Factor Time Trial Bike Size Guide: Hanzo and Slick

Factor runs two frames against the clock, and they are sized on different logic. The Hanzo, styled HANZŌ by Factor, is the UCI time trial bike in four sizes from S to XL. The Slick is the triathlon bike in five numbered sizes from 48 to 58. The useful difference is not the labels. Factor publishes a full pad stack and pad reach window for the Hanzo, and frame geometry only for the Slick. On a time trial bike that window is what decides whether a size works. Browse all Factor bikes at Bikeroom.

Please note. These sizes are indicative, a starting point and not a guarantee. Factor publishes no rider height chart for either frame. Its own sizing page asks for a measurement form, which its team then answers with a personalised recommendation. So treat the height bands below as our reading of the published geometry, and confirm them against a fit.

Quick size finder

Find your height, cross check your leg length, then read across. The two frames line up closely on stack and reach, so a rider on a Slick 54 is a Hanzo M. The one gap is at the bottom: the Slick 48 has no equivalent in the Hanzo range.

These height bands are our own, read off Factor's published stack, reach and seat tube lengths. Factor does not publish rider heights. On the Hanzo the pad stack table further down is the figure that actually decides.

How to measure yourself

Height. Stand barefoot with your back to a wall, heels together, looking straight ahead. Rest a flat object level on your head, mark the wall and measure from the floor.

Leg length (inseam). Barefoot, feet about 15 cm apart, press a book up into your crotch as if it were a saddle. Keep it level against the wall, mark the top edge and measure down to the floor.

Why there is no quick formula here. The inseam times 0.66 shortcut works on brands that size in seat tube centimetres. Factor's Slick numbers are not seat tube lengths: the 54 has a 530 mm seat tube, the 58 has 582 mm. Use the tables, not the label.

Why a time trial size is not your road size

Three things move at once when you go from the drops to an aerobar. The seat angle steepens, from about 73 degrees on a road bike to 76 or 78 degrees here, which rotates you forward over the bottom bracket. Your weight moves onto the elbows rather than the hands. And fit is set by pad stack and pad reach, measured to the centre of the armrest, not by frame stack and reach.

The practical result is that most riders take one size smaller than their road frame. A rider on a 56 road bike is often a Hanzo M, not an L. Sizing down leaves room to raise the pads later, and raising pads is easy while lowering them past the frame is not.

The rules then split the two disciplines. UCI Article 1.3.013 puts the saddle tip at least 5 cm behind the bottom bracket. A morphological exemption moves it forward only as far as the bottom bracket line. You may claim that exemption for the saddle or for the extensions, not both. Triathlon has no such limit, so a triathlete can sit further forward and steeper. For more on that split, read our guide to time trial versus triathlon bikes.

Hanzo (UCI time trial flagship)

The Hanzo is Factor's pure race frame, built around a one piece fork, an external steerer and a mono-riser that replaces the usual stack of spacers. Four sizes, 78 degree seat angle throughout, 28 mm maximum tyre clearance and a claimed 1,150 g frame. Factor offers the seatpost in a zero setback version and a 27 mm setback version, which is a real fit lever once the frame size is fixed.

Now the part that matters. Factor publishes the pad window for every size, measured from the centre of the pad.

Read the two right hand columns together. Every size gives about 98 mm of pad stack adjustment. Raising the pads to the top of that range costs roughly 31 mm of minimum reach, because the mast swings the pads back as it goes up. If your target position is low and long, the lowest pad stack row is the one to check.

Fit character: a narrow race front end, with a wide vertical window and a reach that shortens as you go up.

Slick (triathlon racer)

The current Slick is triathlon only, in five sizes with a 76 degree seat angle, 32 mm measured tyre clearance and a claimed 1,250 g frame. It drops the Hanzo's integrated front end for a 1 1/8 inch steerer, so you can fit third party base bars, risers and extensions. Factor publishes no pad stack or pad reach table for it, because the cockpit is not its own.

One caveat on that chart. Standover climbs in steps of 25 to 27 mm up to the 56, then jumps 80 mm to the 58. We have left the figure as Factor publishes it, but check it on the actual bike.

Fit character: a conventional triathlon frame, shallower in the seat angle than the Hanzo, with an open cockpit choice.

What riders say about Factor time trial sizing

The Slick launch thread on the Slowtwitch forum in December 2024 turned quickly to the seat angle. One poster called the geometry old school and argued that a modern triathlon frame should start at 79 degrees rather than 76. Another welcomed the 445 mm reach on the 58 as among the longest available, and asked for a 61 above it. Both points are about the same thing: the Slick is long but not especially steep, so a triathlete chasing a very forward position will be working the saddle rails.

The Hanzo draws a different complaint. In the original launch thread in December 2021 one poster flagged the mono-riser as a resale risk. The stack cover and the fork steerer are a single part, so cutting it wrong means a new fork. An owner in the 2024 thread added that the base bar slides on the mast and is awkward to remove for travel. Neither is a sizing error, but both are worth checking on a pre-owned frame before you commit. Our guide to buying a pre-owned triathlon bike covers what else to inspect.

Between two sizes?

Take the smaller size if you want a lower and longer position, if you already ride a low road drop, or if you expect to pedestal the armrests rather than raise the mast. Take the larger size if your torso and arms are long for your height, or if you are coming to an aerobar for the first time and need pad stack in reserve.

On the Hanzo, resolve it with the pad table rather than the frame table. Work out your target pad stack and pad reach from a fit, then find the size whose window contains both numbers with a little margin at each end. On the Slick the decision runs the other way, because the aerobar is yours to choose, so the frame reach is the constraint and the cockpit is the adjustment.

Shop Factor at Bikeroom

• All Factor bikes for the full range, road, gravel and time trial
• Time trial and triathlon bikes for the whole category across brands
• Triathlon framesets if you are moving an existing cockpit and groupset across

If you already know your pad stack and pad reach from a fit and want a second pair of eyes on whether a Hanzo M or L holds them, talk to our concierge.

Disclaimer: the size suggestions here are indicative and offered as general guidance, not a fitting guarantee. Geometry and pad figures are official Factor data taken from the Hanzo and Slick product pages on 24 September 2026 and can change between model years. Height bands are our own reading, since Factor publishes none. Always confirm against the specific frame you are buying, and with a professional fit. For Factor's other ranges see our Factor road size guide and Factor gravel size guide.

Sources: Factor Bikes, Hanzo, retrieved 24 September 2026; Factor Bikes, Slick, retrieved 24 September 2026; Factor Bikes, Size Guide; UCI, Clarification Guide of the UCI Technical Regulation; Slowtwitch forum, December 2021; Slowtwitch forum, December 2024.