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Can I fix my very small bike with a bike fit?

Bicycles Asked by Ioannis Iordanoglou on March 20, 2021

I used this bike for about 140kms and when my last 55 km ride was over I was feeling pain in my elbows and numbing on my arms so I started looking into my bike size and fit. It is a new bike so I probably made a mistake on the size I bought. It is a 55cm frame and I am 6 feet. Do you believe it can be fixed?

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5 Answers

It does look very small for your length, but getting a longer stem could help. I also suggest you make sure that the seat post is long enough. If you raise the seat to a comfortable height and the seat post is too short, you risk damaging the frame as it concentrates too much stress on the top part of the seat tube.

Try with a longer stem and some other small tweaks. If it doesn’t help, you might want to consider replacing it with a larger size.

Another thing to consider is replacing just the frame; a second hand bike frame need not be all that expensive, and all the other parts are always the same size regardless.

Answered by Simon Lundberg on March 20, 2021

Hey in looking at the pic it definitely looks small. Any chance you can return it to the shop and/or trade it in towards getting the right size frame? If so I would do that.

I am not sure about Bianchi's sizing, but based on my height and how Specialized and Trek do their sizing, I would say you are at least a 56/58 frame size being 6 feet if Bianchi runs anything like those 2 other brands.

A good test to see if a frame will work is stand over the top tube and you should have 1-2 inches so space between your body and the top tube. I suspect if you did that now you would have a good 6 inches.

If you are between sizes like I was I would recommend going larger unless you have some other reason to not do so like some people's legs are more than 50% of their body so they are hard to fit on a bike.

Hope that helps

Answered by Tude Productions on March 20, 2021

This bike is small for you. Normally I would expect someone of your height to be on a 58 or 60-cm frame.

The fact that you have a foot on the ground while your butt is in the saddle makes it obvious that the saddle is much too low. You might be able to extend the seatpost far enough to get the saddle to a reasonable height, although you might need a longer seatpost for that.

You could put a longer stem on in front to stretch your body out more, although there's not much you can do about the drop between the saddle and handlebars, which will make extended riding uncomfortable. A longer stem will also change the steering dynamics somewhat.

There is nothing you can do about other geometry problems like toe overlap.

Answered by Adam Rice on March 20, 2021

The bike does look small.

Some of the things you can do that haven't been mentioned yet:

  • Get a setback seatpost to move your saddle back and increase the reach. This combined with a longer stem will increase your reach and should make you be less "on top" of the bike. This will move your position relative to the pedals somewhat, and you'll likely have to make other fit adjustments to account for that.
  • Along with a longer stem, you can try one with more of an angle - either up or down may make the bike more comfortable for you. Slamming the stem all the way down to the steerer tube (no spacers) would lower your position even more, and a downward angle on the stem would make the difference slightly more pronounced. You may not like being more bent over, however you just might. And a longer stem but at an upward angle would increase your reach without making you bend over so much, which you might also find more comfortable.

One thing to be careful of - make sure your seatpost is inserted far enough into the frame to be safe. You frame or seatpost should have minimum insertion distance specified somewhere. If your seatpost isn't inserted far enough into the frame, your frame could fail, likely snapping off where the seat tube meets the top tube and seatstays.

Answered by Andrew Henle on March 20, 2021

Whilst the frame is almost certainly a size too small, it may be possible to achieve a good position depending on your flexibility and core strength.

It is not uncommon at all for professional riders to pick a frame size too small and use a longer stem to create a bigger saddle to bar drop and a more aerodynamic position on the bike. 'Slamming' the stem (putting it under the spacers) will also take the bars further away from you, effectively increasing the reach.

The downside to this more aggressive position is that it can put increased strain on your arms, shoulders and back - this is where the flexibility and core strength come in.

The first step would be to return to the bike shop before putting any more miles on the frame and see if you can swap to a bigger size. If not, then it's definitely worth seeing what can be achieved with a bike fit.

Answered by Andy P on March 20, 2021

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