New bike measurements

billyhead

Folks,

I purchased a new road bike. I had a professional bike fit done on my previous bike and was trying to alter the seatpost to get as exact measurement in on the new bike wit hte old bike which I have had no comfort problems with. The frame measurement from the seat post to the handle bar is pretty much the exact same i.e effective top tube. The measurement on the new bike from the tip of the saddle to the handle bar is 54cm on the new bike and 55cm on the old bike (perhaps not too much to be concerned about). However the measurement from the tip of the saddle to the levers on the new bike is 75cm and only 71cm on the old bike. The hoods are larger in length on the new bike. Obviously if I move the saddle forward more to compensate for this the length to the handle bars will reduce on the new bike but also reduce to the levers but theres a 4 cm difference so it would not solve everything. Oh and the height from the ground to the saddle is this same now aswell on both bikes. I am just looking for advice as to where I can go now to try and get the bikes as close as possible in the measurement:) I hear of people flipping their handlebars. I have never had it done before but could this help in anyway.

billyhead

Further to the above I could get a stem a little shorter as the new one is about 1/2 cm larger then the one on the older one. Also can you remove someof the bar tape on a bike and move the hoods and brake levers/gear shifters further back towards the handle bars by about 3 cms or is this not possible. If so a trip to the LBS is needed. And how much would it roughly cost to do this? Sorry I am not too knowledgeable about these sort of things:D

furiousox

Is there a setback on the seatpost?
Inline seatpost might help.

detones

Funny enough I have a similar issue to you OP after fitting a new 105 gruppo v the Old sora. I put the new levers in the exact same position as the old ones but The new levers have me stretched out a little more. I also had a pro fit done. I'm not exactly sure what difference is. I'm just going to try it for a while and see how it feels.

As for adjusting your current set up you could try a shorter stem but I doubt you'll make up the 40mm difference and you run the risk of having very 'twitchy' steering with a short stem. Moving the shifters back is straight forward enough but move them too much and they may just sit too high and you might have to shorten cables and housing too. Maybe a combo of moving saddle forward and using a slightly shorter stem and slightly moving the shifters would work. But I'd only go to the trouble if you find your really uncomfortable on new set up.

billyhead

The reason the hoods might be longer could be to do with the shifters i.e this new bike has ultegra whereas the old bike is 105.When you switched the shifters and removed the bar tape etc was their room or the option to move them back? It would be great if it could be done and I could get a bike maechnic to do it. Even to move it at least 2cm back and a shorter stem would make the sizing pretty much identical to the older bike

andy69

I'm having a similar issue now with the wife's new bike - in our case the new saddle is 1cm longer than the old one so the measurements from tip of saddle to bars is out.

I've decided to measure the centre points of both saddles and from there to the bars as the reference points.

Did u check if both your saddles are the same length? This might be causing some of the difference?

billyhead

furiousox wrote: »

Is there a setback on the seatpost?
Inline seatpost might help.

I measured the seatpost exposed and its the exact same as my old bike. I also pushed it forward a little so the the tip of the seatpost would match or nearly match the length to the middle of the handlebars. Its 54 on the new and 55 on the old. I am not sure what you mean by setback. Also as I mentioned in my initital post the measurement from the ground to the saddle is the same for both bikes. Btw the stem on the new bike is a Bontrager Race Lite, 31.8mm, 7 degree http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bontrager/2013-race-lite-25-degree-rise-318mm-stem-ec044772 and the one on the old bike is a 90mm BBB force stemhttp://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/bbb-roadforce-ii-stem-260mm-x-90mm-black-id70202.html which replaced the stock stem of 120mm in length

billyhead

andy69 wrote: »

I'm having a similar issue now with the wife's new bike - in our case the new saddle is 1cm longer than the old one so the measurements from tip of saddle to bars is out.

I've decided to measure the centre points of both saddles and from there to the bars as the reference points.

Did u check if both your saddles are the same length? This might be causing some of the difference?

Andy. The saddle on the new bike is shorter by about 1.5 cm in length. Every mesaurement seems ok apart from the reach from the handle bar to the levers and brakes and ultimately the overall reach is out by about 4cm then compared to the other bike

detones

billyhead wrote: »

The reason the hoods might be longer could be to do with the shifters i.e this new bike has ultegra whereas the old bike is 105.When you switched the shifters and removed the bar tape etc was their room or the option to move them back? It would be great if it could be done and I could get a bike maechnic to do it. Even to move it at least 2cm back and a shorter stem would make the sizing pretty much identical to the older bike

Yeah you can move them back no problem. 2cm is a fair bit to move them though and they may sit very high. It would be best to first strip bar tape and moving them back may affect how the cables sit. It's not that difficult a DIY job.

detones

billyhead wrote: »

I measured the seatpost exposed and its the exact same as my old bike. I also pushed it forward a little so the the tip of the seatpost would match or nearly match the length to the middle of the handlebars. Its 54 on the new and 55 on the old. I am not sure what you mean by setback. Also as I mentioned in my initital post the measurement from the ground to the saddle is the same for both bikes. Btw the stem on the new bike is a Bontrager Race Lite, 31.8mm, 7 degree http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bontrager/2013-race-lite-25-degree-rise-318mm-stem-ec044772 and the one on the old bike is a 90mm BBB force stemhttp://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/bbb-roadforce-ii-stem-260mm-x-90mm-black-id70202.html which replaced the stock stem of 120mm in length

I think the 31.8mm is just the handle bar size it fits. The new stem will be somethink like 70 90 100 or 120. If 120 this could be your difference.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Different handlebars have different length reach so it's possible the new ones are longer reach which is what happened to me. I bought new handlebars with shorter reach to compensate. Problem solved.

torydiver

CJC999 wrote: »

Different handlebars have different length reach so it's possible the new ones are longer reach which is what happened to me. I bought new handlebars with shorter reach to compensate. Problem solved.

+1 on this.
I also had similar issues until I noticed dimensions of the handlebar itself. Got replacement handlebar online that shortened the reach by 40mm . Job done.

billyhead

The stem is about 10mm longer on the new bike so that will be my first adjustment to make i.e get a short ter stem and then take it from there. the frame is the exact same size as my other bike in terms of standover height, ett, seat tube height etc so it just a matter of getting the reach to the levers and drops as close as possible. Once this is achieved it will be my good weather bike;).

billyhead

Folks,

Further to this query about sizing, the brake levers and gear shifters are similar to the hoods on shown on the red handlebar on the attached image whereas on the bike I had fitted their is not much bar tape exposed and its similar to what is shown as in the second image, and if its possible for a bike mechanic to move the hoods and subsequently the levers/brakes further back as in this image it would sort out the sizing issue. Can this actually be done?