Advice concerning frame size !

matzou

Hello everyone,

Sadly I just got my bike stolen last week-end, even if I still mad about it the the grief period is now over.

As I'am becoming addicted to MTB, I found the next bike I wanted:

Commencal META HT 650b 201

My previous bike (R.I.P Pinkie) was a Boardman team 650b:


On this Boardman in Small size I had a 42.5mm stem with a 720mm Handlebar.


Now the commencal rep are saying that I should go for the M size but I'am bit skeptical.

Old boardman: TopTube=590 + stem=632.5 / Seattube=406
Commencal S: TT=560+stem=620 / Seattube=400
Commencal M: TT=580+stem=640/ Seattube=440

The standover clearance for the commencal S is 725mm and 735mm

As my mensurations they are the following: 1.69m 77.5cm inseam 77cm arms

rockmonkeysc

Ignore standover, as long as you can get both feet on the floor it's fine.
Don't worry about top tube plus stem combined, that's something that's easily tweaked with a shorter or longer stem. The medium commencal has a shorter top tube than your bike and even with stem there's only 7.5mm difference, in real terms thats half a gnats penis. You wouldn't notice.
Are you sure you're Boardman was spot on? Have you experimented with set up much to end up with that stem and bar combo?

matzou

Hey there,

Thanks for your reply, concerning the boardman after the tweaking it was feeling fine even if I didn't experimentend that much before doing it !
Also the "scary" thing about the M size is not the reach, is the seat tube... Previously I had boardman M with 456mm ST which I found to be way too tall, hence the swap for the S frame.

I'am a bit concerned about the seat dropped+456mm ST on the M frame even if the reach seems perfect for me. Wont the saddle height at the lowest could be to high ?

Sorry to bother you with such little details, would be much easier if I could jump on a commie and try it.

matzou

Was lucky enough to find a meta HT am 2014 in M size in Newcastle and IT was indeed to tall. Couldnt touche the floor when i was on the saddle at minimum !

So will have to go with the S and sée if the reach is not to short.

Thanks.

rockmonkeysc

You shouldn't be able to touch the floor when on the saddle if it is set correctly. Even on my downhill bike I can't get both feet on the floor when on the saddle, on my xc bike I can't even get one foot on the floor.

The Rookie

Yep, you are definitely not sizing your bike right.....

Also when looking at cockpit length you need effective top tube, not TT, you need to add on any setback due to seat tube angle and height above bars, also to allow for inline versus setback seatpost.

matzou

Thanks for the answers.

So I was totally wrong, I had the conception that even at the lowest when not pedalling I should be able to touch the floor.

I'am going to give it another go if possible, thanks for your advices

The Rookie

Nope, if you think about it that has no relevance at all to when you are sitting on the bike pedalling or are out of the saddle riding it.....

matzou

Well I get I lost my common sense somewhere.

But the few seconds I was on the saddle the feeling was "off", but as you pointed out it could be due to a missconception/wrong position that I previously had.

Thanks rookie :-)

rmissin

I'm relatively new to mtb-ing, so it took me a while to get used to the fact that every-time I stop I need to unclip and slide off the seat, it feels weird at first but second nature now...people comment that my seat looks high (random citizens) but for me it feels just right.
I have an XL framed 29'er from seat to floor is 104cm.

The Rookie

matzou wrote:

So I was totally wrong, I had the conception that even at the lowest when not pedalling I should be able to touch the floor.

if you think about it logically it's got nothing to do with the right saddle height for pedalling or the cockpit having the right length for your torso and arm length at all. besides different types of bikes have different BB heights from the ground, but it has no effect on the size of the frame.

matzou

Well after a sunday @ Hamsterley and crashing around with rental bike I realized that I should focus more on the reach...

So now i'am facing a new dilemma, commencal told me that unfortunately( :-() they wont have the essentaial 650b before end november/early december.

They are willing to give me 100€ off the Race edition: http://www.commencal-store.com/PBSCProd ... D=14531374

But now I'am open to others bike:
Whyte 901
Bird zero3 + X-Fusion sweep
On-One 45650b
Transition Trans AM 27.5b (depending on the shipping price)

Alloy vs Chromo, if you have allready ride some of them and have some pros cons I'll gadly listen to them.