Help A Newbie Find His First 29er

StarkXDust

Hello guys,

I'm looking to buy a bike, and I have the opportunity to take the Scott Scalle 970 or the Trek XCaliber 8, but there's doubt in the size of the frame, my bikefit knowledge is practically none and I do not have the possibility to try one of the two before purchase.

In the competitive cyclist bikefit the results were:





What size should I choose? Scale L or XL?
Trek 19.5 or 20.5?

Many thanks to anyone who can help me.

JGTR

I make you bright to be 6'3"? If so go for the larger size, I'm 5'11" and I've always had L or 19" bikes.

StarkXDust

Yes, I am tall, but I have always been told that before anything else one should do the bikefit to not buy wrong

JGTR

Bike what? Never heard of it???

If you're doing Bikefit to not buy wrong then why does it give you 2 sizes??

mugensi

I am 182cm (just shy of 6ft) and have a 21" (XL) Cube LTD 29er. Anything smaller and it would feel cramped. Go for the XL and if need be buy a shorter stem to reduce reach and tighten up the steering.

StarkXDust

JGTR wrote:

Bike what? Never heard of it???

If you're doing Bikefit to not buy wrong then why does it give you 2 sizes??

It's a virtual bifefit, it's not two sizes, it's the measures I believe is a margin of fit.
Stem 10.6 between 12.2 cm.

MugenSi wrote:

I am 182cm (just shy of 6ft) and have a 21" (XL) Cube LTD 29er. Anything smaller and it would feel cramped. Go for the XL and if need be buy a shorter stem to reduce reach and tighten up the steering.

I believe that I will go from XL or 21.5 even, it is easier to fit a frame a little bigger than a small one

Long_Time_Lurker

Where is your nearest bike shop? Is there a chance that you can sit on the same make (if not model)?
Even if I couldn't ride the bike, I would still want to sit on it to get a feel of the frame.

The Rookie

StarkXDust wrote:

JGTR wrote:

Bike what? Never heard of it???

If you're doing Bikefit to not buy wrong then why does it give you 2 sizes??

It's a virtual bifefit, it's not two sizes, it's the measures I believe is a margin of fit.

Link and maybe some people will comment on its veracity!

Compare it to the Canyon bike sizing (which works well) and see whether you think its up to the mark!

rockmonkeysc

Bike fit doesn't work for mountain bikes. Riding style is such an important factor in sizing.

The Rookie

I think it's more about size selection not an actual bike fit.

StarkXDust

I have 193cm in height (75.98in) in all manufacturers, in the size table, indicate the XL for me.

I spent a few days on a bike from a friend, it contains these measures:
BB Saddle: 19.01in (48.3cm)
Top Tube: 24.56in (62.4cm)
Head Tube: 4.72in (12cm)

But I had to lift the seat post so the legs were in the correct position, but then the handlebar was very low, causing me back and shoulders pain, based on that, I think I need a bigger frame.

The Rookie

Height is pretty meaningless, the important dimension on a bike is reach from saddle to bars as it has little adjustment, how long a bike you need depends on your torso length mostly and that can vary a lot for the same height, I am 5'9" and have the same torso height as a friend who is nearly 6'4".

BB to saddle you gave above is too short even for me, or do you mean to top of seattube of the frame? Not really relevant as you have masses of scope for adjustment, you have a reasonable scope on the front stack height (headtube length is meaningless without knowing the fork travel and wheel size!) with stem variations, riser bars and spacers over the headset.

StarkXDust

The Rookie wrote:

Height is pretty meaningless, the important dimension on a bike is reach from saddle to bars as it has little adjustment, how long a bike you need depends on your torso length mostly and that can vary a lot for the same height, I am 5'9" and have the same torso height as a friend who is nearly 6'4".

BB to saddle you gave above is too short even for me, or do you mean to top of seattube of the frame? Not really relevant as you have masses of scope for adjustment, you have a reasonable scope on the front stack height (headtube length is meaningless without knowing the fork travel and wheel size!) with stem variations, riser bars and spacers over the headset.

This measure BB to saddle is without the seat post, which has 40cm (15.7 in).
I can measure again the measure of the torso and the arms to help, I ended up discarding Trek and I think I'll focus on the same Scale frame, so I wanted to know if I need an L or XL.

When I rode my friend's bike, I felt my body far behind on the bench and my legs were not in a position that exerts the necessary strength and yet I still feel that I am bent on the bike, as the front is low forces my neck .

I can measure also how much it has of spacers, the stem is 10cm (3.93in) and if it gets easier I take a photo of how I get on top of it to get a notion

Thanks for the help you are giving me, a bikefit professional is a long way from me and I do not have options to test the sizes

The Rookie

On something like the Scale the bars should be about 1-3" below the saddle height, you can fairly easily increase the height of the bars (riser stem or riser bars) what you can't do is change the length of the cockpit much (maybe 3cm with the stem as 100mm is pretty long, you can alo fit an inline seatpost in place of the current offset one).

Roughly how a Scale should look setup


You don't need a professional bikefit on an MTB as RMSC pointed out and why, you get the correct size and tweak it for you and more critically how you ride.

StarkXDust

This photo is from my friend's bike I walked, as you can see the seat post is in the minimum insertion and is well above the handlebar, this is in the size L, with the measurements I reported above

cooldad

I wouldn't ride that. Go XL.

mattyfez

StarkXDust wrote:

This photo is from my friend's bike I walked, as you can see the seat post is in the minimum insertion and is well above the handlebar, this is in the size L, with the measurements I reported above

That just looks wrong.. Frame too small, high saddle will put more pressure on your wrists etc. It looks like it's set up more like an extreme road bike than a mountain bike, it will handle like crap going gently downhill over slightly rough ground.

The Rookie

Or you could have read the thread before making such a dumbass comment?

StarkXDust

The Rookie wrote:

Or you could have read the thread before making such a dumbass comment?

What dumbass comment?

The Rookie

Matty's, he's clearly not read that this was your friends bike and how you'd had to set it up for you to ride, his reply was as if it was your bike already.

StarkXDust

Well, I'll have to get an XL anyway. Thank you all for your help