Making my road bike smaller..

[Kilbourne]

So this is probably a very silly question, I jumped in head first with my road bike as I am sure a lot of people do and I got offered a Vertigo Carnaby for quite a good price, now I know this is not a top of the range bike..

But with funds tight with two little kiddies and the whole biking to work to save money scheme I am struggling with the size of it, as the frame is fairly big which means I can not have my seat in the correct position and even sits lower than my handle bars, so enough rambling on..

Can I put smaller wheels on my bike, which in turn will make it lower?

 

[screenman]

So this is probably a very silly question, I jumped in head first with my road bike as I am sure a lot of people do and I got offered a Vertigo Carnaby for quite a good price, now I know this is not a top of the range bike..

But with funds tight with two little kiddies and the whole biking to work to save money scheme I am struggling with the size of it, as the frame is fairly big which means I can not have my seat in the correct position and even sits lower than my handle bars, so enough rambling on..

Can I put smaller wheels on my bike, which in turn will make it lower?

Let us have a picture if you on the bike.

 

[jefmcg]

Can I put smaller wheels on my bike, which in turn will make it lower?

No. The brakes won't reach the rims.

(for anyone reading this, the Carnaby is sold by Tesscos, uses Shimano Claris and retails for £65-£150. Thank you professor google)

 

[Crackle]

Not a lot you can do but from your avatar, a shorter stem, flipped over to angle the bars down and some compact bars, because they are quite big might help. Shorter cranks could be possible to help raise the seat height but that could prove difficult if they are already shortish and expensive. I doubt smaller wheels will help as you would also need to sort out longer reach brakes which might prove very difficult and again possibly costly.

 

[Kilbourne]

Ok brilliant thanks for your replys

 

[Mobytek]

Best option might be to take you reduced price bike and move it on for a bit of a profit and get something that fits better.

Trying to squeeze onto wring size frame will lead to switiching for something else as the angles are all wrong. it may work for a while, but the inevitable will come.

Angles might not seem like much but hips, back, knee, ankles, spinal curvature and pressure points will soon become apparant.

 

[Citius]

Would I be right in thinking that you want smaller wheels so that you can touch the floor while sitting on the saddle?

 

[Kilbourne]

Ok brilliant thanks for your replys.

I think this is the best option (sell and buy a new one) I am already getting aches and pains at the top of my back and that's just from doing 5 miles!

 

[accountantpete]

If your bike looks like this

Then:

a) Remove spacers under the stem.

b) Flip the stem



If the bars are too far forward for you then invest in an 80mm stem which will work more or less the same as the current one and move the levers back 20mm.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I think your saddle is already as low as possible, if your avatar is your current set-up, and your situation may be improved by a shorter stem, but I think getting a bicycle with a proper fit will serve you better into the future.

 

[slowmotion]

My first road bike felt a bit too big. (I simply wasn't used to the riding position). I swapped from a 110mm to an 80mm stem which made things a bit more comfortable but , strangely, the best improvement was getting bars that were 50mm less wide.
As others have suggested, I would sell the current bike and get one that suits you better. You might take a small financial hit, but you should be happy that you have learned more about what feels comfortable/uncomfortable. That's a valuable lesson. Good luck.

 

[Cyclist33]

The first question that should have been asked and which no one has yet, is what is your height, and or inside leg length? We really have very scant information to play with here, don't be offended please but from the content of your post I would assume you aren't very experienced in the ways of road bikes. It's entirely possible that the bike is the right size for you and you don't know it.

For example, do you know any of the rules of thumb for setting saddle height?

Apologies if I'm being rude there.

The next observation I have is that moving the stem down its vertical axis or flipping it horizontally won't make enough of a difference if we assume that the saddle is set correctly and the bike is indeed too big at the moment. You can see even from a rough appraisal of the avatar image that it wouldn't really bring the handlebar any closer.

The third comment I have is that you should enjoy the bike if it turns out to be the right size. Okay, it's not super expensive or posh and you might find you want to upgrade at some point, but it's got a working frame, decent gears, round wheels etc etc.

 

[mickle]

Take.

 

[mickle]

It.

 

[mickle]

Back.