Surly is pretty weird about how they make the bikes bigger. Im 169 cm and ride the 49 cm frame. I went with the 49 cm due to stand over clearance. The head tube/stack is very low, but I run risers and spacers so that is fine. If I wanted drop bars I would have needed a real spacers tower or some fuggly stem. The big difference between the 49cm and the 53 cm in my opinion is the higher head tube/stack and higher standover.
Thanks, yeah definitely a bit strange, looking at it seems the 49 is closest to a small in most frames but I would probably go with a 53, is toe overlap any issue with the 49?
I dont have issues with toe overlap, but it does have toe overlap. All smal bikes with normal "road bike" geometry and 700c wheels will have toe overlap.
Surly is pretty weird about how they make the bikes bigger. Im 169 cm and ride the 49 cm frame. I went with the 49 cm due to stand over clearance. The head tube/stack is very low, but I run risers and spacers so that is fine. If I wanted drop bars I would have needed a real spacers tower or some fuggly stem. The big difference between the 49cm and the 53 cm in my opinion is the higher head tube/stack and higher standover.