Author Topic: 610S or 610L?  (Read 2719 times)

Yehuwdiy

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610S or 610L?
« on: September 24, 2011, 11:37:01 am »
Hi all,

Long time lurker here who is ready to take the plunge :)

I've been recommended (by Thorn's very helpful staff) that either the 610S or 610L Sherpa frames would be appropriate for my dimensions (6ft, 87cm standover height, trunk: 64.5).

I like an upright and relaxed riding position (I'm slow not sporty) and am going to use straight bars with bar ends. I would have liked to use butterfly bars, but after reading what Thorn have to say about their off-road handling I may give them a miss (I'll be doing a lot of fire-trail riding here in Australia).

I'm mainly worried about being too cramped on the short top tube frame. I've never had a frame that was correctly sized as all of my bikes have been kerbside finds and botch-togethers. So, no bike to take dimensions from.

Is there anyone out there with similar body sizing or who has bought either of these frames? If so I'd love to hear your opinion!

Cheers,

Yehuwdiy

p.s. The SJS site lists postage as 120 pounds (frame only). Anyone from Australia out there that can confirm this? Any import duties etc that I'm not aware of?
« Last Edit: September 24, 2011, 11:41:23 am by Yehuwdiy »

JimK

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2011, 12:32:29 pm »
With straight bars, probably the L frame is better. The shorter frames are more for drop bars, as I understand the matter.

Yehuwdiy

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2011, 12:40:50 pm »
Yeah, that's what the brochure says. But it also says that is for a woman's proportions (leng legs short torso). I'm not sure if I have that combination...guess I must!

Now the next problem...no 610L on the SJS site, only 610S and XL...

SPARSONS

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2011, 07:45:15 pm »
I'm riding a short top tube raven tour with straight bars for a nice comfortable riding position with a 120mm stem.

However, if you get a short, or long top tube you can gain +/-20mm easily with altering stem lengths. I can also recommend on-one mary bars which are swept back, these are very comfy, but you can't use bar ends as the angles are all wrong.

Next set of bars I'll probably try will be Titec H or J bars as these offer a combination of the best of all. These and the Mary wouild be best on Long TT frames.
 

Peejay

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2011, 02:39:26 pm »
Hi - I'm 6ft 5in with 34in inside leg and ride a 610XL Sherpa with 100mm reversed stem with drops and it's great - a truly superb bike. For sure it's a BIG bike, but hey I'm a big guy.

Yehuwdiy at 6ft tall I would suspect a 610XL to be too big for you with a virtual top tube of 635mm, that's some stretch to the bars. (Sorry I've no experience with flat bars.)

When I bought mine I spoke to Andy Blance at Thorn's for ages about set up as mine is unusual - a 610XL with drops. I don't know who you have spoken to at Thorn, but ask to speak to Andy I'm sure he'll get you on the right frame and set up.

Pete.


Yehuwdiy

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2011, 02:40:49 pm »
Hey guys,

Thanks for the information. Just to clarify slightly, I've been recommended the 610S or 610L, not the XL.

I guess the recommendation for such a big frame is that I have long legs for my height...guess I'll send a few more emails to SJS :)

rualexander

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2011, 07:09:13 pm »
I've got a 610S Sherpa with drop bars and find it comfortable, I'm 6'2".
It's a shorter top tube than my previous bike which had around a 605mm top tube, but I was starting to find that a bit too long. I like the shorter top tube of the 610s.

I don't really buy the argument that drops and straights need different length top tubes. Drops have a straight section  like the straights on straight bars, and riding with your hands on the brake hoods on drops is much the same position as riding with bar-ends on straight bars.
If I was putting straight bars on my Sherpa I wouldn't want them 30mm futher forward than my drop bars.

Andre Jute

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2011, 11:26:13 pm »
Not being fast, and being old, and valuing my comfort more than looking sporty, I sit bolt upright on a triple coil-spring Brooks B73 saddle (SJS had it on sale for under 50 quid a few years ago, and I decided it was worth an experiment -- never looked back). The On One Mary bars are in the generic style called "North Road", and the best bars I ever had are on my bike now, black no-name North Road steel bars taken off a bike a dealer sold to someone who wanted more fashionable bars, when I just happened fortuituosly to be standing there. The ergonomics of these swept-back bars, together with the knees-up position of sitting upright, is such that height of handlebars really matter more than length of top tube. So ask Thorn not to cut the steer tube, and to supply the frame with a Problem Solvers microadjust collar; this sits right on top of the head tube in the place of the stem, which is then liberated from holding the headset together, and can be slid up and down the exposed steerer tube, which is only sawn when you have the height finally sorted. The alternative to the collar is a set of wide and narrow spacers. You then adjust the effective length of the top tube with the stem. An adjustable stem will normally give you a little height change and more length change, which is the wrong way round for sitting upright but is good enough for fine adjustments.

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On one of my bikes, a Gazelle Toulouse, I have a toollessly adjustable stem which lowers and raises the handlebars, and also lets them rotate, so that for a three second adjustment I can lower the North Road bars, move them forward, rotate them, and achieve an aerodynamic flat back position much like with drop bars. I wish I could buy something like that commercially, but the Switch stem is proprietary to Gazelle, and available only for old-fashioned threaded headsets. Works a treat, though.

pdamm

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Re: 610S or 610L?
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2011, 03:12:24 am »
Hobbes

I stumbled across this recently.

http://www.speedlifter.com/index.html

I haven't tried it myself but it seems to do a lot of what your old Gazelle does

Peter