groad bike sizing and questions

i'm thinking of getting a groad bike. not a touring bike, not a road bike, not a real cross bike, but what the cognoscenti are now calling a groad bike. and i don't even have a mustache. 2 bikes that hold appeal are the Ridley x-trail A50 as found at MEC. the other is the very groovy looking and made in Canada (sort of) Devinci Hatchet sx. both have big tires, mech disc brakes, can be fendered and are cheap. i know exactly what i want in geometry and reach for mtn bikes but very little in road bikes. i bet all xl's are not the same size with different interpretations. at 196cm tall fit is always an issue. any insights? and if i should be in a different place here, some moderator let me know. no groad subforum that i can discern.

I am 5'9" 185lbs and am very happy with my large Anyroad Comax. It took 15 minutes off my work commute and Ive ridden Fishermans and surrounding gravel roads with it. Kind of frightening to go to curly bars off pavement, but I'm getting used to it. Im glad I didnt go with a CX because many new ones now are 1x drivetrains, no good for the road IMO.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/model/anyroad.comax/24678/89661/

full disclosure - affiliated by one degree of separation and I do not comparison shop.

If you want to cut price in half, go allux.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/model/anyroad.2/29116/100758/

I highly recommend one you can put a rack and pannier on. It'll change your life.

Shit, I just looked at your Aluminum MEC Ridley at $2250. At that pricepoint, I'd hands down go with the Comax Giant.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/bikes/model/anyroad.comax/29117/100756/

I'm almost exactly the same height as you and riding an XL Trek CrossRip.

Extremely versatile bike and cheap too (mine is the low spec model, now called the "Comp" I believe, about half the price of the Ridley you posted). Ride is fairly upright for a drop bar bike so not particularly fast as a "road" bike but I've done a few 100+ km rides with no complaints. That upright position makes it great on gravel and I also like it for commuting (my primary use for the bike actually).

IMO for these type of bikes it's nice to have something that isn't too high-end. I like being able to lock it up (good lock of course) at the store/coffee shop/pub for a quick stop and not worry too much (something I can never do with my mountain bikes).

For reference my mountain bike is an XL Giant Reign which I'm also quite happy with the fit on.

40mm might seem like a big tire based on what's happened in the past few years but we're just seeing the beginning of a wave of even fatter tires on drop bar bikes. WTB's 650x47c Horizon tire has a similar outer diameter to a 700x28, and other companies are beginning to offer high volume 650b road tires as well. We spent the summer touring on 27.5x2.1" mountain bike tires on steel cross bikes with mega clearance (Soma Wolverines), and were very happy with our choice.

I find road bike sizing in general to be more about torso and leg length than height. My co-worker and I are similar heights but he has a longer torso and legs and thus is a size bigger than me on a road bike.

But at your height you are likely in the 58 - 59 cm range. And how that translates into physical sizes (large, XL) depends on what the manufacturer calls it.

i'm not overly concerned with dedicated 'gravel' performance but the bikes that have larger tire options and disc brakes appeal. the issue is (as always) trying to get a sense of how a bike will perform and more importantly FEEL (fun to ride or less so), especially with different tire options. i could see myself riding 40s or even 28s. most the time i'll be on roads, and rural roads, including some dirt roads. the Devinci Hatchet is actually surprisingly different in geo than many. longer chainstays and really slack (71.5) compared to most road bikes, including gravel bikes. i don't know how to interpret that to riding feel.

I'm a 2016 Devinci Hatchet SX owner and it was love at first sight but the honeymoon didn't last long after a few hundred km's. I thought about selling it and finding something else but could still see the potential in the frame so I set a goal to create a versatile quiver-of-one bike. So far I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and am now committed long term; I love it. I'm a wally weekender and commuter and I've put 3500km on it since May riding to work a couple times per week, touring, grinding, noodling and have an average amount of CX laps on it around the lower mainland courses.

- I'm 191cm tall and have the 60cm frame.

- Numerous saddle height/position, handlebar height and stem length changes were made to get it feeling good on and off road.

- After 1000km I swapped on the SRAM Rival 1x setup for a Shimano 105 2x setup. Initially the 1x setup was fun but even though the gearing ratio is pretty close to some 2x setups I'd had on my road bikes, it was tough find a good rhythm when I got deeper into longer rides. Also, sometimes you need a granny gear to just help you get home in one piece.

- I love the Schwalbe G-One 38's that came with the Hatchet. So versatile and comfortable but sometimes I wanted something a bit more nimble for road-only. So, I dropped the OEM house-brand wheelset and went with two pairs of A-Class CXD5 wheelsets; $250/pr from MEC and no complaints. One set with the Shwalbe G-One 38's and one set with Continental slick 28's. Swapping the wheels in and out as needed is a luxury.

- The G-One's were tougher to handle on the lose and dry sandy sections of the KVR trail between Penticton and Merritt. Wet sand on CX courses they handled OK but they perform beautifully on gravel roads, pea gravel and grassy CX tracks. They're perfectly at home on something like a full Fishermans loop up to the Seymour dam and down the east bank.

- The TRP Spyre mechanical disk brakes were a wise choice for the spec to keep the MSRP reasonable and I'm in no rush to switch to hydraulics. They're easily adjustable and the stopping power is totally adequate with with the 140mm rotors.

- I didn't want panniers and a rack for going for quick rides around home so I went with Porcelain Rocket bags . Someone on NSMB put me on to them and for that I offer a huge thanks - maybe Morgman? I can't say enough about the versatility of these for touring. Their saddle bag is genius; expands from 5-15L (I think) and it's very sturdy when secured to the saddle rails and post when fully expanded. It's got good compression straps too. I use their slick frame bag too. It's a good setup for shorter summer tours when crashing on someone's sofa. For work commuting I use the waterproof Timbuk2 Especial Tres pack. It's very well made and a lot less bulky than I'd anticipated.

So, a quick summary. As with many bikes, time in the saddle gets the conversation between your body and the bike going, but to get the Hatchet to be versatile for my own needs required a translator which resulted in a fair amount of adjustments to the bike. That said, I did a 450km Sunshine Coast / Van Isle tour in late summer that cemented the relationship for the long haul.

Special thanks to everyone on Pinkbike Buy [HTML_REMOVED] Sell that bought my old road bike and the Hatchet's OEM parts that help fund the upgrades. Cheers!

i'm thinking of getting a groad bike. not a touring bike, not a road bike, not a real cross bike, but what the cognoscenti are now calling a groad bike. and i don't even have a mustache. 2 bikes that hold appeal are the Ridley x-trail A50 as found at MEC. the other is the very groovy looking and made in Canada (sort of) Devinci Hatchet sx. both have big tires, mech disc brakes, can be fendered and are cheap. i know exactly what i want in geometry and reach for mtn bikes but very little in road bikes. i bet all xl's are not the same size with different interpretations. at 196cm tall fit is always an issue. any insights? and if i should be in a different place here, some moderator let me know. no groad subforum that i can discern.

I'm riding a Ridley Fenix SL, and it has the same 600cm top tube length, as the x-trail. It should fit you just fine. I'm 195cm.

I find road bike sizing in general to be more about torso and leg length than height. My co-worker and I are similar heights but he has a longer torso and legs and thus is a size bigger than me on a road bike.

But at your height you are likely in the 58 - 59 cm range. And how that translates into physical sizes (large, XL) depends on what the manufacturer calls it.

This is very true. I am almost the same measurements as Heckler (same height but he probably has 5lbs on me) and I am very much a medium on a road bike. Most of the bike shops around should be able to help fit the right size though. Feel is another matter completely…

thanks for the write up and inspiring photos NV73.

i'm looking at the downmarket versions of these, the alloy SX and XP. i prefer the colour of the silver to the red/black of the SX. is the part spec that much better on the SX? double on the XP but Tiagra. anyone who knows road componentry do chime in…
http://www.devinci.com/bikes/bike_752_scategory_185

Whoa the Hatchet is sex-eh!!