Advice for newbie with short legs

Not being dismissive but there's a sticky which tells you about stand over height. Start there first, Dude.

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19735981#p19735981]dong888[/url] wrote:

Hi, I'm wondering whether anyone could help me please. I'm short at 5ft 6 and I have an inside leg of 28". I'm new to mountain biking so I though I'd opt for a 27.5 hardtail with good reviews, below £1000. This led me to two highly rated bikes, the 16" Boardman comp HT650b for £450 and the small Whyte 901 for £1000. I tried out the Boardman at Halfords and I could just about touch the floor with my toes when standing over the top tube. The riding position felt weird as I seemed to be upright on the bike (the handlebars too close). I haven't tried out a Whyte as I've checked the online sizing and the small has a standover height of 778mm which works out 2 inches too high. Could anyone offer any suggestions on any bikes that would be suitable for my size?

Cheers

MTbs are built round average people, if its low( in height) they tend to be short, in (cockpit) length. If your body isnt long/short all round you can have a problem, ie it fits below the waist but not above or vice versa

There is a level of adjustment. The fundamental measure is your seat height to pedal, legs just off straight at the bottom,, get that correct and then you can decided if the bike is with in adjustment zone for you. just rotating the bars an inch or moving the saddle half an inch back can make a significant difference to riding position and fit, before you get into changing stems etc. You really need to get the ride height set up and to have a least a short ride on it, just balancing on it doesn't really help. Make the shop staff get the alien keys out and adjust everything till your happy it fits

Stand over isnt an essential element, but its a nice to have, if you select the wrong gear to make a really steep climb and find yourself either grinding or spinning to a stop, being able to get both feet down and a bit of purchase on a slippy hill has saved me from ending in an undignified heap on a few occasion. I suspect the better you are at riding the less important it becomes. But I wouldnt see it as a deal breaker if everything else is to your taste

You need a smaller bike really, Your legs aren't that short for your height (mine are one inch longer and I'm 3.5" taller), your short torse means you need a shorter bike, so maybe consider an XS (14-15").

The thing about mountain bikes is you will at some point need to put one or both feet down in a hurry, and it probably won't be on a flat bit of ground. You need clearance without having to lean the bike otherwise you'll just keel over. My mountain bike has a frame that slopes straight down from the handlebars to the rear wheel hub in a straight line, the seat post looks quite tall as a result but it gives me great clearance of the frame (it is a medium 29er hard tail); you could look for this style of frame, it doesn't matter how high up you are when sitting on it so long as you can stand astride the frame with no danger of damaging the goods.

Something along these lines (the frame shape / style):