# CAAD8 58 or 61cm frame?



## moookeee (6 Sep 2013)

Hi all, first time poster.

I'm buying my first road bike and due to recommendations and price I'm going for a Cannondale CAAD8 2013 Model with 105 gear.

I'm a bit confused with the frame sizing.. and I have read conflicting reports about the frame sizes.

I am 6'4" (193cm) tall with a inseam of 37" (94.5cm).

Does anyone with similar measurements have the 58 or 61cm frame and can make recommendations?

Ps I will try the 58cm frame this weekend but the 61cm frame is only available online for me.


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## mark st1 (6 Sep 2013)

@smokeysmoo is your man he is a Giant Cannondale owner.


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## Hacienda71 (6 Sep 2013)

I would have thought a 61. I am 6'3 with a 34" inside leg and my 58 is about as small as I would go, I also have a 60 which is fine. Not caad's but the standover heights will be similar.


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## ColinJ (6 Sep 2013)

61 cm!

I am 6' 1" tall, with 33 32 inch (84 81 cm) *** inseam, and I ride 58 cm bikes. I need the saddle reasonably high and use 11 cm stems. The only way you would get a 58 cm bike to fit you would be to have your saddle several inches higher than mine and to use a stupidly long stem.

Here's my 58 cm Cannondale. Think how high would you need the saddle with your legs being 4 5 *** inches longer than mine!







I managed to fit a 61 cm bike by using an 8 cm stem, so no way should you be going for anything smaller, and with (say) an 11+ cm stem.


*** I just checked - I have a 32" inseam , _not_ 33"!


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## Thayne (6 Sep 2013)

Hi - I'd go for the 61 at your height. I'm just under 6' and ride a 58cm no problem. A lot is also due to personal comfort I think!


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## Biker Joe (6 Sep 2013)

I agree. Definitely the 61cm.
Gee. You're a tall bloke!
Nice bike, by the way.


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## line71 (6 Sep 2013)

All depends on your body proportions,you may have shorter legs and a longer body or vice versa
No point taking advice here,best to go in a shop and try various models out before committing yourself


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## Hacienda71 (6 Sep 2013)

He hasn't got short legs with a 37" inner leg.  although if buying from a retailer rather than online, a basic bike fit goes without saying.


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## Dayvo (6 Sep 2013)

I'm 6' 1" and have a RED CAAD 10 105, 58".

So IMO a 61" is, err, right up your street.


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## Upstream (6 Sep 2013)

I'm 6' 2" and I have ridden lots of different road bikes. What I tend to find is that if I'm riding a bike where the top tube is fairly horizontal (doesn't slope upwards in either direction) then I am only comfortable if the frame is 61cm or larger. Where the top tube does slope upwards towards the head tube however - it all depends on how steep the angle is. Based on the information that you have provided, I'd suggest that on anything smaller than a 60CM frame, you may find that although you can get the seat high enough, that the tops of the handlebars are so much lower than the height of the saddle that you end up with shoulder and / or neck pain.

The problem with being tall of course is that an increasing number of manufacturers seem to be producing 58cm as the largest frame sizes in their range :-(


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## outlash (6 Sep 2013)

I'm 6' 3" with a 34" inside leg and my CAAD8 is a 58. You'll probably want the 61.


Tony.


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## ColinJ (6 Sep 2013)

Upstream said:


> I'd suggest that on anything smaller than a 60CM frame, you may find that although you can get the seat high enough, that the tops of the handlebars are so much lower than the height of the saddle that you end up with shoulder and / or neck pain.


I'm 'only' 6' 1" and I had to flip the stem on my 58 cm Cannondale to get comfortable (see picture in post #4). You can imagine the drop down if the saddle had to be raised by several more inches!


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## Upstream (7 Sep 2013)

ColinJ said:


> I'm 'only' 6' 1" and I had to flip the stem on my 58 cm Cannondale to get comfortable (see picture in post #4). You can imagine the drop down if the saddle had to be raised by several more inches!



Yes - that would probably be really uncomfortable for most people. Generally when I'm riding a non compact, I flip the handlebar stem even on a 61cm frame. It's only with my current bike that I was able to have the stem unflipped but this is a 61cm compact geometry. The tops of the handlebars are about 2 inches below the height of the seat (see image).


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## Cycleops (7 Sep 2013)

Upstream said:


> Yes - that would probably be really uncomfortable for most people. Generally when I'm riding a non compact, I flip the handlebar stem even on a 61cm frame. It's only with my current bike that I was able to have the stem unflipped but this is a 61cm compact geometry. The tops of the handlebars are about 2 inches below the height of the seat (see image).



That seatpost looks a long way out of the frame. You really need at least 2" inside the frame to avoid over stressing it, that is why you need to get the correct size in the first place. The OP will certainly need the 61cm, which even may be too small.


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## Upstream (7 Sep 2013)

Cycleops said:


> That seatpost looks a long way out of the frame. You really need at least 2" inside the frame to avoid over stressing it, that is why you need to get the correct size in the first place. The OP will certainly need the 61cm, which even may be too small.



Yes - You're right. In my case this was the seatpost supplied with the bike. It is fairly long and is not at the maximum (about 3 inches remains inside the seat tube).


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## moookeee (9 Sep 2013)

Wow... came back after the weekend to find all these really helpful answers. I couldn't find a 61cm in my city (Perth, Australia) to try on but doing a lot of reasearch, reading your answers and following the basic size chart from Cannondale I'm confident to order the 61cm. I hope it will fit and will post photos and review once I get it! Thanks for the effort guys, this really helps and hopefully I can return the favour one day


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## Upstream (9 Sep 2013)

moookeee said:


> Wow... came back after the weekend to find all these really helpful answers. I couldn't find a 61cm in my city (Perth, Australia) to try on but doing a lot of reasearch, reading your answers and following the basic size chart from Cannondale I'm confident to order the 61cm. I hope it will fit and will post photos and review once I get it! Thanks for the effort guys, this really helps and hopefully I can return the favour one day



Ah Sunny Perth. Very nice but not quite as nice as "the city of churches" where I used to live ;-)


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## Rob3rt (9 Sep 2013)

Cycleops said:


> *That seatpost looks a long way out of the frame.* You really need at least *2" *inside the frame to avoid over stressing it, that is why you need to get the correct size in the first place. The OP will certainly need the 61cm, which even may be too small.



It is a compact frame............

Nice arbitrary advice there.


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## ColinJ (9 Sep 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> It is a compact frame............
> 
> Nice arbitrary advice there.


Alternatively ... he could be saying that with such a huge length of post exposed, there wouldn't be much left to go inside the tube, unless it were a very long post indeed?


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## Upstream (9 Sep 2013)

With the comments about the seat tube I thought that I should double check. Below are my findings;

Height (in a vertical line) of top of saddle from the ground 1080mm
Length of seat post 350mm
Amount of seat post exposed 200mm
Amount of set post inside seat tube 150mm (approx 5.9 inches)


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## smokeysmoo (9 Sep 2013)

I thought I'd posted on this thread already, hey ho, t'interweb gremilns must be at work.

As others have said you will need a 61 moookeee.

This is my CAAD10, (currently for sale but can't ship to Australia). It's a 60cm because they don't do the CAAD10 in 61 and the 63 that they do are like hens teeth. I have changed the stem and seatpost, but other than that the geometry works for me.


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## ColinJ (9 Sep 2013)

smokeysmoo said:


> This is my CAAD10, (currently for sale but can't ship to Australia). It's a 60cm because they don't do the CAAD10 in 61 and the 63 that they do are like hens teeth. I have changed the stem and seatpost, but other than that the geometry works for me.


Remind us of your height - if you were 7 feet tall, then it wouldn't really make the case for the 61 cm frame!


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## smokeysmoo (9 Sep 2013)

ColinJ said:


> Remind us of your height


6' 5" with 34" inside leg Colin


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## moookeee (11 Sep 2013)

Dear Gentlemen, may I present:

Cannondale CAAD8 105, 61cm, 2013 Model for 1300AUD with some cages and a sattle bag with goodies thrown in.

I could have gotten the 2014 for a few hundred more but apparently there is no real difference.






61 cm and seems to be the perfect size for me (6'4", 37"inseam). Next steps are shoes, lycra and shaving of legs and arms. Not looking forward to the latter :/



A very light bike and can't wait to take it out for the first proper test run!

Thank you for you all the comments and suggestions!


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## Upstream (11 Sep 2013)

Oooh... That IS a nice bike. Will you run 23mm tyres or (as you're pretty tall and perhaps a little heavier than some) go for 25's which may be a little more comfortable?


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## outlash (11 Sep 2013)

Looking good . You think it's light now, wait until the inevitable wheel upgrade. You can easily lose 1/2 a kilo without spending a fortune.


Tony.


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