# My first road bike - I prefer a more upright position - how to achieve this?



## JC2947 (28 Apr 2020)

Hello all,

Brand new here, and relatively new to road bikes. I've always ridden Dutch and hybrid bikes, but never a road bike and I want to buy a road bike so I have found the RC100 from Decathlon (I'd love a Trek AL 2, but finances!). 

This is a link to the bike: https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rc100-road-bike-grey-id_8554266.html#
I rode it two years back and they've not changed it besides the paint job, and I've heard overall for a long period of road and gravel riding it's very solid - I ride on gravel track and road about 50/50. As you can see it's more upright with the saddle in line with the bars, unlike the AL 2 for example. 

So my questions are - if I were to get this Triban bike, would it be best if I were to go larger or smaller? I'm 6ft 3 and it says that I'm between L and XL. I hate the idea of not being able to touch the floor when stopped and as I say I prefer an upright position. Is it that if I go smaller (the L), I'd have to heighten the saddle, thus giving it more of a traditional road stance?

Secondly, if I were ever to afford (when it's back in stock!), a 'proper' road bike like the AL 2, then would it be best to go smaller and lower the saddle so it's more like the Triban, upright? 

Thanks a lot in advance for putting up with a novice!


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## boydj (28 Apr 2020)

If you can touch the floor when seated on a road bike, your saddle is too low. You have to learn to slide off the saddle as you come to a stop so that you can put a foot down. You set the height of the saddle by the heel on the pedal method. Once you have the saddle set, you can adjust the height of the bars by moving the spacers above or below the stem. It will feel strange after what you're used to, but it shouldn't take too long to get used to the new position.

Check out youtube for videos showing how to adjust height of the stem.

If you go for the XL you should be able to set the saddle and bars at roughly the same height, and once you get used to that you can lower the bars a little at the time to get a better posture on the road bike - assuming that's what you want to achieve. A more experienced cyclist would probably go for the L and have 4" to 6" drop from saddle to bar.


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## vickster (28 Apr 2020)

You can flip the stem to raise the bars, easy and free fix to see if it’s better


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## slowmotion (28 Apr 2020)

boydj said:


> If you can touch the floor when seated on a road bike, your saddle is too low. You have to learn to slide off the saddle as you come to a stop so that you can put a foot down. You set the height of the saddle by the heel on the pedal method.


I'm not sure you have to slide off if your saddle is the right height. My saddle is the correct height but I can stop and balance on the saddle using the points of my shoes. It helps having big feet.


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## MichaelW2 (28 Apr 2020)

Smaller bikes are shorter. You can adjust the height of bar and saddle with alt seatpost and stem.


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## DCBassman (29 Apr 2020)

vickster said:


> You can flip the stem to raise the bars, easy and free fix to see if it’s better


Or fit a riser stem. There's no 'right' posture, muck about until you're comfortable. As always, one change at a time.


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## Smudge (29 Apr 2020)

I'm the same, i cant ride any bike that has the bars lower than saddle height. As has been said above, use all the spacers under the stem and flip the stem. You can also rotate the bars up to get the hoods higher. You can possibly end up too stretched out on the largest framed road bikes, so you may have to also get a shorter stem to swap over. 
For sizing, take all the dimensions of frame parts, plus any other measurements listed for the Triban and compare them to your current bikes to give you some idea of fit.


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## RegG (29 Apr 2020)

Before buying, make sure the dealer knows their stuff and is selling you a bike that is the right size. Any decent dealer will offer a reasonably comprehensive bike fit. I bought my first road bike from a large bike shop and they simply looked at my height and said "That one will be fine" - it wasn't ? - I didn't know better at the time and trusted them. I encountered back and arm aches and when I went to a local, more specialised bike shop for a 'fit' they told me it was the wrong size. They weren't trying to sell me a new bike but did attempt adjustments on my bike which made a slight improvement but not sufficiently for me to keep the bike!


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## vickster (29 Apr 2020)

RegG said:


> Before buying, make sure the dealer knows their stuff and is selling you a bike that is the right size. Any decent dealer will offer a reasonably comprehensive bike fit. I bought my first road bike from a large bike shop and they simply looked at my height and said "That one will be fine" - it wasn't ? - I didn't know better at the time and trusted them. I encountered back and arm aches and when I went to a local, more specialised bike shop for a 'fit' they told me it was the wrong size. They weren't trying to sell me a new bike but did attempt adjustments on my bike which made a slight improvement but not sufficiently for me to keep the bike!


Issue is that Decathlon stores aren’t open...and don’t think their staff are qualified to do bike fitting even if they were.
Oh and their website is down right now too as they can’t cope with the traffic.


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## davidphilips (29 Apr 2020)

After the lock down there may be a lot more used bikes for sale and perhaps a cheap used bike may be best?
Reason being if you are new to road bikes then after you have cycled with them for a bit you will find that whatever suits you now may not be great in a few months time.
Great thing about used bikes if you sell them again after a short time you may not loss much money and that can not be said when buying new.


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## Dogtrousers (29 Apr 2020)

Just an aside ... I'm the same height as you and the one change I made that had an immediate noticeable comfort benefit was getting wider handlebars to match my shoulders.

Not that this is directly relevant to your upright position. Just thought I'd throw it in.


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## Gunk (29 Apr 2020)

slowmotion said:


> I'm not sure you have to slide off if your saddle is the right height. My saddle is the correct height but I can stop and balance on the saddle using the points of my shoes. It helps having big feet.



same as me, I’m tip toes on all my bikes.


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## cyberknight (29 Apr 2020)

Nothing wrong with decathlon bikes , they get very good reviews .
The only thing i would ad is maybe stretch your budget to get a bike with brake and shifters combined so you dont have to take your hands off the bar to change gear .
Also the rc100 only has a single chainring at the front so you may find hills a struggle without a smaller inner chainring
Another option would be to go second hand if you know what size bike you need and get more bike for your money ?


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## vickster (29 Apr 2020)

As above, wjy not look for the Trek you'd like second hand? No guarantees you'll find one, but you'll never know until you look


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## JC2947 (29 Apr 2020)

Hello all,

Thank you for the wisdom written. 

I'd love to go for a second hand, but right now that doesn't seem possible either as people don't seem to be selling much besides a couple of £900+ Cannondales in my area (probably the lockdown). I think I will still go with the Triban as it seems to be really well reviewed, plus has gravel tires, which I'd not thought before to consider but a couple of good rides near me are hardpacked. 

By the sounds of things, it seems best to go for the XL and make adjustments, such as potential new wider handle bars and adjusting seat. Would that be correct? My thinking there is that more space allows for more adjustments, and I would have space to shrink down. 

Side note - do all bikes' bars raise or lower? I can't seem to find any info on whether the RC100 does. (If needed, best pictures of the bar are here: https://road.cc/content/review/250460-btwin-triban-100-road-bike). 

Thanks a lot!


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## cyberknight (29 Apr 2020)

You have to alter bar height by moving the spacers above or below the stem, if you want to have a more upright position you could fit a shorter stem or a riser stem, lower then more spacers above it.




riser stem


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## brucers (30 Apr 2020)

Does it have to be curly bars? You could get a flat bar road bike with an adjustable stem.


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## DCBassman (30 Apr 2020)

Absolutely, or convert one, but it will be difficult to judge sizing, so buy as flat bar if possible. It worked for me, but then I'm a weird shape...


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## Kevfm (30 Apr 2020)

JC2947 said:


> Hello all,
> 
> Thank you for the wisdom written.
> 
> ...



I got a triban RC500 - not sure if the geometry is the same as the 100. I'm 5'11" with 33" inside leg and relatively long arms. I got the L and fits me fine; I definitely would't want it any smaller. My seat is higher than the bars. I tried the M which felt like a kid's bike and the XL was OK for height but too long a reach.


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## SkipdiverJohn (1 May 2020)

If you want an upright riding position, the most important dimension is the height of the head tube, since that sets the available range of bar height. I always go for the largest frame that will fit me and still be manageable to ride in traffic; i.e. I don't want the frame so big I don't have any standover clearance at all, in case I have to stop in a hurry. Leave the kids sized frames with silly amounts of seatpost sticking out for the kids to ride. Grown-ups should ride adult sized bikes!


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## Blue Hills (1 May 2020)

vickster said:


> You can flip the stem to raise the bars, easy and free fix to see if it’s better


Very true.
I have a bike fitted hewitt.
Never felt right at all to me. Maybe my body is odd.
Felt nervous about returning to nice mr hewitt as he seemed so sure of his system and rig. And i know next to nowt about bike fitting theories.
He flipped the stem, now all is fine.


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## MarkF (1 May 2020)

I am 6' with 33" inside legs and have had Decathlon road bikes and find their L bigger than others I've had. My cousin at 6'5" can't ride them so I wouldn't buy one at your size (6'3") without finding out whether it's L or XL you need.

My riding is 50/50 too, over the past 20 years, 10+ road/drops bikes must have passed through my garage, they never last more than a few months as I mostly always grab a hybrid, I keep trying but am maybe fixed in a "hybrid" position forever.


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## Sharky (1 May 2020)

MarkF said:


> I am 6' with 33" inside legs and have had Decathlon road bikes and find their L bigger than others I've had. My cousin at 6'5" can't ride them so I wouldn't buy one at your size (6'3") without finding out whether it's L or XL you need.
> 
> My riding is 50/50 too, over the past 20 years, 10+ road/drops bikes must have passed through my garage, they never last more than a few months as I mostly always grab a hybrid, I keep trying but am maybe fixed in a "hybrid" position forever.


My riding is 99.9/0.1 in favour of a road/drop bikes. But on the one occasion when I did assemble a flat bar bike, I firstly put the saddle in the identical position (height and relative to the BB) as my road bike. Then set the handle bar the same relative position (reach and height to the saddle) as the flat horizontal part of the drop bars. Then added handle bar extensions.

This made the position on the MTB, riding on the bar extensions, identical to the road position, when riding on the brake hoods. My road bikes have compact drops, so not too severe a change in position and really only used for cornering and descending, when greater control and lower center of gravity is better.


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