London 2 Paris - By any means necessary

It does depend on the manufacturer and the market they are after. Colnago, as an example, do a range in 1cm increments from 51 cm to 65 cm whereas Giant tend to do Small, Medium, Large and Xtra Large.

Big Daddy Wayne - once I have been measured up proper I am going to look for a nice Pinarello, Cinelli or Tommasini I'd really like a 'classic' italian road bike - iI have to say it never even crossed my mind to do 'distances' not until I logged in here - you & hippy &Fatboy & that lunatic fixed geezer London to Scotland and back in a weekend - kinda inspired me to go further - I now regularly ride 45km out to Rambouillet and I do a 100km ride to Chartres about once a month on my mercian fixed - next summer I want to try gears out to Normandy - then I might need a Carbon to go further still - so why did you chose titanium over Carbon?

How in hell can you have FLAB if you are training 250km a week..?

ben&jerrys, crisps and chocs kept me 'in shape' ;)

I take you guys are all riding CARBON?

bigdaddywayne and rickymundo were on titanium

one thing I don't get about carbon bikes is this
Normal steel bikes come in a multitude of different sizes to fit the exact dimensions of the rider. Carbons come in small medium or large. I have had enough trouble figuring out the right size in steel. So how do you size a carbon?

not surprised. if you have trouble sizing your waist line, you'll always have trouble sizing bikes! ;)

sizes avail should be enough for normal proportioned bodies. finer size adjustment can be fine tuned in position/size of other components, stem, spacers, saddle, etc.

Also are carbons like really fast

yes. not as fast as fasteddy's or hippy's...but fast.

never ridden a modern steel bike so i cant judge how carbon compares to them. but i tried lifting an indep fab (steel) road bike used by someone in my group and it was so much lighter than my bike!

It does depend on the manufacturer and the market they are after. Colnago, as an example, do a range in 1cm increments from 51 cm to 65 cm whereas Giant tend to do Small, Medium, Large and Xtra Large.

So will the Colnalgo fit better ?

So will the Colnalgo fit better ?

Bike sizing is not an exact science and most of the variables, i.e. saddle height, handlebar position etc., can be modified by adjustment so the size of the frame isn't crucial. That said, some people will tell you it is, hence the availability of custom frames.

The difference between Giant and Colnago's approach is that Giant are competing on price so the fewer sizes they make the less their manufacturing costs are whereas Colnago are selling a premium product so tailoring the size to the customer suits their approach.

You are right about the shorts fatboy

I am going to follow Buffalo Bills advice and get measured up properly

riding the mercian I get numb hands numb arse even numb feet sometimes

I bought gloves and move my hands alot to try and stop my hands going numb

the shorts seem to help abit with the arse the right size and ASSOS brand my help further

I still start to feel rather uncomfortable after about four or five hours

this is my main barrier to going further

Bike sizing is not an exact science and most of the variables, i.e. saddle height, handlebar position etc., can be modified by adjustment so the size of the frame isn't crucial. That said, some people will tell you it is, hence the availability of custom frames.

The difference between Giant and Colnago's approach is that Giant are competing on price so the fewer sizes they make the less their manufacturing costs are whereas Colnago are selling a premium product so tailoring the size to the customer suits their approach.

Oh I see so if you have a normal bod you can save a bit of money by buying the Giant or Look or what have you but if you have monkey arms or fat girls legs you can go with the Colnago to get something to better fit - this discussion is really showing me the importance of getting properly fitted up , thanks

How in hell can you have FLAB if you are training 250km a week..?
I take you guys are all riding CARBON? one thing I don't get about carbon bikes is this
Normal steel bikes come in a multitude of different sizes to fit the exact dimensions of the rider
Carbons come in small medium or large
I have had enough trouble figuring out the right size in steel
So how do you size a carbon?
Also are carbons like really fast

I eat 250 donuts a week and drink 250 pints a week. My fat no go nowhere!
There's probably a greater range of carbon frame sizes out there now than steel.
'Normal' steel bikes come in your standard 50, 52, 54, 56, 58cm just like carbon bikes.
They don't make piddling little variations just for a laugh. My S-Works is available in 49, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 61cm. With seat, stem, bar, crank changes this range should suit 95%+ of riders.
Each manufacturer might have different TT lengths or maybe do a 55 instead of 54 or blah blah but steel frames and carbon frames are the same regarding sizing - buy one with the components that make it fit.
Steel might be easier when building a fully custom frame but I've never ridden a custom built frame of any material and I don't plan to.
Good carbon frames are like really fast, yes.

I ride a titanium road bike which is v.nice
Does Corny stand outside your house every night whimpering?

Yeah.. but that's nothing to do with wayne's bike..

Different frames nominally the same size vary enormously in my opinion. I'm 5'10" and I bought a Liespeed frame M/L 55cms, and it's way too big. A 55cm. Pinarello fits perfectly. A bit like Levi jeans, except they don't shrink in the bath, unfortunately. If you go for a big outlay, make sure it fits properly beforehand.

^^ That's usually because different manufacturers measure their frames differently, ie. some measure 56cm as centre of bb to centre of top-tube/seat-tube junction, others measure it bb centre to top of seat-tube (even if it extends past the top tube which I reckon is daft) and some will measure the 'effective' top tube lengths which is the horizontal length if the sloping top tube was actually straight. There's loads of this kind of shit on sizing all over the web.

Basically.. RIDE the bike first! Only buy it if it fits!