Hi John, My experience may help you decide, but to cut to the chase: I'd recommend not going outside Riv's PBH recommendations, and in fact I don't want to go even to the edge of their recommended range.
In 2012 I bought a green 60cm first-run Sam. I worked with a dealer in Ohio and test-rode a 56cm and a 60cm. I could have bought either one, but at the time I was new to Riv and went with the larger size in part to test their opinion that "most people buy too small" and their advice that, when in doubt, go bigger. I'm 6' 2" with a PBH of 88 cm, which was within the recommended range of the 56cm *and* the 60cm frame sizes, but was at the top of the former and the bottom of the latter. I could never love that Sam. It was okay, but always felt a little too big, even after riding it enough that I'd have acclimated if the issue was just that it wasn't what I was used to. I questioned whether it was the size, the specific model, or (gads!) a fallacy of the whole Riv philosophy, since all were new to me at the time. I *wanted* to love it, and I *tried*---I really did!---but I just never felt it the way I wanted to or expected to. Then, a couple of years ago I bought a used 58cm Homer Hilsen in large part to give Riv another chance because what they espouse still resonated with me, and I suspected that the size was the problem, not the model or the company's design philosophy. I loved the Hilsen immediately, and after my first ride told my wife that if I were forced to reduce to N=1, that the Hilsen was a strong candidate to be that one. With that renewed confidence in Riv, a couple of years ago I bought a 58cm Sam when they became available with a single top tube in that size, and loved it immediately. The differences in "feel" between that and the 60cm Sam were subtle but real, and took me over the hump from "okay" to "love." Last fall I bought a 58cm canti-Sam during their presale and will transfer everything from the 60cm first-run Sam (which had cantis) to the new one and then sell the green 60cm frame. Based on my experience with Sams, I want to be solidly in the middle of Riv's PBH range-recommendation. Not at the edge, and certainly not outside it. I was at the bottom of the range for the 60cm Sam, while you're 2 cm below the bottom edge of the range. You say you're concerned about getting a bike that's too small for you, but you should also be concerned about getting a bike that's too big for you; neither one will fit well. My last comment: You say "Riv recommends a size 55 frame, but I know I could ride a 58" and that the 58 "looks doable," but that's the kind of language I'd expect if someone were giving you a 58cm Sam free of charge and you were wondering if it would work at all. You have a choice, so why not go for the optimal size? I can ride my 60cm Sam, and it's quite "doable," but it's not optimal and I want optimal if I can get it. Dave -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
