Mountain Bike - frames for tall people?
- Thread starter re_guderian
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Redline will always be a BMX company first... but they have found their niche with affordable, well-built, steel framed 29ers. I'm yet to read about anybody bad mouthing their bikes.
A lot of the "old" bmx company's that we grew up on are competing for the same market share.... GT, Haro, Raleigh....
Redlines are cool. I picked up a Redline Monocog a few years ago, but even with the largest frame, it's still a bit on the smallish side. I'm 6'5" and the bike feels like an old school Mongoose or Redline BMX setup. It's cool to be sure, but I wish they built a larger size for us guys who are big enough to wrestle bears.
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Nutley, I have to say you and I have very different ideas of a cross country bike.
My 08 trance x2 has a F120 fox fork and a float rear end and weighs in at around 29 lbs. Thats my light cross country bike.
I huck around on my 05 Hardrock with a DJ3 front end, sun rhyno lite rims, and hayes mx3 disks.
At 6'1" and 160, I doubt I need any more travel than my 5 inch bike, can't even get the last inch when Im bombing my downhills.
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As far as bikes for larger guys, a 29er seems to be the way to go. I really like the redlines like tcb. They remind me of my bmx days and fit me a bit better than the 26" bike since Im right between a large and an XL, I lucked out and have long legs and a short torso, so the L fits better with my seat tube all the way out.
The Niner Bikes (thats a brand) are really nicely built reynolds steel frames. You can have it custom made and shipped to you.
I liked the stumpy 29er but it just seemed to be a slightly stretched stumpy to me, bit more lazy feeling.
Hit Mountain bike product reviews forums classifieds trails and read the reviews and testimonies in the Clydes section of the forum. It should give you an idea of what bikes are better suited for larger people.
Hope that helps and isn't too wordy
Jon
My 08 trance x2 has a F120 fox fork and a float rear end and weighs in at around 29 lbs. Thats my light cross country bike.
I huck around on my 05 Hardrock with a DJ3 front end, sun rhyno lite rims, and hayes mx3 disks.
At 6'1" and 160, I doubt I need any more travel than my 5 inch bike, can't even get the last inch when Im bombing my downhills.
------------------------
As far as bikes for larger guys, a 29er seems to be the way to go. I really like the redlines like tcb. They remind me of my bmx days and fit me a bit better than the 26" bike since Im right between a large and an XL, I lucked out and have long legs and a short torso, so the L fits better with my seat tube all the way out.
The Niner Bikes (thats a brand) are really nicely built reynolds steel frames. You can have it custom made and shipped to you.
I liked the stumpy 29er but it just seemed to be a slightly stretched stumpy to me, bit more lazy feeling.
Hit Mountain bike product reviews forums classifieds trails and read the reviews and testimonies in the Clydes section of the forum. It should give you an idea of what bikes are better suited for larger people.
Hope that helps and isn't too wordy
Jon
Monocog or Monocog 29er?
Rob I'm 6'5 and in the last year got obsessed with MTB and know most of the frames and sizes pretty well and required geometry for guys our size. I am also transitioned from several Specialized XL of that era which are a little smaller for taller folk. 250 is a little heavy (ie you need to take some preventative cautions i.e. good wheelset) but nothing too crazy. I second the recommendation for 29er... 29er simply rules, especially for taller folk. Just feels right, and the bike is a little more proportional, similar to a medium 26" bike but for a smaller guy. The wheels roll over everything, it actually feels way better to me than 26" wheels and I ride these, 29er, and 27.5" wheels often... Only thing is the bigger wheels cost noticeably more because you have to preventatively build them strong. I'm 225-230 and have a set of Stan's NoTubes Flow rims, DT Swiss 2.0/1.8 "Comp" spokes, and a decent hub, for about $500 and these wheels are awesome, stiff, strong, and still reasonably light. Hardtail bikes are much cheaper of course. Nothing wrong with these and you can do a lot of stuff with hardtails. Shoot for bikes with Effective Top Tubes of 24.5-25.4 or so is a good length. The Gary Fishers are awesome out of the box but admittedly their frames are a little weak. A Salsa or Surly Karate Monkey would be two awesome options, both steel, pretty beefy. Or if you want to get into full suspension, they are a lot more $$ but there are some good options there. If you are feeling "designer" let me know and I can hook you up via a shop I part time work at and do internet sales for, Uinta Bicycles which carries Turner, Ventana, and Lenz (three awesome 29er full suspension manufacturers).
Cheers,
Andre
Cheers,
Andre
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So.... you offer a Mud discount on Hope, King, Thomson parts.... etc? I'm gonna need a new headset and seat post before too long...
I would be happy to if we combo a few of the parts together. There are some killer discount sites, I would be happy to hook it up for 'Mud members but don't want to spend a lot of time nick and diming for $5 here and there if that makes sense... But yes we carry King, Thomson, etc. you can email me at andre at uintabicycles.com Cheers! A
re_guderian
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- #29
Thanks for the info. Sounds like a 29er is the way to go. I'll see if I can round one up at a local shop to try. There's a Performance Bike in town that has a ton of bikes, maybe they have one I could ride just to compare size-wise. BTW, I used to work for Swen's Schwinn down in Orem. Not even sure if it's still in business now...
Looks like it, cool...
Swen'S Schwinn Bike Shop
RE our size, 90% of salesmen will say we need to be on XXL which is horse poop, standard XL works just fine and XXL would feel behemoth... Even if you pick a cheaper bike, the wheelset should be OK (I was riding a Gary Fisher Paragon with their "Duster" wheels, which are a wide, fairly strong offset rim) and they were fine. Super cheap but these ones were decent.
Hope it helps, Andre
Swen'S Schwinn Bike Shop
RE our size, 90% of salesmen will say we need to be on XXL which is horse poop, standard XL works just fine and XXL would feel behemoth... Even if you pick a cheaper bike, the wheelset should be OK (I was riding a Gary Fisher Paragon with their "Duster" wheels, which are a wide, fairly strong offset rim) and they were fine. Super cheap but these ones were decent.
Hope it helps, Andre
euclid
SILVER Star
I speak with 8 years of pro level bike shop mechanic experience. 29r is a great part of the solution. The all-out solution if budget is no problem is to find a shop that can do a full custom measurment of your proportions and build a frame to your spec. I'm partial to Independant Fabrications, but there are other frame shops out there that will build a bike frame to fit YOU. Steel or ti are my choice for frame material unless you are racing, and even then I reccomend multiple rigs, riding steel or ti for training. Think $2k for a frame, but it will be spot on as far as fit.
You are absoultly correct in your assesment of the geometry problems. The issue is that the average bike manufacurer uses the same jigs, or 2 jigs for the entire size run of mountain bikes. This goes for bikes up into the $2K range (complete bike). This method is the only way they can produce the number of bikes with consistant quality.
BTW, shorter than average folks have an even harder time. At least tall folks can put a long stem and an angled seat post on. You can't shorten the top tube!
HTH
You are absoultly correct in your assesment of the geometry problems. The issue is that the average bike manufacurer uses the same jigs, or 2 jigs for the entire size run of mountain bikes. This goes for bikes up into the $2K range (complete bike). This method is the only way they can produce the number of bikes with consistant quality.
BTW, shorter than average folks have an even harder time. At least tall folks can put a long stem and an angled seat post on. You can't shorten the top tube!
HTH
re_guderian
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- #32
So I found a local bike shop with a raft of 29ers in stock, including a 21" Gary Fisher Cobia. Seems kinda entry-level component-wise, but a good hard tail for what I'm looking at riding on. Unfortunately, I was all gussied up for work, so I didn't take it for a test ride. Maybe tomorrow. I like the specs (on paper anyway) of the Fisher bikes v the Specialized. Price pretty reasonable too. Good to see 36 hole hubs/rims for my big fat a$$...
I like the geometry of the Fisher's vs the Specialized too... The componentry can be upgraded on the cheap if you do some hunting... the Cobia is spec'd comparably to the bike I just sold, a Tassajara. I upgraded to xt over the years when I'd find stuff on sale. No biggie. I wanted steel (and affordable) this go round, so that ruled out the Fishers.
If you can stretch your budget to about double the price of the Cobia, check out the Ferrous...
She's a beaut, Clark!
Ok... I picked up my new whip today and was able to put about 10 miles on it this evening, which isn't a whole lot of seat time but enough to draw some initial conclusions.
Rigid rides a lot rougher than I remember it.
I probably need to air down some for the next ride. The bike is effortlessly fast. I'm not a physics whiz or anything, but something about the 29er is just right. My 21" fisher that I sold to fund this purchase had an effective top tube length of 25.5 inches. Despite having a top tube that is exactly an inch shorter, my 21" Redline 29er feels like a MUCH larger bike. This is the first time in my adult life that I haven't had like 8ft of seat post sticking out of the frame. It is also the first time that my seat hasn't been 3-4 inches above my handle bars. I'd love to be able to compare Fisher to Fisher in the std vs 29er setups.
My take is that it isn't so much any difference in length of the frame that makes it feel like a larger bike, it's the fact that the handlebars and top tube are 2 inches further from the ground... I'm much more comfortable on this bike than I ever was on my "larger" fisher.
Bunny hops are hard as hell, I might get 2 inches of air. Wheelies are virtually impossible. A manual is out of the question... but I imagine, it will all come to me in time.
So, fwiw, I really like this bike so far. I've got a truck load of goodies for it arriving tomorrow and I'll probably put another 100 miles or so on it before next Monday. I'll come back and let you know if any of my initial thoughts were way off base.
hth.
tcb
re_guderian
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Cool! Keep us posted.
Still lovin the new bike...
Did you ever test ride one of those fishers?
Did you ever test ride one of those fishers?
re_guderian
SILVER Star
Very cool. If someone else is tall and wants to drop some coin on a sweet new 29er, I have a bunch of stuff/components for sale, pretty much stupid expensive top of the line stuff...
Lenz Leviathan XL Full Sus 29er; Wheelsets: 650b, 29er; Tires, Forks
Cheers, Andre
Lenz Leviathan XL Full Sus 29er; Wheelsets: 650b, 29er; Tires, Forks
Cheers, Andre
hey, re_guderian, these guys speak no lies when it comes to promoting a 29er for you. I'm 6' 1" and 215 and both my rides are 29ers. I'll never go back. The bikes finally feel like they fit me. I have a hardtail OnOne and full suspension Kona Hei Hei 2-9, 20-inch frame.
In 26" wheeled bikes, I always rode XLs, but in 29ers I'm usually one size smaller. I think they handle great and I have had no problems on tight trails, at speed, anywhere. Just a slightly different style in some cases. You are probably in a great position to just go straight 29er and not worry about the, "Does it handle well?" question. It will, and you'll adapt liek you would adapt to any bike. They all have their quirks.
What's your budget?
The GFs are good for the money, depends what you want.
In 26" wheeled bikes, I always rode XLs, but in 29ers I'm usually one size smaller. I think they handle great and I have had no problems on tight trails, at speed, anywhere. Just a slightly different style in some cases. You are probably in a great position to just go straight 29er and not worry about the, "Does it handle well?" question. It will, and you'll adapt liek you would adapt to any bike. They all have their quirks.
What's your budget?
The GFs are good for the money, depends what you want.
Hey, PM me about details on the 29er wheelset, please!
