Hi all. I’m in the market for a new tri bike, and I’m trying to get a handle on sizing. My previous bike was a 54cm P3. I can go to the cervelo site and get the frame stack/reach for that size, no problem. But most of the sizing matrices I’m looking at for current bikes and made using PAD stack/reach, rather than FRAME stack/reach. I sold my previous bike a few years ago, so I can’t go and measure the pad stack/reach that I was riding.
Of course I’m going to get a nice fit, but I’m probably going to need to order a bike beforehand and then get fit onto it, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get an appropriate pre-fit.
stem length (and angle) on your p3 + measuring the to the pads on the bars (if you still have them) would get you pretty close. If you don’t have the bars any more, did you have them far in front or behind the stem clamp? It won’t be perfect, but you should be able to make a fair guess.
Yeah, that’s the problem, I sold the whole set up, no idea how long the stem was. The pads were about even with the end of the stem, but not having looked at it for almost three years, I really don’t know exactly. I’m thinking I’m kind of screwed on this.
It depends on the tools that your Fitter has at his or her disposal. Is it possible to get on a Fit Bike first & transfer your coordinates afterwards? Also, some Fitters use an Adjustable Stem that allows you to finalize the fit on an existing bike before committing or guessing on any particular Stem.
Agree it would be near impossible to recreate valid numbers without any documentation.
I would say, though, that getting the fit done first will answer all of your questions, and you will have all the detail you need for new setup.
Do you not have any tri bike right now? You could feasibly play around with even a road bike and an adjustable stem, but why waste time. Not sure what your circumstances are that you’d need to order a bike before the fit (though I could guess) but talk to your local fitter, and likely they do offer either a pre-fit for you to get into the correct frame, and then go back for the details.
