Just finished putting this together last week. I've done one 2 hour ride on it and a few 1/2 rides.
The bike is intended to be my foul weather commuter and i'll race on it at least twice this season.
It's a 58cm. My road bike, a Bianchi Veloce is a 57. The roadbike was fit to my by a guy who supposedly learned to fit bikes from Eddie Merckx. The roadbike has a 120mm stem on it, as you can see the Redline has a very short stem.
I just did the plumbob test and the saddle on the Redline is in the correct fore/aft position. Not sure about height, feels pretty right, if it was wrong I would have felt it during my 2 hour ride.

So, what do you think? Too big or just right?

Send it over and I'll tell you if it's too big... :D

Looks good!

I don't get your question--how does it compare to your road bike (I assume the road bike fits you?) in terms of the measure from saddle nose to center of bars for each? What length stem is on your cross bike?

maybe nobody else really understood the question either, that's why I didn't get any replies.
I've asked my good friend beer to help me with this post, maybe i'll be more clear when intoxicated.

Road bike saddle nose to center of bar is 21 1/4 inches (54 cm).
CX bike saddle nose to center of bar is 21 1/2 inches (54.6 cm).

Stem on CX bike is 80mm.
Stem on road bike is 120mm.

I took a picture of the bike because I thought that by not showing much seatpost and having a short stem it would show (or not show) that the frame is too big for me. I've spent some time looking at pictures of other people's bikes here and noticed that most people show more seatpost.

I'm not a novice cyclist and can be rather anal. I am interested in a good fit, my road bike fits well, my mtn bikes fit well, I think that all the bikes should fit well. If I need to replace this frame with a smaller one then I will, i'm just trying to make that determination.

Keep in mind that I will be racing this bike (maybe not alot, at least some, depends on if I get bit by the cx racing bug).

Thanks for ya'lls help.

my opinion is "yes" it is too large--others may say no. I like to have a little shorter cockpit and a little less bar drop than my road bike w/ a 110 stem--can you get access to the next smaller size to measure and compare?

It looks OK for road use, but not great if you are going to race CX or trail ride on it. I would try to find the next size down in that frame if you like the way it feels. Your cockpit looks too stretched out.

I'm 6' 1-1/2" and ride a Redline 58. I've got a 90 or 100mm stem and about as much visible seatpost as you, maybe a half inch more, except with a post that has no setback at all I've got short thighs relative to my shinbones. I also have about no nadular clearance, nothing frightening, just no room to move the bike around while standing over it flat-footed.

A smaller frame would increase the drop from the saddle to the bars, which wouldn't be a good thing for me - it's perfect now. I don't want to have a stem pointing up or a bunch of spacers. The cockpit length is perfect. It is all a compromise. Spend some more time with yours and see what if anything you'd want to change according to feel. It looks okay to me, but I don't have to live with it.

Besides, I'm always feeling the bike is too stretched out at the beginning of a ride and too tight an hour or two later. One day the saddle's too low the next it's too high. I just set everything to the middle of my mood swings.

Ron

I don't think it is possible to make sound judgements on bike fit based on a photo of a bike, but I'll offer a few opinions anyway. From the measurements you described, the top tube on your new cross bike seems just a tad long (assuming that your road bike fits you perfectly). In general, people either keep the saddle to bar dimension the same or a bit shorter on their cross bikes compared to their road bikes. Adam Hodges Myerson has some great articles on racing cross bike setup on the Cycle-Smart website (http://www.cycle-smart.com/Articles/index.html), which unfortunatley seems to be down at the moment. In my opinion an 80mm stem is a bit short but not drastically so. How the bike handles will depend on many other things, such as frame and fork geometry (fork trail being an important variable), tires, etc. Regarding the amount of exposed seatpost, or the related variable of standover clearance, I don't think it is a big deal in cross bikes. If anything, a high top tube (and less exposed seatpost) is preferable for cross racing because it opens up the main triangle for easy shouldering of the bike for run-ups. Standover clearance becomes crucial only for very technical riding like you encounter in mountain biking, when emergency dismounts are frequent, not cross racing where you basically never have to straddle the top tube. To me, your bike looks fine from a purely aesthetic standpoint, not "too big." For many years, a guiding principle for sizing a road bike was that a properly fit bike should show only a "fistfull of seatpost." You say the guy who fit you for your road bike learned from Eddie Merckx--can't get more Old School (or legit) than that. For people who have developed an appreciation for traditional road bikes (e.g., those pictured here: http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/image-archive.html), bikes like yours with a modest amount of exposed seatpost look normal, and the compact frames so in vogue (e.g., http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/2005/probikes/?id=jittery_louis_garneau) look downright wierd. My advice is to not give up on your current bike until you have ridden it a lot more, including in cross racing situations. Signs that the top tube is too long or your stem is too short--and your weight is too much biased to the rear, instead of being more evenly balanced between the 2 wheels--could include your front tire losing traction and washing out easily in turns, or the bike being hard to maneuver in low speed twisty sections and hairpin turns. On the other hand, if you are a cross novice, crashes or difficulty keeping up with the fast guys on tricky parts of the course should probably be attributed to a lack of technique rather than a bad bike. So in summary my advice is to just ride the bike; time will tell whether it fits you.

My gut feeling is it's a little big. Cross is different from road in that you are using the power from your lower back much more and working harder to maintain any momentum. In light of that, my opinion is that a cross bike should be a tad shorter than a road bike. At least that's what I've found works.

However, being that you're only doing one or two races a year, i wouldn't get too caught up in it.

Hell, I'm sure after 6 hours on trails it will "feel" great... but how does it feel doing a dismount/remount, toss it on your shoulders and run through some barriers.

That will tell you more if this is too big or just right. My guts tell me that your standover is not much (assumption based on the seat post height), which will make dismount and remount a pain. Maybe OK in the first 3 laps... but in that 5th or 6th lap swinging your legs up and over will make you ready for the Rockets... perhaps not ideal for cross racing.

Test it out with obsticles.

Please explain what the standover height has to do with the dismount / remount?

You swing your leg over the saddle, which is going to be in the same place relative to the ground regardless of the standover clearance.

Ron

Please explain what the standover height has to do with the dismount / remount?

You swing your leg over the saddle, which is going to be in the same place relative to the ground regardless of the standover clearance.

Ron

That's correct.

Saddle height (from the ground) = BB height + BB-to-saddle height.

BB-to-saddle height should not vary much between all your bikes. Road bike, cross bike, mountain bike--it should be basically the same +/- a cm or so. It is a function of how long your legs are, how flexible you are, and your pedalling style.

BB height, however, can vary quite a bit from bike to bike, and will definately affect the saddle height-from-the-ground measurement, and the ease of dismounts and remounts.

anyone else think that 80mm stem mght be a little twitchy??

if you gotta go that short to make things work, i would tend to think you would be better off with the redline size 56. keeping in mind that redline's TT run long.

but if you got a good deal on it, it might be acceptable as a foul weather commuter. but probably wouldnt be ideal to race on... not that you CANT race on it... just may not be ideal. my first year of cross i was on a bike that was probably 2 sizes too big for me.. but the size of the bike wasnt the limiting factor :)

I'm loving the frame and the freedom that knobby tires provide. But, I think it's too big. I've got an ad on craigslist to see if anyone wants to trade frames with me. Thanks for all your help, you have been very helpful.

I'm loving the frame and the freedom that knobby tires provide. But, I think it's too big. I've got an ad on craigslist to see if anyone wants to trade frames with me. Thanks for all your help, you have been very helpful.

another vegan? wow. we are taking over this place :)

I went through the same experience last year with a 58cm Ridley. At 6' I usually have no issue with standover but got the Ridley all built up and went into shock b/c of the insane standover (and little exposed seatpost...not that that really mattered). The bottom bracket was 1.25 inches higher than my other CX (Fuji Pro) and the seat tube measured 58cm c-c as compared to 57cm c-t. After a couple of CX practice sessions trying to convince myself I could adapt and like the Ridley, I finally gave in an sold it. Much happier with a lower standover, especially for racing. All in all, looking cool is important but going fast is more fun. Get what makes you go fast.