Tri bike for overly long legs

I would be scared to death to ride a road or Tri bike with feet that long. The feet overlap the front wheel so much that you could clip the front wheel while pedaling through a turn, or even a sudden swerve to miss a hazard. A cyclocross frame would be safer.

Yikes, you're not kidding. 96.5cm inseam at 1.91m height is remarkable for sure.

The more important metric is the fact that your torso is short since this is going to play a much greater role in how you fit your bike -- especially a tri-specific one I say that because sometimes very long-legged and short torso-ed people can fit a road bike that is sized off their height because their arms are so long, but on a tri bike we lose some of this leeway because our first upper body contact point to the bike is our elbow rather than our hands.

Another big factor is going to be your flexibility and and functional strength -- if you don't fancy yourself a very nimble individual you are going to have to make further considerations to your bike choice.

The quick and dirty guideline -- you're going to have to size down to a shorter effective top tube (or REACH measurement if you prefer that) to accommodate your short torso, but be wary that as the TT gets shorter, so too does the head tube. Shorter head tube means lower aerobar height -- goes back to that consideration of your flexibility again.

I would say, don't be afraid to look at bikes that are considered "small" for you. I guarantee that if you walk into most bike shops their going to want to put you on their largest TT bike.

Given your size I might steer away from bikes with bayonet-style front ends (integrated fork and head tube) as they tend to be less adjustable and rely on proprietary components that may only come in a few sizes.

Last bit of advice: don't (EVER) go by "Small", "Medium", or "Large". Always go by the numbers (effective top tube, head tube length, stack and reach are usually the most relevant) to compare bikes, even when from the same manufacturer.

Good luck.

John, I read your post. I am currently looking to build a tri bike. I have a road bike that is 56 cm. I looked at the height, leg calculator in different bike websites and it puts me at 58 cm. I went to a bike shop and they suggest I go smaller on the TT bike than what I am used to. They even said 54. Is this true? I also have long legs and arms, but not to that extent. Thanks.

Jesus

First look at bikes with a high stack dimension. I am 188.4 cm tall with a 86.4 cm inseam so not nearly as long-legged as you but at the time I had my fit done only 3 bikes would fit me. Felt B12/14 series, Specialized SHIV and Cervelo P3's will all have a pretty high stack dimension so I would start with those. Almost all other brands will probably be too short in stack.