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Hi Ian, Thanks for your reply i appreciate that. I had started talking to someone on the canyon live chat yesterday and when i gave them my height they immediately said medium, however when i provided my seat height i think that advice was about to change before my connection got cut off. Should i expect to see a big difference with how comfortable/powerful/aerodynamic I can be on the Speedmax as opposed to my Merida Reacto? Feel like I gave away alot of time over an ironman.
With regards to the stem, is that something they will change for me at the point of ordering the bike or will i need to purchase one separate?
For the cranks, is the reason you advise going for 165 over 172.5mm that it allows for a better position on the bike or a more open hip angle? Apologies if thats a stupid question, my bike knowledge is very limited.
Shetlander31,
The potential to be more comfortable/powerful/aerodynamic on the Speedmax over your road bike is there for sure. Funny, I believe it might be possible for your body to be put in the same position on both bikes but then the handling of the Merida would be a nightmare because it would require a whole lot of oddities (forward angle seat post, slammed -17to23 degree stem that was short, under mounted aerobars, etc. etc.).
The Speedmax is designed to be ridden in the aero position, the Reacto is not. How good you feel and how good you go on the Speedmax is - to some degree - dependent upon how your body is fit to it. In brief.... your hips on the Speedmax will be much more over (on top of) the bottom bracket than on the road bike (this speaks to power somewhat). Your shoulders will likely be much more over your elbows allowing you rest your upper body weight on your humorous bones like a pillar (this speaks to added comfort) and the front end of the bike will very likely be lower (this, and other bits, speaks to aero-ness).
Canyon will ship the bike as-is. In the future the fantasy is that we'll be able to ask for changes when ordering but we're still a long way off from that. So the bike arrives. You should tri the 80mm stem that's on there but push the arm pads out as far as they go, it might work for you. If the cockpit feels to cramped then you can purchase a 90mm stem and install. And, yes you are right on the money in terms of the cranks. You can't ride very low with long cranks because at the top of the pedal circle the hip gets impinged and you get "stuck" as you come over the top of the circle. To solve that you either bring the aerobars up (that hurts comfort, aero, and sometimes power) so the best thing to do is go to a shorter crank. Keep in mind.... if your seat height is 725 (and it might not be due to the new seat angle) then moving from 172.5 to 165 means your saddle height has to go up 7.5mm to maintain what you know/love/want.
All of these questions are good and important, keep 'em coming.
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan