# New TCR composite Q: about bar height



## Old_school_nik (May 21, 2002)

Hi fellow Giant owners:

In November I bought a T-Mobile composite size large off ebay and have building building my dream bike for the last 6 months...

Here's my question: It seems like even with an uncut fork and max spacers under the flipped Newton 110 stem (so the bar height rises) The highest I can get my bars is 2 1/4" below my seat height - which is more difference than my most recent fit recommends..

Are there any tall riders out there who have had to fit a stem that gets their bars higher on one of these babies? My seat is at about 40 1/4 " and the top of my bars are at 38"

Any stem (or other) suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

-Nik ( I will post a pic when I am close to being done)


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## timmineo (Apr 26, 2005)

*seat to bar height*

Nik,

are you trying to get your bar height even w/ your seat? Or are you trying to get it above or below? Saddle to bar height is mainly a comfort issue for many riders and depending on your flexibility and how aggressive of a position you can handle it varies. Also how tall are you? I prefer my bars slightly below my saddle, it is more comfy when I am in my drops and I can get into a more aggressive position. I generally rec to many to have the bars even or depending on height and other factors (trunk angles) drop the bars down a bit. Let me know your measurements.

ps. i do professional fits at the local shop around here (Gurnee,IL), so maybe i can help

Tim


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## Old_school_nik (May 21, 2002)

*Trying to get bars up 1" higher*

Tim, thanks for responding.

Yes, I am trying to get my bars up 1" higher so that the difference between my saddle and top of my bars is more like 1" instead of 2 1/4 inches.

For the last 3 or seasons I have been riding a C'dale with about 3 1/2" difference between my bars and saddle (bars are lower than saddle).

But when I started to build my dream bike in Nov the new Giant - I thought I would get an updated fit. The person who fit me is a Serotta level II bike fitter and also has a strong PT background. He shocked me by telling me to raise my bars significantly from the 3 1/2" cannondale drop and said to go with bars 1" lower than saddle. 

Which brings me to my flipped deda stem and uncut carbon steerer with max spacers and I am still short of the 1" goal.

Bar height is a comfort issue but it can affect performance significiantly. If you are inflexible and you have a huge drop you will fatigue much faster than if you had the bars up higher. Like Indurain's TT position - much more upright than most and much more power than most....

Anyway, so that is where I am.
-nik


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