Help! Medium or large hardtail for 5'10?

ZRX

Hey guys, i really need your help in choosing between medium (17.5") and large (19") frame on a 2016 GT Avalanche Comp hardtail http://shop.gearsbikeshop.com/m/product ... 7500-1.htm as i dont have any mtb experience.  Im 5'10 and 33" inseam and having a really hard time deciding wich size to buy. I tried to seat on both bikes (as store wont let me ride it) and large feels tiny bit better but my perfect saddle height is almost at lower limit of the seat tube on a large ( i can go lower for a 1" maximum). On a small i have to rise the seat 2-3 inches to achieve my perfect riding height, and its just feels a bit to small in general. And i have no idea how it should feels bigger or smaller till i ride it for atleast a few weeks.. I took a couple of pictures on both bikes and would really apreciate if you take a look and comment on wich size fits me better.
Thanks in advance for your time.
P.S. Sorry for grammar mistakes, english is not my native language.
Medium:

Large:

kickaxe

Get the shop to let you ride it, only way to be sure (leave your ID or license there). I'd go for a large judging by what you have told us, you can always cut the seatpost shorter

The Rookie

The saddle needs to be higher than in either of those photo's which prossibly explains why you were close to the min height.

I actually think the medium looks the better fit, your a bit stretched out on the large which will get worse when you get the saddle to the right height.

cooldad

Or find a better shop that will let you try one out, or at least be helpful enough to hold the bike with the saddle at the right height.

The Rookie

I wouldn't be spending £600 on a bike with the same forks/brakes etc as a £350 bike either.

Maybe consider decathlon or Halfords for better value.

ZRX

The Rookie wrote:

The saddle needs to be higher than in either of those photo's which prossibly explains why you were close to the min height.

I actually think the medium looks the better fit, your a bit stretched out on the large which will get worse when you get the saddle to the right height.

If i gonna rise the seat higher its gonna be 4+ inches out of the tube. And i feel like its gonna be really uncomfortable since handle bar gonna stay on the same height.
And i just noticed on i picture with large bike the saddle sticking out at the front wich might mean that i slid a little bit backwards thats why i look stretched. Also seems like the stem is around 90-110 mm, so i can always buy a shorter stem and slide saddle a bit forward. If there would be a size in between medium and large for this bike it would be exactly what i need...And notice how my wrists bent on a medium because of uncomfortable break levels position, and on a large wrists are straight, this might be one more reason why i look stretched out on a large bike, and not so much on a medium.

ZRX

cooldad wrote:

Or find a better shop that will let you try one out, or at least be helpful enough to hold the bike with the saddle at the right height.

The Rookie wrote:

I wouldn't be spending £600 on a bike with the same forks/brakes etc as a £350 bike either.

Maybe consider decathlon or <a href="http://www.halfords.com/&quot; class="skimwords-link" target="_blank" data-skimwords-id="408678" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-word="halfords" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001" data-skim-product="408678" title="" occurrence="1" data-skim-node-id="54:Maybeconsiderdecathl_2">Halfords</a><span style="position: absolute;"></span><span style="position: absolute;"></span> for better value.

Yeah store is terrible if you need a bike advice, they even call bike components "this thing" and "that thing", and when i asked wich size is better for me they told me to do standover test and than said both bikes fit and its up to me lol. Sales rep was even trying to convince me that ETT is exactly the same on both bikes :shock: untill i pulled out the exact frame specs from internet and let him read it...
But its a huge retailer and GT dealer, and the only reason im buying this particular bike from particular store is because they have this bike on sale and price is 30% cheaper that all the other local stores, but only till the end of the week. And i couldn't find any other bike locally that would have this level of components for this price.

ZRX

Kickaxe wrote:

Get the shop to let you ride it, only way to be sure (leave your ID or license there). I'd go for a large judging by what you have told us, you can always cut the seatpost shorter

How much maximum of a seat post should be out of the tube?

cooldad

As long as it's not up to the minimum insertion mark, it's fine. Normally around 10cm.

schmako

I'm 5'10 and all my bikes have been medium except my first hardtail which was large. I find I've more control especially on the downs.

But yeah I would probably test ride both sizes on a couple of different models and see how you go.

ZRX

cooldad wrote:

As long as it's not up to the minimum insertion mark, it's fine. Normally around 10cm.

Im afraid 10cm out is exactly where the seat pole going to be when i gonna adjust it to my optimal height (The Rookie was right the seat is too low on a pictures).

ZRX

Schmako wrote:

I'm 5'10 and all my bikes have been medium except my first hardtail which was large. I find I've more control especially on the downs.

But yeah I would probably test ride both sizes on a couple of different models and see how you go.

How you liked the size of your first hardtail?

cooldad

ZRX wrote:

cooldad wrote:

As long as it's not up to the minimum insertion mark, it's fine. Normally around 10cm.

Im afraid 10cm out is exactly where the seat pole going to be when i gonna adjust it to my optimal height (The Rookie was right the seat is too low on a pictures).

Not 10cm out, 10cm left in the seat tube.

Ashvin

In my opinion, I would get the Medium because you will be in a more upright position which is best for a beginner like you mentioned. This means less strain on your lower back as you don't need to reach as far forward to touch the bars. In addition to being more upright, on trails it will be more manageable to move the bike around under you.

The Rookie

Most seat posts are around 300mm (longer and shorter are available) minimum insertion is 10cm, so that leaves a normal seatpost as being able to show 200mm.

Bikes with dropper posts will have at least 150mm showing.

All TOTALLY NORMAL.

Its an XC bike, its perfectly normal for the bars to be around saddle level or lower (check the top link in my signature, mine are about 2" lower than the saddle and that I have about 160mm of seatpost showing) that's why you need the saddle at the right height to assess size. Standover height is not a way to assess bike size as its a function of frame shape and and not where the three contact points (grips, pedals and saddle) are in relation to each other.

Frame length has very little adjustability, saddle height a lot, you buy a bike size on length and adjust the height!

Ignore Ashvin - being sat too upright means you lose front end grip and that's the exact opposite of what a beginner needs to gain confidence, the issue for me is I think the large is too stretched out, especially once your feet move from where they are in the photo's to forward on the pedals.

schmako

ZRX wrote:

Schmako wrote:

I'm 5'10 and all my bikes have been medium except my first hardtail which was large. I find I've more control especially on the downs.

But yeah I would probably test ride both sizes on a couple of different models and see how you go.

How you liked the size of your first hardtail?

Prefer the medium frames for sure. I just feel I have way more control of a medium frame over a large frame, felt too high up on the large.

The Rookie

Which is of course illogical as the BB will be the same height and so will the saddle, the bars may move up by about 1" but really that's a small change.

Rez 27.5

I've gone for, without even a test ride which is stupid I know, but a 17" medium sommet. Bit of a risk considering the cost, but it suits mint. To be fair though I do own a P2 from back in the day and it has a 16 inch frame. Proper mint. I suppose it's down to your riding intent.

I'm 5'10 too. Medium size looks good to me in your images.

maddog 2

Large with a shorter stem

stoof_p

So which one did you end up getting? Having a similar issue here

cooldad

OP hasn't been back for more than a year so you might have a long wait.

joshuagame94

You look too over stretched on the large frame. With your height I would of said the medium is the better option. Will be better size for inspiring confidence for the dh parts of tracks as well

02gf74

at 5ft 10 you are at top end of medium and lower end of large frame; I would recommend to go with the smallest size frame you can get away with.

I'm 6 ft 1 33in leg and ride Large (19 in) - some bike sizing charts recommend XL (21 in) - I do like to have a fair bit of seat post showing, e.g.

JBA

Do you two actually look at the dates of threads/posts and when OP's last logged in or are you just replying willy-nilly to anything?

02gf74

I reply willy nilly. Life is too short to do date comparison computations. :?

TomBrooklyn

stoof_p wrote:

So which one did you end up getting? Having a similar issue here

I've never owned a mountain bike or sat on one that fit me, but I am 5'10" and have had trouble getting fit for bikes for 5 decades. Every bicycle store I've ever gone to, and there have been many, have tried to put me on a bike that was too small for me.

One thing I know is that I wouldn't try to determine the fit of a bike with my feet on the floor.

And if it were for me, I'd probably get the large, because I like a long stretch.

I am shopping for an MB now.