You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I had a 2019 Boardman ADV 8.8 for a few years in a large. I'm just under 5'10. It was a reasonable fit but always on the stretched side with a 80mm stem.
Fast forward to last month and I tried a Sonder Camino in both M and L for about half an hour each from the Edinburgh store. Both worked, with the M being obviously more comfortable descending off road. Ordered!
Having received my medium, I'm conscious that my knees get pretty close to the bars when out the saddle climbing. More than happy to spend £30 or so on a 90mm stem but any other indicators that I should look at regarding the sizing being correct? Saddle is the right height and reach feels good. I would have sufficient post out the frame to upsize to a large if required.
It will see a good mix of riding and I have a second set of wheels for the road.
Alpkit seem to be pretty accommodating with their four week return window thing..
Does it feel right when you ride it, do you have any aches or pains?
Moving to a 90mm stem feels a step back to early times, did you try a shorter stem on the large?
Also, where is your saddle 'positioned' - forward, middle, rearward?
I know where you're coming from. I often find myself on the border between Small and Medium frames. The best thing I can suggest is looking at the riding you'll be wanting it for. The smaller frame will always feel more agile, the larger more stable. I'm currently deliberating around a gravel bike and trying to decide if it's more important to keep it smaller for woodland "flickability" or larger for extended (possibly laden) epics/bikepacking.
Saddle is currently bang in the middle. Its early days having done one 18km ride on my local stuff but everything felt good apart from the awareness of bar to knees proximity.
Looking at the geometrygeeks website, if the datas correct the medium Camino is reach 395 and ETT 562 vs the Boardman at 388/570. Not certain I trust all those numbers though!
Most of the time I use it is for off road or fireroad miles, typically an hour or two at a time. But I have road connections on the loops I often do and sometimes the slicks go on and its 100% tarmac. So one bike for all thats not MTB basically.
Like I say happy to try a 90mm stem but aware that the shift has been to shorter stems in general. At the same time I'm not sure how I'd feel about putting say a 50mm on the large frame.
Have you tried the 80mm stem in negative angle and putting more spacers above the stem?
On my road bike with 72.5 degree headtube iirc, that would increase reach by 14mm and lower bars by 44mm according to http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/stem.php with +6/-6 degree stem (going from +6 30mm spacers under to -6 30mm spacers above).
Obviously depends on what your body would make of the increased bar drop, if you're running +6 with all/most spacers under the stem currently.
The Boardman has gone, so the Sonder has the stock 70mm stem with 30mm worth of spacers underneath and set with -7 angle wise.
I feel that same as you. The medium On One Scandal just felt a touch stretched out, even with a mega short stem and dropper post therefore straight. I am on the crossover height for that or a small so went small. It just doesn't seem right some how. Stuck a 50mm stem on which helps the handling a touch. I guess familiarity may help.
I just don't seem to fit modern bikes. Even the medium saw me riding the back of the saddle.
Of course the samrt move would have been to try different bikes but that isn't possible.
I'm not sure you ever know it's right, you just know if it's wrong.
How close are your knees to the bars? Just remember, a near miss is still a miss.
I tend to trust the bike designer. I looks at the size chart and, as i am quite generically proportioned, go with the recommended. If it feels different to a previous bike then i just adapt. What once was different soon feels normal.
The only time i ever didnt do this was about 13 years ago when i sized down on a cotic soul because everyone on here was talking about bikes being "flickable" and like a muppet i fell for it. I wheelied up every climb.
If saddle comfort and reach feel good I'd say stick with it. They are more important than your knees being close to the bars on out off the saddle climbing surely?
I have a Ribble CGR Ti and I am bang in the middle of the height range for the size I bought according to the website, but the bike has barely any standover, I have an already short stem on it and a seatpost with only 15mm setback and it still feels too big and I am slightly too stretched. I'm getting a bike fit to see if we can get the fit right, otherwise it's new frame time, which is damn annoying. And yes I did check the geo numbers before ordering 😭
my knees get pretty close to the bars when out the saddle climbing.
Same here on my drop bar bikes, but I can't knock the bar with my knee when riding.
Like I say happy to try a 90mm stem but aware that the shift has been to shorter stems in general. At the same time I’m not sure how I’d feel about putting say a 50mm on the large frame.
Drop bar bikes are different though, shorter isn't necessarily better like it is on an MTB. You still need weight on the front wheel and the right fore-aft weight distribution if you want it to corner well as a road bike, ie from the saddle in the drops rather than more dropped saddle, elbows out MTB style cornering. 70-90mm is fine on a gravel bike of average angles and reach / front-centre. The effective reach of different drop bar shapes and where you position the STIs often varies more than that 20mm range (eg you could use a longer stem with a shorter reach bar shape to gain knee clearance for the same bar+stem reach overall)
I’ve always preferred a longer frame with shorter stem if the seat tube length is short enough.
But knowing if the frame is a good fit is a dark art and sometimes it takes ages to figure out.