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Flat Bar Cross/Road Bike Sizing
I'm looking at building up a flatbar bike using a road/cross frame like the kaffenback/dolan multi-x. When doing a little research there seems to be suggestion that the effective top tube needs to be longer than in a normal road bike set up. I have contacted one company and they suggested the same size as I would normally choose when buying a road bike, whereas what I have read suggest going up one size to get the extra 30-40mm in length required for the different riding position. Has anybody built up similar or got any experience in this area?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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If you want to take the default riding position of a drop bar bike (with the hands on the hoods) and get a similar upper body and arm extension with a flat bar bike, you need a stem length that is about equal to the stem plus the forward reach of the drop bars... if that makes sense.
So if you use the same frame size recommended for drop bars you will end up with a pretty long stem, which in itself isn't bad but it looks awkward and can make the handling a bit odd. I tried flat bar builds on a Kaffenback and also on a crosslight frame using this sort of set up and it was OK but not optimal, a longer frame would definitely be preferable if you wanted to commit it to a flat bar setup.