Will it fit?

big_chris-2

Looking at getting the Mrs a new bike for her birthday - she currently rides an 18" Carrera Vengeance which I'm hoping to upgrade to a Boardman Fi HT as they've dropped £130 off the price. Thing is I can only get it in 17". She's 5'7 with long legs and the 18" fits her more or less perfectly. Obviously I can put the seat up to compensate, and although the top tube is 7mm shorter on the Boardman than her current bike, the stem is longer so it more or less balances out on paper.

I can't get her to try it though as it's a surprise, her b'day isn't until March and they'll have sold these sale bikes by then so I need to move fast.

Any thoughts?

The Rookie

Cockpit length and bar height are the important bits, get them close and it will fit as well as the vengeance.

Have to say though that sounds too big a bike for someone 5'7" although she probably has long arms if she has long legs (most people keep the relative proportions the same) so that may account for why it feels right.

Remember if one is inline and one setback post you may need to change the seatpost to keep the cockpit length from saddle to bars right.

You have until March to do any fettling you think you need to get it spot on after all!

big_chris-2

I thought an 18" would be too big so we originally tried a 16" but it was obviously too small, and the 18" was fine. It's an 18" women specific bike though so shorter TT than the men's, and a 60mm stem.

The Boardman is again women specific, with a 7mm shorter top tube but a 90mm stem. Both seatposts are inline too. Taken measurements of saddle to bars, saddle to floor and bars to floor distance so can measure up the Boardman to compare.

.blitz

The manufacturer's sizes will allow you to compare different sizes of the same bike but not necessarily different sizes of different bikes. The only way to be sure is like you say to measure them up and compare the geometries.

Personally I would prefer a slightly smaller bike they can be very adaptable and can give the rider more confidence to move around on the bike rather than having to stay in one position

kajjal

One thing to watch for is stand over height. My wife's new women's XC bike has plenty of stand over room due to the lower top tube and she really enjoys riding it on the local trails. He previous MTB did not give her the same confidence level due to lack of stand over height.

big_chris-2

Yeah I've got all the measurements so gonna take my tape measure along and see what's what. I've always preferred a smaller bike too, I'm 6'4 but ride a 19.5" bike which I feel much more comfortable on than a 21/22" which I'm 'supposed' to be riding.

Standover height won't be an issue, she's fine on her 18" Carerra MTB and the Boardman will have a smaller frame - both have sloping top tubes anyway.

Now all I've got to do is hide it from her until March! Might put it in the kitchen to be honest, she never spends any time in there... :roll:

The Rookie

Keep it in it's box, or maybe get Halfords to put it in an apollo or trax box for you?

big_chris-2

She'll spot a large, bike-sized box in much the same way as she'll spot a new bike I expect!

The Rookie

Yeah, but she won't know what's inside it, you could claim to have stuck spares in there for storage!