We wanted to buy an entry level flat bar fitness bike for my girlfriend, and ordered a Liv Thrive 3 size L (https://www.liv-cycling.com/hu/thrive-3-2022). She is pretty tall (183 cm), just at the top end of the sizing chart, but we thought it would be enough. Even though we preordered, the seller at the bike shop didn't want to sell us the bike because she said it's too small and will cause knee injury. At first we accepted, because she's the expert, but then I started to do some research, because she was really condescending and talked as we know nothing about bikes and ordered this fully blindly. She acted like we have ordered a size S bike. Checked this GCN video: https://youtu.be/ZxRVphhR\_Ww?si=\_GMtgfGfEijVV\_Gk&t=155 and as I remember they did the same check in the bike shop and it was really marginal. At the highest seating position her leg was almost straight, maybe 2-5 degrees of bending.
The alternative what we could find for the same price is the Triban RC120 (https://99spokes.com/en-EU/bikes/triban/2020/rc-120-flat-bar-disc-road-bike), but it is much lower spec and actually 50 eur more expensive.
Should we just get the Triban or try to make the Liv Thrive fit correcty. As I see Giant has spare seatposts that are longer, so that might solve the issue with the saddle, but the woman in the shop said that even the frame is too small because when stepped over there is a 10cm gap between the riders inseam and the top tube.
by kozmi55