Tips for a too-large frame?

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Permalink Reply by Ali on March 31, 2009 at 2:30pm

You can swap out the stem with a shorter one that in turn will reduce the amount of reach. Your seat will obviously need to be lower compared to the headtube of any other similar geometry bikes you have. Since your seat tube is longer. A good way of adjusting your seat height is to sit on the bike and put your heels on the pedal axle the back pedal. You should be able to do that without over extending your knees or rocking your hips from side to side. That should get you quite close to the right place and from there you should just play around with the seat height millimeters at a time and ride for a while. To me even the most minute adjustment in the seat height is very noticeable and takes a while to getting used to. So you should ride it even if it feels odd at first, as long as you are not over extending your knees you should be fine.

-Ali

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Permalink Reply by Jody on March 31, 2009 at 2:37pm

Find a short stem to get the handlebars closer to the saddle. You could also use reverse bullhorn bars or risers, depending on your style.

If the saddle doesn't go low enough, look around for a lower-profile one. You may also be able to attach it to the seat post a bit closer to the handlebars. Chop or switch out the seat post if it's too long to drop all the way.

I hear that sometimes you can switch to the next smaller wheel size, especially if you're going between inches and centimeters (for example - 27in wheel to 700cm to 26in to 650cm...) but it seems it would throw off way too many things in the rest of the geometry. I've never attempted this. Watch your brake placement - if you have them.

Shorter cranks, perhaps?

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Permalink Reply by vxla on March 31, 2009 at 3:02pm

How is the standover? If that's bad, then sell it and buy something that fits.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Lloyd on March 31, 2009 at 3:26pm

http://www.oilycog.com/tallpeople.htm

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Permalink Reply by Gecko on March 31, 2009 at 6:08pm

As others have said, a shorter stem is good to decrease the reach from the seat to the bars. Another good thing to do is to slide the saddle more forward on the seatpost before you set the overall height. This will help place your seated position closer to the handlebars, especially when combined with a shorter stem. Sliding the saddle forward also positions your effective seat tube angle closer to vertical, shortening the distance from the pedals to the saddle, so you can actually set the saddle height higher without overextending. These changes will affect the handling somewhat, but it's not impossible to get used to. I used the same techniques once on a 21.5" mountain bike, and they were very effective and surprisingly comfortable both on and off road. And I normally ride an 18.5".

extra note: these can be performed in reverse with a bike which is too small, i.e. installing a longer stem and sliding the seat rearward on the post

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