Newbie - bike size advice needed

[ant.hill]

Hi

I've been granted a sabbatical from work and i've decided to spend it cycling around Europe. I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum and i've decided i'd like to build myself a touring bike to make it that little more personal.

I think i've decided on the Surly Long Haul Trucker but i'm not sure what frame size i'd require. I'd idealy prefer the 700c wheels but i'm not sure if i'm tall enough for the frame.

My inside leg is 31" and i'm just under 5'10". Would a 56cm LHT be too large for me do you think?


Thanks

Ant

 

[cyclerbill]

Hi

I've been granted a sabbatical from work and i've decided to spend it cycling around Europe. I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum and i've decided i'd like to build myself a touring bike to make it that little more personal.

I think i've decided on the Surly Long Haul Trucker but i'm not sure what frame size i'd require. I'd idealy prefer the 700c wheels but i'm not sure if i'm tall enough for the frame.

My inside leg is 31" and i'm just under 5'10". Would a 56cm LHT be too large for me do you think?


Thanks

Ant

Ant,
If you are a Newbie as you say then I would make sure that you only buy a bike that you have actually ridden. Then you will answer your own question. You will be able to own any touring bike a long time so make sure you are able to ride it before you buy it. Hope that helps.

 

[ant.hill]

Thanks for the reply. That does make sense. The only problem I have is I live in the UK and the range of bikes really isn't that great. Not only that but there are no cycle shops i know that stock anything like the Long Haul Trucker for me to test ride

 

[cyclerbill]

You then have a couple options. One is to size yourself on what would be a similar type frame and another option would be to look at all the other great touring bikes there are. I live in US and ride a great Trek 520 but see others that people ride that are made in Europe on the Crazyguyonabike site. The advantage of a LHT is that it can take really wide tires, like 2" - 2 1/4" wide in case you are touring on unpaved third world countries. For normal road touring 32 mm tires are the way to go and this opens up your bike choices tremendously. Maybe one that you will find in a local shop.