Does it fit?

[gillian]

I'm going road bike shopping this week!! :-). At the moment, I've narrowed it down to a few bikes but from my research everything suggests that the fgit is the most important thing. Having never ridden a road bike, how do I know the fit is right?

 

[vickster]

It'll feel comfortable. All bikes will need tweaking, but IME you'll know whether the frame size is right. Other bits, like stems and bars can be swapped out if needed. A good LBS should be able to narrow the correct frame size down to one or two sizes by looking at your height and proportions

You need to be able to ride the bikes, preferably outside but at a minimum on a turbo trainer

Happy shopping

 

[T4tomo]

does it feel comfortable when you are riding it?

test ride as many as you can and then you'll gte an idea as to what is comfortable. Obviously as a road bike it will feel different to whatever you have ridden before. Generally the geometry of most road bikes arent that disimilar, some have slightly taller head tubes, some of slightlky longer top tubes for same sized seat tube. obviously you need to get the saddle at the right height as starting point.

 

[slowmotion]

I found that my first road bike took a lot of getting used to. The riding position was totally alien to me after years of straight bar bikes. Christopher gives a good introduction here, and it's well worth viewing before you set foot in a bike shop. There are loads of other good clips on youtube. Good luck and have fun.
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View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAl_5e7bIHk
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[Steady]

For me the best way I knew how it fit was how awful another bike felt and how out of control it/I was on basic stopping/starting and shop aisle turns, so when I came to sit on the right one it just felt right.

Things like arm reach to the handle bars can be dealt with afterwards by changing the stem but it will feel awkward, I felt stretched due to not being use to the position for a good couple of rides on it and then I just forgot about it completely.

Also, saddle plays a massive role in comfort. After I bought my first Road bike I thought I'd made a massive mistake on sizing felt great in the shop, but suddenly I was being thrown around and bike rides felt like a rodeo, swapped the saddle and the ride has been beautiful since.

 

[Lincov]

I was measured for mine with a rather medieval gadget I sat on and seemed to basically measure my inner leg length, but outputted the frame size. Ask your LBS for advice, and try some bikes of different sizes as well.

This tool might be a useful starting point http://www.ebicycles.com/bicycle-tools/frame-sizer/road-bike.

 

[John the Monkey]

Remember you can ask the shop for some flexibility too. I was unsure of the riding position on my Giant, so the shop (Rick Green's in Handforth) left spacers under the stem so I could move the bars down as I got used to it.

You'll tweak riding position as you get used to it, so "close enough" is usually good enough when buying - finding the perfect seat height, saddle position on the rails &c will come as you ride more.