6'5"
84 Saddle height preferred -
Sat on M/L and with uncut mast at 78, to top of seat was 82 before any spacers. Hands on hoods and looking down through center of front hub. Compact cockpit. Arms bent. Head tube 17. TT 57

Sat on L and with uncut mast at 79, to top of seat was 83 before any spacers. Hands on hoods and looking down with hub 1" back of handlebar. Arm straight. Head tube 18.5. TT 58.5

Sat on XL with uncut mast at 82, to top of seat was 86 before any spacers. Hands on hoods and looking down with hub 2" back of handlebar. Arms and torso very stretched out. Head tube 20.0 TT 60.5

We seemed to rule out the XL due to really stretched out position, but will ride all three if I wish tomorrow.......what should I look for assuming same saddle height? Only reason I could consider the M/L was due to uncut seat mast allows for proper saddle height for my legs. Because of relatively long arms and short torso, the drop did not feel much different between the M/L or the L. Suggestions to consider? Looking at SL 1 or 2. 1 is DuraAce mechanical, 2 is Sram Red.

I can give you my experience on this matter as I just purchased the Giant TCR SL in a large and thought I had made the wrong size choice until I went and saw my fitter. I'm 6'3 with a saddle height of 83cm. I was most concerned with the drop from the saddle to the bars which is 5inches as it was a little more than I was running on my other frame even with a 20mm stack under the stem. After my fitter looked at my position on the bike the only change he made was to go with a longer stem as I was a bit confined in the front end due to the Giant's slacker seat tube angle. My seat need to move forward more on the Giant due to the 72.5 degree angle. The Giant XL frame runs even less angle 72 degrees so your seat will need to slide forward even more which shortens the top tube by several cm's. My bet is you will more than likely fit better in the XL than the large. I was at just about the limit for the large and was really in-between sizes almost.

Scott

Something sounds a bit off. At 6'5", not sure if you have any business on a M/L Giant, even an L. With that said, if your proportions are indeed that extreme, sounds like you might be the ideal candidate for custom. Are you attached to the Giant brand for some reason?

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I had narrowed down my brand to Giant. I have had Trek for years but their upper end is just too much.

The three I compared, the M/L, the L, and the XL were great bikes, but I am just all legs. The appeal was Giant's ISP and uncut from the factory leaves quit a bit to work with for the seat tube.

My usual problem is many fitters gravitate to an XL, but with longer top tubes I am stretched out and either have to go with dramatically reduced stems and forward seat positions or settle to just be stretched out. Had a Madone 6.9 62cm but got tired of reaching all the time and did not like the feel of shorter stems so I sold it.

Flexibility is not an issue, so the drop is not a problem on any of them. Mainly wanted a tighter cockpit with the correct bend in the elbows and 90 degree arms at the shoulders. The Giant was one of the few that offered a choice on that with long uncut ISP to provide the seat tube length for the legs in an all carbon frame. The middle one, the large, weighed 14.1 lbs complete w/o pedals at the one shop I looked at today with average wheels.

Have done the custom stuff years ago, but the compromise was the weight. In this case, wondered about others with their observations on the Giant geometry and where to make the compromise.

On a TCR L with a 120 mm stem and 25 mm of spacers, you would be looking at about a 12 cm of saddle to handlebar drop. On a TCR XL with a 110 mm stem (to maintain the same reach compared to the L) and 25 mm of spacers, you would be looking at about a 10 cm drop. A 110 mm stem may not be ideal for a XL bike, but that is what us folks with short torsos have to deal with (or go custom). With that said, if you can ride with that much drop and be comfortable, then you could probably make a size L work.

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I would suggest doing a better job of defining your desired fit. With that information in hand, you can figure out the exact frame setup for each size.

I haven't kept up with all of the different ISP posts, but it doesn't make sense to me to look at any frame that would require an uncut post, with spacers on top, just to get the proper saddle height.

Getting on stock frames with whatever stem length and angle they some with and looking at how the bars line-up with the hub is not a proper method of comparison. You should know what your preferred saddle setback is, adjust the height and setback first, then measure from the saddle nose to the center of the bars, to at least get a reasonable idea of how that value compares to what you have been riding.

I would think that only the L or XL should be considered. With that in mind, the reach difference is about 1.5cm.

Since you've owned a Madone, I can also tell you that XL size Giant won't have a shorter reach.

This *might* help.
http://www.giant-road-bike.com/index.ph ... ng-issues/
I'm a big fan of Giant bikes btw. Long time cyclist and after testing a lot of other brands immediately preferred the Giant during test rides.

If the drop is comfortable for you I would go for the large, I had a customer with a similar situation, he is 5'11" but has a 36 inch inseam. We did a TCR advanced sl ISP in a M/L and it worked perfectly.