Video:Find the Right Road Bike Size

Transcript:Find the Right Road Bike Size

Hi, I'm Bob Copeland with Bike Source in Denver, Colorado and BikeSourceOnline.com. Today I'm here to talk to you about how to find the right road bike size.

Most of the bike companies out there are going to offer you some amazing charts that allow you to take a look at how tall you are, what type of bike you're looking for, and what size you should be getting into.

After you've found out what size you're going to go with, you want to determine what experience you're going to be looking for. With road bikes, there are a lot of really different experiences out there. They all look really similar, but some are meant for going short distances, some are meant for going really long distances. Your size is going to be pretty relative to that.

Use a Goniometer to Find the Right Road Bike Size

The right saddle height is actually going to be measured with an angle, and that tool used is called a goniometer. That angle is 30 degrees, and it's actually measured –- I'm just going to use some generic points here -– between your ankle, your knee, and your hip.

The other thing you're going to be looking for in your reach is going to be the measurement between your hips, your shoulders, and then your wrists down here on the hoods. This position should be roughly 90 degrees – a very nice neutral position. We don't want to be superman on a bike – that is definitely not a good way to have a good time on the road bike.

Some really important things that you don't want to look for when you're trying to find the right road bike size are some older things. One of those, and I'll just demonstrate here, is standing over the bike like this and lifting the bike up. It is important to have clearance over the bike, but that's not the way you're going to find the right road bike size these days.

Use Reach to Find the Right Road Bike Size

There's another important thing that you want to do when you're determining your reach sitting on the bike here having a good time. Back in the day we used to say if we could hide the hub behind the handlebar when you're looking down here –- and the hub is right down here in the middle of the wheel –- this would be something that would determine our reach.

Our bodies are in different proportions. I'm six feet tall, but this other six-foot tall guy and this six-foot tall lady, we're all going to be much different. So this is not a good starting point to find that reach development there.

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