound up in the garage late last night going over every inch of the bike, sure that the frame size had to be somewhere. I found a 47 stamped on the bottom of the frame half buried under some routing bracket and then I remembered I have the receipt in my wallet. Here's where my confusion outweighs my embarrassment, if I'm measuring from the middle of the bottom bracket to where the seat tube enters, and the lowest possible point it can go, I get 19 3/4, but if I measure to the bottom of that black "neck", or collar looking thing, then I get 19 1/4". Which obviously means the difference between 48.89 and 50.16. And now I'm just hopelessly confused. 48.89 is closer to 49 than 48, basic math says round up. And 49 (and I measured a bijillion times) is obviously not 47, the number stamped on the bottom and what my receipt shows. Gahh!!!

And that brings me to wondering, if the frame really is a 47, even if it fits like a 49, how much of my "issues" are me just thinking there is some magic unicorn bike? Yeah...like I said, totally embarrassed.

It's the Cyclocross 5 on pg 59 I bought it May 5 of '09 in Dexter, MI