Road bike sizing confusion!

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Joined
28 Mar 2007
Posts
215
Location
Lincoln, UK
Currently have a Dawes Discovery hybrid bike and looking to change to a road bike but I'm getting really confused over how to work out what frame size is right for me. I'm 5'7 with a 29" inseam, none of the info/calculators I've seen so far is consistent pointing to frame sizes ranging from 48cm to 54cm which seems like quite a big difference.

The bike I was looking at was a b'twin Triban 3 (51cm) which seemed like a good fit with a good riding position, pedal reach etc. However just looking at the bike on its own it looks too small if that makes sense (could not try the next size up 54cm). The wheels are smaller than my Dawes which probably distorts things a bit and I realise they are two different types of bike.

Overall how important is getting the "ideal, technically correct" frame size compared to just how well the bike feels when on it? I don't want to run into problems down the line.
 
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