Roadini Reflection: Flats to Drops, Stem Length and Saddle Angle

[Christian B-H]

Early last year, intent on getting stronger and racing a little and doing some bigger road rides, I got the idea in my head to buy a new road bike. Specifically the beauty and attention to detail of the Fairlight Strael. Due to financial, political, and marital 😅 factors, I thankfully did not buy another bike on that whim, and waited. Despite being disenchanted mostly with bike road racing by the end of the summer (I did one or two, they were stressful, there was enough stress between work and global and national politics…) but I still wanted a roadbike that wasn’t my father-in-laws titanium Merlin from 2000 which fits 25mm tires barely. After much obsessive debate between Crust Malocchio, Black Mountain Cycles Road, and the Leo Roadini, I decided since I was going to sell my Platy to fund the new bike that I needed to stick with Riv (plus the dark gold paint and the Riv overall was just so much more beautiful than the others). So i sold my platypus locally to a nice guy from Arkansas and bought LA Adrian’s delightful CubHouse built Roadini. With Flat bars it was fun but the bars were too flexy and I was too upright for the faster roadier rides I wanted to do with it.

So, I bought some 46 noodles from Shawn in SD and set the Roadini up with drops and a 130stem from my Platy. It suddenly felt so big I panicked and wanted to sell it! Thank goodness for Daniel G’s review from Australia, I realized I needed a 7cm stem and looking back to my correspondence with Mike Varley at Black Mountain Cycles about sizing, I remembered his focus on seat tip to handlebar reach being determinant of “fit”. So once I had that at the 52/3cm distance my other bikes are at, i was stunned. Suddenly it was perfect and almost as sporty feeling as my low-trail, short wheel base titanium Merlin hand-me-down road race bike from 2000. A final adjustment of the saddle angle which had confounded me previously (saddle still angled “too high for me” in the photo), it was ready for riding comfortably while slightly bent over in the drops.

The roadini feels Slightly heavier of course than the titanium road bike but much more stable and confidence inspiring with good tire clearance and the steel fork (versus old aluminum+ carbon on the Merlin). And, that weight pretty much disappears while riding. I finally got it out with the drop bars for a two hour, 30mile ride on road, bike paths and dirt roads today along with a buddy on his Rivendell Legolas.

It felt smooth and agile but also sturdy, and as is the mark of many a comfortable ride, it sort of disappeared beneath me at many moments and I was not thinking about my bike or my body but focused on pleasant conversation and scenery. Towards the end, the chatter of dirt road “washboards” brought me back to the physical sensations, and we finished the ride with 20more minutes of road and bike paths.

I ended the ride with the distinct pleasure of feeling like there was nothing about the fit that i would change. I have to fiddle with the position of the front derailleur (it hits the crank slightly when in the big ring- but that’s a limit screw or position problem) and then maybe set the limit screws in the rear or change the cassette (I frequently feel like the gears skip or are hard to “find” in friction mode). But overall, I am just so pleased with the Roadini as a roadbike!

I am indebted to the aforementioned rbw bunch members for easy and pleasant transactions and engaging and insightful write ups, in addition to folks on here like Piaw and Bill and others who’ve written about and compared their Roadini's previously. This is a helpful Bunch to be a part of! 

In an effort to assist any other Roadini curious riders out there, I'm 6ft / 183cm tall with an 88/9cm PBH riding a 57 roadini from 2023/4? with a 7cm Nitto Talux stem slammed and 46cm Nitto Noodle bars. Saddle tip to bar distance is about 53cm with a brooks b17. 

Happy riding for 2026 to all. 

Christian in Boulder, CO

[Franco Rinaldi]

mind sharing Mike Varley’s tip on sizing?

Thanks!

Franco Rinaldi 

c:  646.403.0661 

-Pardon any typos, Siri typed this message-

On Feb 1, 2026, at 4:53 PM, Christian B-H <bei...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Christian B-H]

We connected off-list but since Franco also just went through a Roadini sizing journey, I thought I'd share my take-aways from Mike Varley here which is not groundbreaking for anyone here but interestingly I did not put to use until after setting up my roadini..

With the size 53 which has a 575mm ETT, I could run a 100mm stem with 6° rise, and my saddle tip to bar distance would be 532mm. 

With the size 56 which has a 595mm ETT, I could run a 90mm stem with a negative 6° rise, and my saddle tip to bar distance would be 535mm. 

The calculations between the 54 roadini and the 57 roadini are very similar to the Mod zero, but in both cases I'm glad I sized up. On each I'm just barely able to get my bars below my saddle height by slamming the stem, but there's ample room to raise the bars higher should I ever want to be more comfy by raising them up.  

Hopefully that's helpful to someone, sometime! 

[Dan]

Glad my writeup could be of assistance Christian!
I too am indebted to many of the member reviews, ride reports and build writeups on this bunch, both to Piaw/Bill and of course many others. I'm sure your writeup will help many in the future too.

When a bike 'disappears' below you, you know there's something right about it. I just love the feeling of the Roadini in that it gets out of the way of the riding, just being a stable, comfortable, dependable companion.

Love your description of your stem as 'slammed' - it's funny but true for a 6ft person on a 57cm Roadini. 

FWIW the saddle tip to bar clamp dimension on my bike is 525mm with an Ergon saddle. My stem isn't slammed - yet :P

I will say that the dimension measurement assumes the bars are constant across bikes being compared as it doesn't account for bar reach.

I know the Noodles were mid-reach back in their day but they are much longer in reach than most road handlebars today!

[Jay]

I agree with everything you've said about the Roadini as a road bike.  Mine came to me when I needed it.  My fit needs were changing, and I needed a more upright road bike; the tall head tube works well for me as I like the drops about level with the saddle.  A quill stem gives easy height adjustments, though I had to experiment with a few different stems (length) to dial in the reach (more on that below). Clearance for wider tires was the ticket, as I wanted a faster group ride wheelset, as well as a more comfortable and versatile wheelset (45mm tires for road and smooth gravel).  I now have a third wheelset so I can run knobbier when I want to hit the trails.  I switch between the three so easily thanks to easily adjustable calliper brakes.

I like the fit info above and also use saddle tip to bars, but I measure to hoods (where my palm rests on them).  A short reach bar with the same levers as you, where as the Noodle bar adds a lot more reach, and if I had longer hoods, it would be even longer.  I have a 57 like you, and I'm also 6ft tall.  I wish my Roadini was a 54 though, as my stem is 70mm and makes the front end a bit twitchy (nice for trails, but not perfect on road rides; but still really happy).

Question for you - how do you like that bar tape?  I've looked at the same one you have to replace my turquoise Fizik bar tape once it wears out, but I've heard that camp and go slow tape is slippery.  Also, I like some cushion.  Looking forward to hearing about your experience with it and what you had before.  Thanks!