Quote:
Ian, How does one measure the dimensions you require(Pad Y, Pad X (AKA Pad Stack, Pad Reach). In the market for new bike and saw the Canyons.
Thanks
johnny_5,
My apologies for the delay, I missed this post earlier.
The Primer: For decades when someone was out to buy a "mortal" road bike (mortal = normal stem, cables exposed). All we did was recommend off of height. The times a suggestion for bike size can be made from height alone. If you're 6'1" then you're prolly a 58cm road bike. You're 5'4" get a 52cm. Then we woke up to the fact that some folks need a bike with long and low geometry to be optimal and some folks need a short and tall bike to be comfortable. Just an example: Canyon makes an Aeroad and an Endurace - both in size Medium. The Aeroad has a Stack of 560 and a Reach of 393 (long and low) while the Endurace in the same Medium size has a Stack of 578 and a Reach of 382 (shorter and taller). As we move now from mortal road bikes to super road bikes (molded, carbon stem/bar cockpit, cables hidden inside) then it's all the more critical that we KNOW not just what size frame we need but the details of that front end so we aren't playing about trying to find a good position with super expensive parts and hours & hours of time to swap front end bits due to internal cable routing.
For a tri bike - it's even more important, dare I say critical that we "prescribe" the Pad Y and Pad X BEFORE we buy.
There's a hierarchy of "goodness" (accuracy?) to how go about this:
Best: go to a fitter who's educated in tri, expereinced in tri, and has a dynamic fit bike (gotta have all three of those boxes checked). Go through a process on that type of fit bike and together you and the fitter will be left with your optimal position - and two sets of numbers: 1) Pad Y and Pad X allows you to purchase the proper bike and 2) all your coordinates so when the bike arrives you can have it in your exact position.
Very Good: take an existing tri bike that you own, that you've massaged into a great position that you like/love, and then measure the Pad Y, Pad X off of that bike. Post it to me here and I'll prescribe your new Canyon Speedmax from that. Here's how you do that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZa8UIIwrYE
Good: Give me your overall height, your inseam and I'll make an educated guess from that as to your Pad Y and Pad X and then you can purchase based on that.
Get back to me with questions or numbers and we'll go to the next step.
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan