Like most of us I’m lovin’ the speed concept’s design details and that white paper makes compelling reading. However, I’m trying to figure out where the SC lies on the short&tall vs. long&low continuum.
I ride a steep, FIST-approved position: I’m 6’2", ride zero setback and about 15cm saddle-to-pad drop. My traditional stack/reach parameter is about 53/44, i.e. a 58cm Cervelo. Transferring that to pad stack/reach, I get 63 stack, ~50 reach.
Based on my current setup, it looks like the SC is on the short/tall side. I could get on a size L SC with the longest/lowest stem. A size XL could fit me, but I’d have no possibility of downward adjustability on the pads. Here’s the fit info: http://www.trekbikes.com/pdf/2010/triathlon/speedconcept_fit_v3.pdf
Contrast with the Shiv. That bike, at least in my size, is VERY low. Indeed, on that bike I’d be just a cm. under the maximum stack; I’d have to run ~9cm of spacers under the pads! http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf/Shiv_Detail_Geo.pdf
I’m wondering how others are computing their fit on the SC. Am I right that those riding steep are finding themselves near the low limit of the SC fit range?
12cm is the max stack on the Shiv, so you’re not quite as close as you think.
The Trek is ~to a P2C geometrically. IIRC, it is slightly taller/narrower, but not by very much. So it basically slots in near the middle, but may trend to the lower side of things when you consider that it will not need (or be able to use) any headset top cap (9 series). But Trek has published their actual stack and reach for the frames, which should help. I haven’t spent enough time looking at them yet.
I think you’d still have plenty of room to go down with the XL. But I may be reading the chart wrong…
I was going based on the BB-to-pad stack on the Shiv; they say 65.8 is the max for all sizes, so at 63-63.5 I’m close. Not quite there, but still a lot of spacers! Interestingly/amazingly, the LOWEST BB-pad stack on the XL Speed Concept is 63.5 cm. So there’s only about a 2cm overlap between the lowest SC stack and the tallest Shiv stack in that frame size range. (Both appear to have a BB-pad reach of ~50cm).
This tells me I’d be best off on a size L Speed Concept (were I to get one), as it would give me the option of going down a couple cms if I wanted.
It also tells me that the Shiv isn’t a very good bike for tall folks, even those who ride steep. I think Specialized wanted to get away with only making one nosecone assembly, so they have the same stack for all sizes.
Right, but with the 9 series at least you have to use one of the 6 stem sizes offered by Trek, as well as their bars and pads. So the options are a bit more limited; no negative-rise stem option, for example.