(no subject)

[owlectomy]

Re: my suspicions that I'm on the wrong size bike: just measured myself and the calculator says I should probably be on a 58 cm. My bike is a 54 cm. That's less than 2" of difference so I don't even know if it's a big deal? And measuring myself at home with a tape measure is not super accurate?

But, yeah, might make a difference to get myself on a bike that fits better.

Comments

[daedala]

Yes, that's a big deal.

However, it also depends on what the calculator is calculating. I doubt it's taking to account seat tube angle, reach, etc. So the bike you have may be ok -- especially if you've got a short reach.

[green_knight]

Two inches is one size, give or take; and that would definitely make it the wrong size bike.
My last bike, a hand-me-down, was a size smaller than my current bike. And while it was ok for me to ride, it was never comfortable, and it was too squished together and if I rode for more than an hour at a time I started to get a backache; but most importantly, maybe, this bike feels much safer; the other one was too close together.

[owlectomy]

It was an online calculator, which I know is not going to be that reliable to begin with, but they did make me measure my arms and forearms.

It seems like the biggest problem is that my handlebars are too low whenever I try to get my seat up to the right height. That's fixable, but not by me, so maybe it's time for professional intervention (and not just for the mechanical stuff, but to have somebody take a look at my fit.)