what frame size bike for 6'4" male?

OldSteveH wrote:
"Chris Tribiono" wrote in message
...

I'm looking into purchasing a new mountain bike.

I was hoping some of you could help in telling me what size bike frame I
should be looking for. I've been to a couple of bike shops in my county
and
i'm being told 20 inch or 22 inch. I've sat on a couple of them while
looking but I don't notice too much of a difference.

I'm 6-foot-4 with a slender/slim build -- long arms and legs.

I'll basically be using the bike on flat off-road trails -- not so many
hills or anything.

I haven't had a mountain bike since I was a teenager, so this is all new
to
me again as I'm in my mid-20s now.

Thanks for any and all help and feedback.


IMHO, the smallest size which you are comfortable on will always serve you
well. Even tho I am not 6'4'', (am 6' 1") I had an experience worth sharing.
A friend was selling his 18" KHS Comp, however I should best be on about a
20" frame.

I bought it anyways because it was a great bike and I have never regretted
it. It was a very nimble bike over the rocks and roots and I never noticed
any downside of the smaller frame. In fact for my next bike which I bought
new (Kona Explosif) I went for an 18" frame.

Just my experience, not applicable to everyone.



Well I'm of the opposite opinion. I think he should get the largest
frame on which he's comfortable I'm 6' 5" and up until two years had
been riding a 21 Schwinn Carbon Homegrown FS and a 22.5 Trek 970 steel
hardtail. But I never felt "just right" on them. So when my Trek frame
cracked, I decided to have a custom steel frame made and asked the owner
of the LBS, who had a great reputation for fitting bikes, to do a bike
fit for me. He used my exisiting setups along with a Serotta
"Fit-Cycle" to help me come up with dimensions for a new frame. I had
a pretty good saddle-to-BB setup on my other bikes so we didn't mess
with that but we ended up making the effective TT of this new frame
about 1.5" longer than the Trek 930 and moved the handlebars up about an
inch. Basically I ended up with a 23" frame that has an effective top
tube dimension of 25.5". The headtube of this bike is 190mm tall- I
would have went taller but I was limited by the steerer tube length
available on threadless forks. I used a 15 degree stem and a riser
handlebar to get my grips where we thought they should be. The best
thing about the fitting was that the Size Cycle allowed me to try out
the new positioning while pedaling so I could be reasonably certain it
worked for me.

I then had Doug Curtiss at Curtlo Cycles make me one of his Advanced
Mountaineer frames using the dimensions we came up with. He also made a
few more suggestions that really helped, like lengthening the chainstays
a bit for better climbing. (If you ask me, the Fisher Genesis
philosophy is full of it as far as shorter stays helping climbing) Let
me tell ya, while this frame is significantly larger than anything I've
ever ridden, it handles better than any of them because my weight is
better centered front-to-rear. I'm more comfortable I have ever been on
a bike and as a result am riding harder and faster than ever. I like
this frame so much that I've sold my FS bike and had Doug make me
another frame to match the first. I have one bike setup as a hardtail
frame and the other setup with a rigid fork. Frankly I won't buy
another bike - rigid, hardtail or FS - unless I can get something with
dimensions comparable to my Curtlos.

Also, I have a good friend and riding buddy who's right about my height.
For years he rode a 19" aluminum Schwinn hardtail, claiming he liked
the smaller frame because it was nimbler. But he never looked
comfortable on it and always seem to have troubles climbing on it. The
impact my custom frame made on my riding performance finally convinced
him to try a larger frame. Just about the time he told me he'd like to
do so, I came across never-been-used 23" Specialized Rockhopper AL frame
for sale, so he bought it and I set it up for him. This larger frame
made an immediate and significant improvement in his riding performance
as well. Since he got it, he went from always dragging behind the pack
to keeping right up with us. On numerous occasions, he's thanked me for
keeping at him to try a larger frame.


Keith L. (The KL in KLydesdale)

"KLydesdale" wrote in message
...
OldSteveH wrote:
"Chris Tribiono" wrote in message
...

I'm looking into purchasing a new mountain bike.

I was hoping some of you could help in telling me what size bike frame I
should be looking for. I've been to a couple of bike shops in my county
and
i'm being told 20 inch or 22 inch. I've sat on a couple of them while
looking but I don't notice too much of a difference.

I'm 6-foot-4 with a slender/slim build -- long arms and legs.

I'll basically be using the bike on flat off-road trails -- not so many
hills or anything.

I haven't had a mountain bike since I was a teenager, so this is all new
to
me again as I'm in my mid-20s now.

Thanks for any and all help and feedback.


IMHO, the smallest size which you are comfortable on will always serve
you well. Even tho I am not 6'4'', (am 6' 1") I had an experience worth
sharing. A friend was selling his 18" KHS Comp, however I should best be
on about a 20" frame.

I bought it anyways because it was a great bike and I have never
regretted it. It was a very nimble bike over the rocks and roots and I
never noticed any downside of the smaller frame. In fact for my next bike
which I bought new (Kona Explosif) I went for an 18" frame.

Just my experience, not applicable to everyone.



Well I'm of the opposite opinion. I think he should get the largest frame
on which he's comfortable I'm 6' 5" and up until two years had been
riding a 21 Schwinn Carbon Homegrown FS and a 22.5 Trek 970 steel
hardtail. But I never felt "just right" on them. So when my Trek frame
cracked, I decided to have a custom steel frame made and asked the owner
of the LBS, who had a great reputation for fitting bikes, to do a bike fit
for me. He used my exisiting setups along with a Serotta "Fit-Cycle" to
help me come up with dimensions for a new frame. I had a pretty good
saddle-to-BB setup on my other bikes so we didn't mess with that but we
ended up making the effective TT of this new frame about 1.5" longer than
the Trek 930 and moved the handlebars up about an inch. Basically I ended
up with a 23" frame that has an effective top tube dimension of 25.5".
The headtube of this bike is 190mm tall- I would have went taller but I
was limited by the steerer tube length available on threadless forks. I
used a 15 degree stem and a riser handlebar to get my grips where we
thought they should be. The best thing about the fitting was that the
Size Cycle allowed me to try out the new positioning while pedaling so I
could be reasonably certain it worked for me.

I then had Doug Curtiss at Curtlo Cycles make me one of his Advanced
Mountaineer frames using the dimensions we came up with. He also made a
few more suggestions that really helped, like lengthening the chainstays a
bit for better climbing. (If you ask me, the Fisher Genesis philosophy is
full of it as far as shorter stays helping climbing) Let me tell ya,
while this frame is significantly larger than anything I've ever ridden,
it handles better than any of them because my weight is better centered
front-to-rear. I'm more comfortable I have ever been on a bike and as a
result am riding harder and faster than ever. I like this frame so much
that I've sold my FS bike and had Doug make me another frame to match the
first. I have one bike setup as a hardtail frame and the other setup with
a rigid fork. Frankly I won't buy another bike - rigid, hardtail or FS -
unless I can get something with dimensions comparable to my Curtlos.

Also, I have a good friend and riding buddy who's right about my height.
For years he rode a 19" aluminum Schwinn hardtail, claiming he liked the
smaller frame because it was nimbler. But he never looked comfortable on
it and always seem to have troubles climbing on it. The impact my custom
frame made on my riding performance finally convinced him to try a larger
frame. Just about the time he told me he'd like to do so, I came across
never-been-used 23" Specialized Rockhopper AL frame for sale, so he bought
it and I set it up for him. This larger frame made an immediate and
significant improvement in his riding performance as well. Since he got
it, he went from always dragging behind the pack to keeping right up with
us. On numerous occasions, he's thanked me for keeping at him to try a
larger frame.


Keith L. (The KL in KLydesdale)

Great story Keith, you have put far more research and analysis into your
frame selection than I ever did. Makes me wonder if I should be trying
larger frames, guess I am just used to the small frame. However I also have
a riding buddy story. He is a big guy, about 6'4" and is riding a frame
which the rest of us think is too large. He is always at the back of the
pack, not sure why, but it is not lack of technical skill. he is generally a
good rider.

Generally I am riding on intermediate and technical track, no serious
downhill, which is where I always thought a larger frame would serve well. I
have never had a problem climbing on the KHS or the Kona, at least nothing I
would attribute to the bike ;-)

Steve