Help with frame sizing??

supros88 said:

Hi, i was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on frame sizing,
my problem is that i have found a great deal on a 2nd hand Litespeed Vortex
in a 57 but i am worried it will be too small for me i am 6 feet tall & have a 34" 3/4 inseam [ i measurered it myself so i am not sure ]

link to litespeed sizing

Thanks for the help, i realy appershate it.

I'm real close to your size.It would fit me,but I'm not you. I wouldn't throw money down a rathole on a guess. That's all you'll get here.

boudreaux said:

I'm real close to your size.It would fit me,but I'm not you. I wouldn't throw money down a rathole on a guess. That's all you'll get here.

I agree with Boudreaux, you may fit a 57, it depends on your riding style, the frame geometry etc. I suggest if you can't test ride the used frame that you mentioned, try finding a bike shop with the same frame and give it a test ride, might be hard if it's an older frame.

Test ride, test ride, test ride. Get down in all positions when you do. Don't be pressured in to taking a quick trip around the block.

Thank's for the info guys, sadly test riding the frame is out as its off ebay, but i will try to find another frame with simlar geomatry.

BTW I also wanted to put some clip on aero bars & use it as a tri bike in the summer then take them off for the rest of the year, does this change the size bike that i need?

thank's again for the help.

Go to wrenchscience.com

I've got a Litespeed Tuscany and I did a little reading before I bought it ; One book was by Greg LeMond , "Complete Book of Bicycling" , and there is one chapter that deals with determining bike fit ; in that chapter LeMond references the work of a Swiss engineer, Wilfried Huggi, who did extensive testing to determine optimum bike fit ; one of his formulas was that frame size should be .65 multiplied by inseam.

In your case that formula produces a frame size of 57.8cm and so 57cm is pretty close.

And BTW , Lemond's book came out in the late 80's and Huggi probably came up with the formula well before that but even today's online calculators use that formula.

And I mentioned in another thread that I firmly believe that ,unless your body measurements are far from the norm, you can start with Huggi's frame size and tweak the saddle position fore and aft and stem length and come up with a real good overall fit.

The Vortex is a great bike ; I don't believe they are available in a stock frame in a 58cm and so if you can get it for a good price and it's not damaged I say go for it - I think with a Campy record group, the Vortex probably goes for over $5000 new.

So tell me about your litespeed? I'm going to have a bonus to spend in the new year.

😄

litespeedguy said:

I've got a Litespeed Tuscany and I did a little reading before I bought it ; One book was by Greg LeMond , "Complete Book of Bicycling" , and there is one chapter that deals with determining bike fit ; in that chapter LeMond references the work of a Swiss engineer, Wilfried Huggi, who did extensive testing to determine optimum bike fit ; one of his formulas was that frame size should be .65 multiplied by inseam.

In your case that formula produces a frame size of 57.8cm and so 57cm is pretty close.

And BTW , Lemond's book came out in the late 80's and Huggi probably came up with the formula well before that but even today's online calculators use that formula.

And I mentioned in another thread that I firmly believe that ,unless your body measurements are far from the norm, you can start with Huggi's frame size and tweak the saddle position fore and aft and stem length and come up with a real good overall fit.

The Vortex is a great bike ; I don't believe they are available in a stock frame in a 58cm and so if you can get it for a good price and it's not damaged I say go for it - I think with a Campy record group, the Vortex probably goes for over $5000 new.

Nothing much to tell - it's 59cm , Ti w/ carbon fork ; components are a mish/mash - Campy, Avocet, Mavic,Thompson, 3T - I enjoy the bike !!!!

Good Luck !!!

thanks for the info. Lots of happy hours window shopping and test riding in store for me.😉

The thing that worries me is that one of the importers of litespeed said that they meseure their frames differently to most euro brands & that a 57 litespeed is smaller than a 57 in most euro brands.

Any comments?

supros88 said:

The thing that worries me is that one of the importers of litespeed said that they meseure their frames differently to most euro brands & that a 57 litespeed is smaller than a 57 in most euro brands.

Any comments?

Nominal frame sizes are measured different ways. Look at some eomety charts.