Biker Joe
Über Member
- Location
- Nr Harlow, Essex.
I'm a tall bloke, 6ft 2in, with an inside leg measurement of 33in.
About 7 or 8 years ago I bought a 'Look' carbon composite road bike (which I still use and is still almost as good as new).
It has a 60cm frame which takes care of my long legs. Unfortunately it also has rather a long length which made me stretch out too much.
The problem with many tall riders is that,although they have long legs, their upper body is often a normal size, a fact that many manufacturers often fail to take in to consideration.
I don't know if it is the same with modern day large frame bikes but it was then. With the extra height of the frame came the extra length.
It was quite common, also at that time, for road bikes to have the traditional quill stem set into a threaded fork.
The range of quill stems for bikes these days is not that good and hasn't been for some time now.
To cut to the chase, I replaced the quill stem which was 110mm straight, with a quill to ahead converter, which still allowed me to adjust the height of the bars and fitted an upward angled stem of 80mm which brought the bars back to a more comfortable position.
Now, at 68 years of age, my back has lost some of it's flexibility and I have fitted a Ritchey,80mm adjustable ahead stem which has an upward angle of up to 45deg.
This allows me to ride in an improved riding position and also allows me to make any further adjustments, if necessary, in the future.
I posted this on here as I feel that this information may be of use to some tall riders who may be facing similar problems to myself and hope it will be of use to someone.
I wish you all many happy hours of riding.
About 7 or 8 years ago I bought a 'Look' carbon composite road bike (which I still use and is still almost as good as new).
It has a 60cm frame which takes care of my long legs. Unfortunately it also has rather a long length which made me stretch out too much.
The problem with many tall riders is that,although they have long legs, their upper body is often a normal size, a fact that many manufacturers often fail to take in to consideration.
I don't know if it is the same with modern day large frame bikes but it was then. With the extra height of the frame came the extra length.
It was quite common, also at that time, for road bikes to have the traditional quill stem set into a threaded fork.
The range of quill stems for bikes these days is not that good and hasn't been for some time now.
To cut to the chase, I replaced the quill stem which was 110mm straight, with a quill to ahead converter, which still allowed me to adjust the height of the bars and fitted an upward angled stem of 80mm which brought the bars back to a more comfortable position.
Now, at 68 years of age, my back has lost some of it's flexibility and I have fitted a Ritchey,80mm adjustable ahead stem which has an upward angle of up to 45deg.
This allows me to ride in an improved riding position and also allows me to make any further adjustments, if necessary, in the future.
I posted this on here as I feel that this information may be of use to some tall riders who may be facing similar problems to myself and hope it will be of use to someone.
I wish you all many happy hours of riding.
Hopefully the new stem ordered last week will arrive soon and I can try it out to see how much it improves things.