While there certainly are bikes that are long and low and high and short, in my experience, a good cockpit can easily negate small geometry differences. My first tri bike was a
61cm p3c that I rode in a very long position. I'm 6'3" and a bit more torso than legs (not anything crazy disproportionate though). After a few years of that bike, I ended up on a Ceepo Shadow-R which only came in a large and had about 20mm less reach than the Cervelo. The added forward adjustment of the Vision Metron TFA cockpit allowed me to easily get into a plenty long position, and that's even with a fixed stem. Basically the same story with my current Omni and the Alpha One bars. The large Omni has the same reach as the Shadow-R, but the Alpha One has an even better adjustment range, especially when coupled with the Scoops which add a few extra rear holes for even more forward adjustment.
Note how stretched out I am and still comfortable with better handling than any of my previous bikes.
So I guess my thoughts are that as much as I loved my p3c, at the time that bike was popular, cockpits were significantly more limiting and frame stack and reach mattered a lot more. 12 years later, I'm guessing a good fitter could get
nearly any brand of bike to fit anyone, with the right cockpit. There would for sure be tradeoffs with some of the harder to fit bikes though.
Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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