FixedGearFever

**jonnyBgood**

Soo...I'm new to Track racing and I'm not sure what size bike to get. I ride a 56cm road bike with a 56.6 top tube with 44cm handlebars.

Do I size down to a 54/55 frame? If so what size bars and stem?

Thanks guys
Jonny

CQ · Pro Joined: Mar 12, 2009 Posts: 1047

jonnyBgood •wrote• Soo...I'm new to Track racing and I'm not sure what size bike to get. I ride a 56cm road bike with a 56.6 top tube with 44cm handlebars.

Do I size down to a 54/55 frame? If so what size bars and stem?

Thanks guys
Jonny

Go to a quality bike shop. This is why they exist. Buying sight-unseen online only benefits those who know exactly what they want.

**jonnyBgood** · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:52 pm Post subject:

Well...that didn't answer my question at all..plus most shops don't even sell true Track bikes just some kind of silly fixed gear bike.

Do you typically size down from a true road bike when buying a Track frame? I've heard from some that a shorter top tube helps a bit.

**SickBoy** · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:28 pm Post subject:

What CQ is trying to say is that there are a lot of factors that can influence how a bike "fits" and that you'll only truly know how it fits once you've ridden it, preferably out on the road or on a velodrome.

If you like how your road bike fits, take the dimensions of the contact points and try to replicate that on a track bike. Those being:

- Vertical and horizontal offsets between the center of the BB and the midpoint of the saddle rails (use the same saddle to start)
- Vertical and horizontal offsets between the center of the BB and the center of the handlebar where it is clamped at the stem (use the same shape/dimensions of handlebar to start with, same model is ideal)

That's just a starting point. Chances are pretty good you'll want to move stuff to improve how the bike feels or handles. Road and track riding are different enough that different equipment and riding positions are warranted, on some level.

Bike fit is really a lot of trial and error, so if you're looking for a magic bullet two sentence answer one doesn't really exist. Be prepared to spend some money trying out different fit kit parts (stems, seatposts, saddles, handlebars) and even different bikes. Trying in person is always better than looking at something online.

**jonnyBgood** · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:34 pm Post subject:

Yeah I understand it was a pretty vauge question but....

didn't know if like cyclocross (I ride a 56cm road bike but have a 54cm cross bike) getting a bit smaller frame helps throw the bike around better.I thought that I had heard the same with Track.

I have been professionally Fit on both my Road and Cyclocross bikes. I know I only have a few posts but it's not as if I just started riding/racing a bike. I raced Pro Downhill for six years and after racing a full season of cyclocross last year have been interested in racing track as well.

Thanks for the input

**SickBoy** · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:14 pm Post subject:

If you're looking for a hard and fast rule of thumb, there is none.

liao · Cat 3 Joined: Apr 23, 2010 Posts: 201

Bit off-topic.

Last time I bought a frame off internet (actually, I checked the geometry and got a friend to pick it up for me) I thought I'd made sure that everything was OK, as close to my previous bike as I could get; the steering angle, ST angle, TT horizontal size, fork rake, the lot.

It was not until the first ride on the rollers that I picked out something different. I went back down to inspect; turned out the way they made this frame, the BB shell was about 1cm back from the "axis" of that seat tube line. Bugger me.

Eventually I got away with it using a 1cm shorter stem (same length with my road bike) and was still happy. But yeah, sometimes when you thought it's all sorted out, it's not. That's when going for a settup closest to what you have has its effect.

brokeleg · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:49 pm Post subject:

You could go to your Velodrome rent their bikes talk to the coach take the cert. class. Then decide what fits & looks good.

oldguy · Cat 3 Joined: Nov 27, 2006 Posts: 141

go to a custom builder? They are all over, you should be able to find one that can do anything you want, paint it the color you want, save money on all those parts because it will actually fit the first time, and give you a totally unique ride.

Joseph · Pro Joined: Aug 19, 2009 Posts: 1472

+1 on everything SickBoy said.

Hard to go wrong using your road bike as a starting point. And if you figure on a frame that lets you get your road-bike position with a 11cm stem with a moderate or zero deg rise/drop and maybe 20mm of spacers you'll have a fair bit of wiggle-room to change your position as your style evolves. If you plan on using for example a 6cm or 14cm right away, you won't have adjusting possibilities both ways.

Also remember you'll be in the drops essentially the whole time, while on a road bike a lot of time is spent on the hoods. This seems to effect how people position their bars.

You also might want to try bars a tad narrower. Since more track riding is "on the rivit" and there is no up-hill standing swaying the bike back and forth, you won't miss the width and may well come to greatly prefer narrow bars.

As a side note, I've built a few bikes for friends the last few weeks and have used these bars and they are great:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400412276650