# 58cm trek road frame size



## steel515

What size rider is the 58cm aluminum or carbon frame for? (height, inseam)
I am 5'11 with 34" inseam and 33" shirt length.


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## Dale

I'am 5'10" with 32" inseam and ride a 56cm


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## 1234tuba

Just remember, Trek sizes their road bikes funny, so looking at TT length is more important/most accurate way to size up the bike. I'm 6' and would ride either a 58 or 60 cm trek, fwiw....


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## acid_rider

*funny for sure*

I am 5 feet 8 & 1/2 inches (173cm) and ride 54cm Madone with 100mm stem. My cycling inseam 83cm (32.6 inches). You might need 56cm (good flexibility, big saddle to bar drop?) or 58cm depending on your flexibility i.e. saddle to bar drop and saddle height required.

Trek Madone and 5000 series road bicycles geometry suit well people with proportionally short legs (i.e. short cycling inseam) and long upper bodies and longer arms. It also helps if you have above average back flexibility to tolerate a decent saddle to bar drop. This is comparing to other brands of road bicycles with sloping or semi-sloping geometries. 

Trek Madone/5000 head tube and seat tube are short in relation to their top tube. Have a look at the geometry specs, if not already have. Then look at say Specialized Roubaix or Look 565/585 or Pinarello or Colnago etc geometry in the same frame size.

So if you are not one of short legs and long upper body and of decent flexibility than I recommend you buy a different geometry bike or ride like I do with lots of spacers (I have 40mm) and zero-degree or a + flipped up stem. It does not seem to detract from the Madone performance but it does look goofy like you are trying to fit your bike and not the other way around. Alternative is to get one size up frame which means not a lot of spacers but a very short stem of 80-90mm instead of 100-120mm standard stem length. Either way will look odd - lots of spacers on smaller frame or short stem on larger frame.

BTW there was a rumour circulating that Lance liked the Madone geometry so Trek kept it. I would too! For 2008 model year I would not be at all surprized to see Madone adopting a semi-sloping top tube like 90% of the others road bicycle makers have. But I digressed, sorry.

Good luck with your decision. Stay upright.


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## myette10

acid_rider said:


> Trek Madone and 5000 series road bicycles geometry suit well people with proportionally short legs (i.e. short cycling inseam) and long upper bodies and longer arms. It also helps if you have above average back flexibility to tolerate a decent saddle to bar drop.


This is me exactly. I'm 5'10.5" with relatively short legs (31.5" inseam) and slightly longer arms than average. I'm not super flexible, but my fit guru says that I have above average hip flexion range of motion (something to do with bone structure) and can handle a deep drop as long as my back stays flat. With all that, I'm on 58 cm madone with a 130 stem (no spacers) and a ton of drop, saddle just at UCI legal (5cm behind bb). All back and neck pain is now gone, but more pressure on the boys so saddle choice is key.


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## Tlaloc

*Fit formulae*

Here is a link to a description of how to buy the right frame size:

http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/

There have been lots of these "What size Trek should I buy?" posts on RBR. Every one gets some replies from guys that think that bike frames should be purchased based on either top tube lenght or even sillier, head tube length. This is nonsense. The size of a frame IS THE LENGTH OF THE SEAT TUBE.

Madonnes do have a little bit longer top tube and wider bars than older racing frames did. You will like this. Remember that you can move the seat back and forth quite a lot and move the bars up and down quite easily to get a good fit but it's impossible to change the seat tube length if you get the wrong frame size. Rarely, a few unusual riders have to use a different stem than the one you get with the bike.

These are great bikes.

Buy one.


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## acid_rider

*not quite right, IMHO*



Tlaloc said:


> Here is a link to a description of how to buy the right frame size:
> 
> http://www.coloradocyclist.com/bikefit/
> 
> There have been lots of these "What size Trek should I buy?" posts on RBR. Every one gets some replies from guys that think that bike frames should be purchased based on either top tube lenght or even sillier, head tube length. This is nonsense. The size of a frame IS THE LENGTH OF THE SEAT TUBE.
> 
> Madonnes do have a little bit longer top tube and wider bars than older racing frames did. You will like this. Remember that you can move the seat back and forth quite a lot and move the bars up and down quite easily to get a good fit but it's impossible to change the seat tube length if you get the wrong frame size. Rarely, a few unusual riders have to use a different stem than the one you get with the bike.
> 
> These are great bikes.
> 
> Buy one.


Yes, Madone's appear to be great bikes, no argument. But if you buy one you need to ensure it will fit your body more or less well. I know of some folks who bought Colnago C-50 but their bodies did not agree with their geometries either. A bicycle fit is a very personal thing.

I am not a fit expert but having gone thru the pain (and still not quite there, sadly) I can say that formula based approaches are only ball-park, nothing more, and they put you within ~2cm of more-or-less a good fit. You may say 2cm is not much but I can tell you from personal (painful) experience than 2cm "off" on a road bicycle is a tonne. The more fit/flexible you are the wider "off" margin you can take, those less flexible/fit/young need to be closer to their optimum.

Re seat tube length - this is out of date now with semi-sloping and sloping top tubes i.e. standover height and even with Madone horizontal top tube it is also not quite right because Madone seat tubes are shorter than comparable size other frames. i.e. if you measure seat tube length of Madone 54cm you will find it is shorter C-C that a 53-54cm seat tube of most other brands. It is not right, not wrong, just different. Caveat Emptor.


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## 1234tuba

There have been lots of these "What size Trek should I buy?" posts on RBR. Every one gets some replies from guys that think that bike frames should be purchased based on either top tube lenght or even sillier, head tube length. This is nonsense. The size of a frame IS THE LENGTH OF THE SEAT TUBE.

Madonnes do have a little bit longer top tube and wider bars than older racing frames did. You will like this. Remember that you can move the seat back and forth quite a lot and move the bars up and down quite easily to get a good fit but it's impossible to change the seat tube length if you get the wrong frame size. Rarely, a few unusual riders have to use a different stem than the one you get with the bike.




Dude, you're nuts. You definately fit a bike based on top tube length. And moving the saddle forward and back a lot? So much for placing the knee over the pedal spindle... So do you also decide if a bike fits based on your standover?

OK, well let me take a small step back... There are a lot of determining factors when deciding on fit, but because manufacturers often use different methods of measuring seat tubes, and as acid-rider mentioned above, sloping TT's also screw up that method. TT length gives you the most accurate method of comparison between different frames.


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## Tlaloc

*Yeah, I'm Nuts*



acid_rider said:


> ... Madone seat tubes are shorter than comparable size other frames. i.e. if you measure seat tube length of Madone 54cm you will find it is shorter C-C that a 53-54cm seat tube of most other brands...


DUH! Some manufacturers measure their frames C-C and some overall. Trek sizes their frames based on overall seat tube length. If you read the instructions in that link you would see that it includes instructions for dealing with this. So all of you top tubes are the size of a frame guys answer this question:

If the top tube of a frame is the frame size then why is it that no frame manufacturer in the world sizes their frame this way?

Also if you read those instructions you will see that using that formula results in you buying the smallest frame size that you can use so you will have enough standover. The sizing guides I've read for compact frames give you a virtual frame size (the length the seat tube length would be if it was horizontal) so you can still use the classic method for selecting a frame size.

Maybe you you need to go by top tube length so you can pedal your bike with your arms. The rest of us have to choose a frame that is the right length for our legs so we can pedal with them.

Yeah, I'm nuts - me and every frame maker in the world including Trek.


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## uzziefly

Doesn't matter how they size up/measure your frame.. What matters is if you try it and fit it well. BUT, yes, the Madones do have a slightly longer top tube.

I'm 5'9" with a 32 inch inseam (approx.) and ride a 54cm Madone SSL with 20mm spacers (might reduce it) and about 8-10cm of saddle to bar drop and a 110mm stem FWIW. With that, I initially had some back and neck pain when I first rode the bike(with a 90mm stem) but as time went by, everything worked out and I'm loving my ride in terms of fit, quality and everything. 

So, to the OP, just well, try out say a 56, 58 and maybe 60 cm Trek, depending on your height and all that. 

FWIW, I can fit a 58cm Trek as well (tried a friend's bike). 

Good luck


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## mtbdcd

I'm 6' with a 34" pants inseam, 34" shirt sleeve length. I ride a 60cm Madone, but could ride a 58cm if i wanted to use more steerer tube spacers.
Sounds like 58cm is a good fit for you.
On the Madone's, the seattube is kind of weird in that it actually toward front of the bb shell vs center. Do not know about their alum. bikes.


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## myette10

here's m58cm for reference


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## uzziefly

I could fit that!  Lower saddle height though.


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## myette10

uzziefly said:


> I could fit that!  Lower saddle height though.


BB to top of saddle is 74 cm (It was 77.5 two years ago). Saddle nose is 6 cm behind BB centerline, nose to bars is 57 cm (I think) and there is 9 cm of drop. I was uncomfortable on it for about a year, so I went to Fabish sports in Franklin CT and he set me up. 

Now my back and shoulders are no longer hunched and even though I'm waaaay flat I've taken it on two centuries since my last fitting and have no problems. Having a straight back is the key. Hands go a bit numb at times due to extra weight on them but that is insignificant compared to the neck pain I used to have.


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