[dhavener]

If the components are basically a wash (read: equal) you should, in my opinion, buy the best quality/best fitting/performing frame you can afford. If you have a great frame, it’s much easier to upgrade the components as you a) break them b) can afford them or b) lust after better ones; as opposed to buying a mediocre frame with slightly higher quality components.

It’s the same idea as buying a house – buy the worst house in the best neighborhood (so long as the structure is sound), and fix it up to your exact liking as you can afford it.

Either way, you’ll have a bike and lots of fun!

[dhavener]

Thanks for weighing in guys.

@Schwim
The lower back pain does feel more like it is muscular, as opposed to skeletal; for this reason I would tend to think that working on my core strength would go a long way to help the issue. I’ll be doing some crunches and aquamans to work on that 😕

@Schwim and Spartan
I do know that the bike frame is probably on the big side for my height, etc. I am about 6′ tall, with a 32 – 33" inseam and the bike is a cannondale size XL (21" I think). The standover height and reach to the pedals feels comfortable, so I think that’s ok. I do have a fairly long torso and arms and decent flexibility, so the top tube length (reach to the bars) feels comfortable as well – I almost feel more upright than I do on my 19" Kona Hei-Hei.

As I read what I just wrote, my sizing analysis seems akin to using the butt-dyno when performance tuning a car. In light of that, I’ll be paying a visit to the local cannondale dealer. They offer a basic $50 dollar fitting, where they look at geometries and try their best to make impulse bought bikes fit their riders.

Cheers

[Author]

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