Felt F5

[cameramanjim]

Gotcha. Many thanks by the way!!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

You could always look at one of these
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Verenti_Kilmeston/5360048366/
The front of the bike is unusually high, the angle on the top tube is a little steep, I only needed a 5mm spacer under the stem to get the bars as low as I like them.

 

[MacB]

Sizing up will help, you will get a longer top tube and higher bar position, it's easy to understand, stand facing a wall with your arms straight out in front of you. Then move forward until your finertips touch the wall, now lower your arms a bit, you'll note that your fingers no longer reach the wall. This article explains it very clearly:-

http://www.rivbike.com/article/bicycle_making/the_top_tube_ruse

 

[tigger]

Sizing up will help, you will get a longer top tube and higher bar position, it's easy to understand, stand facing a wall with your arms straight out in front of you. Then move forward until your finertips touch the wall, now lower your arms a bit, you'll note that your fingers no longer reach the wall. This article explains it very clearly:-

http://www.rivbike.c...e_top_tube_ruse

Will it really?? (Just edited this lol - I see what you mean now!)

However, I don't think I really like this article. The thing I dislike most is that it states at the beginning that top tube length is unimportant. Well its about the whole mix of course but ask any pro fitter and they'll say that generally the most important bike measurement is effective top tube length, this is what they use as a starting point to get the whole bike to fit!

So I suppose the best advice is get a fitting!

 

[tigger]

I meant to say I found this site very useful.

Top Tube Range
This measurement is along the top tube, from the midpoint at the seat tube to the midpoint at the head tube. No single piece of frame geometry has a greater impact on comfort than your top tube. If you plan on paying attention to one measurement and one measurement only, make it this one. Keep in mind that we do not measure the actual top tube on bikes with compact frame geometry. Rather, we use an "Effective Top Tube" measurement – an imaginary line drawn parallel to the ground along the length of the top tube.


http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=FIT_CALCULATOR_INTRO

 

[MacB]

I meant to say I found this site very useful.

Top Tube Range
This measurement is along the top tube, from the midpoint at the seat tube to the midpoint at the head tube. No single piece of frame geometry has a greater impact on comfort than your top tube. If you plan on paying attention to one measurement and one measurement only, make it this one. Keep in mind that we do not measure the actual top tube on bikes with compact frame geometry. Rather, we use an "Effective Top Tube" measurement – an imaginary line drawn parallel to the ground along the length of the top tube.


http://www.competiti...ALCULATOR_INTRO

Yep, I've used Competitive Cyclist as well and my results there also marry with results from this one:-


http://www.prodigalchild.net/Bicycle6.htm

I don't agree with everything on Rivendell Bikes, but felt their diagrams regarding reach explained the variance via bar height quite clearly.

 

[tigger]

Yeah thats a nice one too.

Interesting thing is the Dave Moulton one for my measurement suggests a 575mm top tube + 140mm stem. The competitive cyclist one suggests approx 595mm top tube + 120mm stem. So the overall combined lengths are the same - just different ways of getting there.

Although having said that, its difficult to find a good oversized 140mm stem, and I suspect the steering would be very slow and vague too. Has anyone got any experience of using long stems, how do they handle?