# Fitting Bianchi did I get it wrong!?



## Noahs_arc (4 Feb 2012)

Well there you go!, cycling comes in to my life. For may years I have dismissed going out on a road bike for two main reasons 1) when I was a kid my father had an affair and took 'my' spanking new road bike (Raleigh of course) and gave it to his 'bit of stuff's' son! - yeah imagine that... well upset I was. He came back to the family but never replaced the bike!. He wasn't the spiteful type, just liked a bit of skirt :-) 2) I bought a mountain bike early 90's and hated every stroke/pedal on the road. Effort vs Return not good, so it was relegated to the back of the shed for simple rides down the river bank! I even bought a second MT bike as I didn't believe how bad the first one was. Still hated it.

So years passed with tennis, football and jogging buggering up my knee I was coaxed, by a mate, to look at road bikes. "Man he said you'll love it and you'll shed the pounds off" ...lose pounds?!!! that sounds good. So I jumped in the deep end and off I popped to Evans London to simply buy a good bike!. Yeah Italian I thought, bit of bling but not tooooo much. Wilier that's the one for me so the very helpful assistant in Evans pulled out a Trestina 55 cm - 'jump on that' he said. This guy knew alot about fitting and had his own fitting business. Narh my shoulders felt over the handlebars 'that's too small he said they do come up small'. Now I'm 15 1/2st - 5' 8" - about a 30 inside leg, 'I think the next size up will be too big for you'. 'How about this baby' >pointing to a Bianchi C2C Nirone 57 cm >celeste< "WHAT that -Do you think I'm a girl?" Yeah it's a matter of taste. Anyway for a laugh i jumped on it. Hey this doesn't feel too bad. Ping Ping stick it on the credit card..

Off I trot on my first three rides. Ah freedom, bliss, no kids, no wife for 2 to 3 hours. Effort vs Rewards = massive. BUT then the pins and needles set in, quick phone call back to my mate at the shop. Result of the conversation = I buy a shorter stem 150 down to 100. That should do it. Erh NO! (I'll live with it) Then the big one! after consistent riding, I start to get pains right across the top left hand side of my chest just above the heart and below the collar bone. Eeek heart issues? Hmm not sure, so I have an ECG results fine, but blood pressure on the high side 150/100. Move on; as I work in the NHS I had access to a Cardiologist and I mentioned this to her, just after I told her how attractive she looked ;-) she said "hmmm that's too high for angina she prodded me and said that looks like a muscular complaint, however get yourself thoroughly checked out. Basically I can ride for 3 hours, feel great, but I need to massage the area above the heart to ease the dull pain off. Then I'm fine. Back on the bike 2 / 3 days after 30 miles no problems. massage again. During the day niggles.

What the hell could this be? So one thought was that perhaps the bike is too big for me. I have been to a fitting service (specialist in triathletes - skinny bastards) and took the bike, they never mentioned that the bike was too big for me - we fiddled around with the seat up/down front/back.... and foot position. Ping £75 cheers!

So getting down to the real questions. 1) Has any one experienced this type of pain and 2) would a 57cm Bianchi be suitable for my build? 3) is there a difference between sizes/feel on these types of bikes. I don't get the process of erh try this bike and getting a proper fitting surely you'd need to take a dozen bikes to the fitting service. Dont think Evans would approve of that agreement. What do you think!?


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## RoyPSB (4 Feb 2012)

Noahs_arc said:


> Well there you go!, cycling comes in to my life. For may years I have dismissed going out on a road bike for two main reasons 1) when I was a kid my father had an affair and took 'my' spanking new road bike (Raleigh of course) and gave it to his 'bit of stuff's' son! - yeah imagine that... well upset I was. He came back to the family but never replaced the bike!. He wasn't the spiteful type, just liked a bit of skirt :-) 2) I bought a mountain bike early 90's and hated every stroke/pedal on the road. Effort vs Return not good, so it was relegated to the back of the shed for simple rides down the river bank! I even bought a second MT bike as I didn't believe how bad the first one was. Still hated it.
> 
> So years passed with tennis, football and jogging buggering up my knee I was coaxed, by a mate, to look at road bikes. "Man he said you'll love it and you'll shed the pounds off" ...lose pounds?!!! that sounds good. So I jumped in the deep end and off I popped to Evans London to simply buy a good bike!. Yeah Italian I thought, bit of bling but not tooooo much. Wilier that's the one for me so the very helpful assistant in Evans pulled out a Trestina 55 cm - 'jump on that' he said. This guy knew alot about fitting and had his own fitting business. Narh my shoulders felt over the handlebars 'that's too small he said they do come up small'. Now I'm 15 1/2st - 5' 8" - about a 30 inside leg, 'I think the next size up will be too big for you'. 'How about this baby' >pointing to a Bianchi C2C Nirone 57 cm >celeste< "WHAT that -Do you think I'm a girl?" Yeah it's a matter of taste. Anyway for a laugh i jumped on it. Hey this doesn't feel too bad. Ping Ping stick it on the credit card..
> 
> ...


 
I'm 5'8 and I would think a 57 Bianchi would be too big. 55 would probably be the right size - but I'm no expert.

Gorgeous bike though. Hope you get the problem fixed.


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## Alembicbassman (4 Feb 2012)

Frame mfrs measure differently. My Raleigh U6 is badged as a 58cm, but centre to top is 56cm. My Giant Defy is 55.5cm (Large in Giants catalogue) I'm 6ft 1 inch 33 inch inside leg. A 57cm does sound a bit big for 5ft 8 inch. You sure the stem was 150mm? I had a 130mm on my Raleigh which was long, dropped it to a 110mm which was better for me.


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## Noahs_arc (4 Feb 2012)

Yeah well spotted, me being new to this game was 110 cm to 100 cm! Cheers


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## snailracer (4 Feb 2012)

The end goal of "fitting" is to establish the relative positions of saddle, pedals and bars i.e. your contact points with the bike. It should be possible to transfer this fit to all but the most grossly-incorrect frame sizes, although you might need a different stem, saddle clamp, etc. if there is not enough adjustment in the original components.
The only thing you can't really adjust is the clearance between your crotch and top tube.


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## derrick (4 Feb 2012)

I am 5 8" and my Bianchi is a 53cm frame perfect for me, really comfortable 40+miles no probs.


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## Herzog (4 Feb 2012)

I'm 6 foot exaxtly and my Bianchi Sempre is a 57. I could go a size smaller, so I guess a 57 is on the large side for someone who is 5' 8".


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## HLaB (4 Feb 2012)

I would guess a 57cm Bianchi is too big too but that's only a guess based on me: I'm 5' 9.25" and I ride a 55cm C2C Bianchi.


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## VamP (4 Feb 2012)

6ft 1'' and 59cm C2C

no comfort issues at all


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## yello (4 Feb 2012)

What snailracer says. There's a bit of leeway on frame sizing; one can adjust saddle position and stem length etc. But, I have to say, on the face of it that does sound a frame size too far - I would have expected you to be on a smaller frame.


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## fossyant (4 Feb 2012)

I'm 5"9 and ride 56cm old school road bikes, or 52/54 compacts (depending upon top tube = 54 top tube is ideal).

I have a longer torso. 57 sounds way to big.

Can you post a pic of the bike as is set up.


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## EYE-TYE-MAD (4 Feb 2012)

Firstly, it's important to understand just how Bianchi & most other manufacturers size their frames, i.e. virtually. Many moons ago when all frames had a straight top tube it was simply a matter of measuring from the centre of the bottom bracket to the centre, or top of the seat tube to determine frame size & hence rider height compatibility. The Bianchi size given, 57cm, doesn't actually exist, it's the size the frame would have been had the top tube been straight. So, to the question of whether a 57cm Bianchi is too big for someone of 5' 8" with an inside leg of 30". Well unfortunately, there is yet another factor to consider, top tube length. I myself own three Bianchi's, a Nirone, an XL EV2 & a 928 SL. I am roughly your height give or take. All three of my Bianchis have an actual, not virtual, seat tube length of 48cm; the Nirone's top tube is 53cm, the EV2's is 54cm & the 928's is 55cm. In my opinion, & I must stress it is only my opinion as size is to a certain degree subjective, a Bianchi 57cm frame would be a bit of a stretch for someone of your height. I would have said that a 57cm Bianchi would not be suitable for anyone under a height of 5' 9".


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## CopperCyclist (4 Feb 2012)

Might be a stupid, obvious question but...

When you go out for three hours, are you wearing a backpack? If so, give it a go without, once. Make sure someone is reachable on a phone to rescue you if you get a puncture and can't take kit with you.

You never know, it might be a kit issue...


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## IT_Dummy (4 Feb 2012)

Go for a treadmill test. I got my second wind on mine. If everthing is fine. The pain is stress
My pains took 3 years to go away. Its a slow process.
I use to rush to the A&E they threw me out within seconds after a ECG
The Cardioligist know their stuff


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## cyberknight (4 Feb 2012)

fossyant said:


> I'm 5"9 and ride 56cm old school road bikes, or 52/54 compacts (depending upon top tube = 54 top tube is ideal).
> 
> I have a longer torso. 57 sounds way to big.
> 
> Can you post a pic of the bike as is set up.


Sounds spot on to me fossy , the bike does sound to big but its hard to tell without piccies of the OP on the bike , i am 5 foot 7 " with a 30.5 inside leg and i ride 52/54 cm bikes with a 54 cm top tube .


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## BigonaBianchi (4 Feb 2012)

6'4" ona 61cm here with a 120mm stem c2c


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## Nebulous (5 Feb 2012)

fossyant said:


> I'm 5"9 and ride 56cm old school road bikes, or 52/54 compacts (depending upon top tube = 54 top tube is ideal).
> 
> I have a longer torso. 57 sounds way to big.
> 
> Can you post a pic of the bike as is set up.


 
What inside leg are you?

I'm the same height as you, with a relatively short 30.5" inside leg. The lbs tried to sell me a 52 frame (spesh allez) - mainly based on standover height, but it didn't feel right. I took a flying leap of faith in my gut instinct and bought a 54 from ebay. I have absolutely loved it, and because it felt good from the start I have left it alone. In fact the only change I've made in 14 months was to raise the seat about 5mm.

Just recently I've felt the urge to push further back on the saddle when pushing hard on the flat, and am contemplating moving my saddle back a little. I'm beginning the process of thinking about a new bike - and am considering a 55 or even 56 to get a slightly longer toptube, though given the amount of pleasure I've had from this bike I might be best just going for a 54 cm Tarmac.


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## xpc316e (5 Feb 2012)

Bike fit is not a clear-cut science; you need to be comfortable, and that may mean moving away from certain of the unbendable rules of bike fitting. You may indeed be stretching too far, and consequently carrying too much weight on your arms/hands/shoulders. That could always be exaggerated by having core muscles that are at less than optimal strength. Your bike may be a little too big for you, but changes in stem, seat post layback, etc. should solve the issues. Instead of giving people £75 to tell you what you already know, try a few changes (one at a time) and just listen to how your body talks to you.


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## EYE-TYE-MAD (5 Feb 2012)

xpc316e said:


> Bike fit is not a clear-cut science; you need to be comfortable, and that may mean moving away from certain of the unbendable rules of bike fitting. You may indeed be stretching too far, and consequently carrying too much weight on your arms/hands/shoulders. That could always be exaggerated by having core muscles that are at less than optimal strength. Your bike may be a little too big for you, but changes in stem, seat post layback, etc. should solve the issues. Instead of giving people £75 to tell you what you already know, try a few changes (one at a time) and just listen to how your body talks to you.


I agree, the thing is none of these frame sizes mean that much anymore, as the manufacturers are not all singing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to where their measurement points start or end. Some measure from the bb to the the centre of the seat post, top tube junction; others from the bb to the top of the junction, & perhaps the most misleading of all, from the bb to the top of the seat post collar, it's a nightmare. Best thing if possible is to get yourself on whatever you are considering; otherwise, I'm afraid when it comes to the given sizes, size really doesn't matter!


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## al-fresco (13 Feb 2012)

Sounds on the big side to me - not un-rideably so but larger than optimum. I rode a mountain bike that was too big for me for years with no ill effects - but finally taking the plunge and getting a bike that was the right size made a HUGE difference.


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## summerdays (13 Feb 2012)

I've not got any comments to make on the bike sizing but on the pain aspect I suffer occasionally with Tietze syndrome and there is a very similar condition Costochondritis which give me pains across my chest - though mostly near the sternum. However I once went on a course and found I had to declare it as it can be confused with a heart attack.


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## twozeronine (13 Feb 2012)

I'm 5'11" and have a 57cm Via Nirone, so I'd say it is a bit big for you.


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## BrumJim (13 Feb 2012)

Don't forget that this looks like the OPs first serious attempt at cycling. I'd expect a few aches and pains as under-worked muscle groups get their first real test. And since the OP is already a sportsman, I'd guess that it wouldn't be the regular ones that Jo Average (i.e. me) would get on a first big ride.


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