jlwdm
12-05-2010, 05:45 AM
We live in an era where we have almost unlimited component choices to achieve the desired reach. The handlebar choices are staggering - unless you are looking for silver. If you look hard enough you can find handlebars with almost any desired reach and drop. Where not long ago an 84mm reach was considered short, now you can find bars down to 70mm reach.
The difficulty arises in that no LBS can carry all of the different handlebar options. At first it seems like you look at just the handlebar reach and can up with the correct reach. I am ignoring changes in reach based on stem angles here and saddle to bar drop. Unfortunately, all of the different hood shapes and handlebar shapes have an effect on reach that is not readily measurable.
My example is my 2005 CSI. I have three road bikes - two custom bikes and the CSI. All three bikes have the same pedals, same crank length and the same saddles. Both customs use the same handlebars and stems. The customs have 2007 Record (Serotta Nove) and 2009 Chorus (new Spectrum) So setting the bikes up the same should be fairly simple.
The two custom bikes have 72 degree sta with 25mm setback posts. Large frames - the smallest is 61cm after 4 degrees of slope.
Since I need a short top tube compared to the seat tube my used choices are very limited.
The CSI has a 73 degree seat tube angle and a 1cm longer top tube than the Nove I am using as my baseline. So first I tracked down a silver post with a 35 degree setback to get the saddle in the same position relative to the bottom bracket. Now I have a reach issue of 1cm longer top tube plus almost one more cm of effective top tube because of the steeper seat tube angle. So with the same stem the CSI has the expected 1.75cm (px) of extra reach from the seat tube tip to the bar center.
With the 2009 Centaur I have read on the forum many times about the slight additional reach compared to my Record 10 levers.
Again after a major search I found a silver handlebar with 14cm less reach than on my Nove. So the reach should be a little longer but not a lot. You have to remember that although 5mm or 10mm sounds like a lot they are small differences - 1/5 of an inch and 2/5s of an inch.
Now with the bars installed the reach on the CSI ends up being about 1cm shorter than the Nove, not a little longer. All from handlebar shape and hood shape issues that are harder to quantify.
So now I am looking at other handlebars. The other problem is that the CSI is in AZ and I am in Texas so I don't have it available to tinker with. Just had a couple of days at Thanksgiving.
Thus, in spite of all of the component choices, dialing in reach is not always as easy as it seems. As long as you have a fairly close top tube length, after compensating for different STAs, you can dial in the fit it can just take a little more experimenting than you might think.
Jeff
The difficulty arises in that no LBS can carry all of the different handlebar options. At first it seems like you look at just the handlebar reach and can up with the correct reach. I am ignoring changes in reach based on stem angles here and saddle to bar drop. Unfortunately, all of the different hood shapes and handlebar shapes have an effect on reach that is not readily measurable.
My example is my 2005 CSI. I have three road bikes - two custom bikes and the CSI. All three bikes have the same pedals, same crank length and the same saddles. Both customs use the same handlebars and stems. The customs have 2007 Record (Serotta Nove) and 2009 Chorus (new Spectrum) So setting the bikes up the same should be fairly simple.
The two custom bikes have 72 degree sta with 25mm setback posts. Large frames - the smallest is 61cm after 4 degrees of slope.
Since I need a short top tube compared to the seat tube my used choices are very limited.
The CSI has a 73 degree seat tube angle and a 1cm longer top tube than the Nove I am using as my baseline. So first I tracked down a silver post with a 35 degree setback to get the saddle in the same position relative to the bottom bracket. Now I have a reach issue of 1cm longer top tube plus almost one more cm of effective top tube because of the steeper seat tube angle. So with the same stem the CSI has the expected 1.75cm (px) of extra reach from the seat tube tip to the bar center.
With the 2009 Centaur I have read on the forum many times about the slight additional reach compared to my Record 10 levers.
Again after a major search I found a silver handlebar with 14cm less reach than on my Nove. So the reach should be a little longer but not a lot. You have to remember that although 5mm or 10mm sounds like a lot they are small differences - 1/5 of an inch and 2/5s of an inch.
Now with the bars installed the reach on the CSI ends up being about 1cm shorter than the Nove, not a little longer. All from handlebar shape and hood shape issues that are harder to quantify.
So now I am looking at other handlebars. The other problem is that the CSI is in AZ and I am in Texas so I don't have it available to tinker with. Just had a couple of days at Thanksgiving.
Thus, in spite of all of the component choices, dialing in reach is not always as easy as it seems. As long as you have a fairly close top tube length, after compensating for different STAs, you can dial in the fit it can just take a little more experimenting than you might think.
Jeff