Mountain bike size

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Denis99

Über Member
Location
South Wales
I'm the same height and inside leg as the orignal poster.

Had a look at the geometry page.
For me, it would be the medium. The large is just a tad too big in my opinion.

The large could work, but I find that for off road riding, the slightly smaller size is a better option.
 

gasinayr

Über Member
Location
Ayr Scotland
Old rule of thumb for sizes was road bike, inside leg - 10" mountain bike inside leg - 12"
What no one has pointed out is that the bottom bracket on road bikes is lower than mountain bikes so standing on bike with guys and dolls touching the top tube has nothing to do with sizing
OP, measure your existing bike BB clearance from ground and compare with mountain bike, you might find to the top of seat tube on a 21" road bike might be the same as a 19" mountain bike
 
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gasinayr

Über Member
Location
Ayr Scotland
Just checked my bikes, I have a 19" Dawes touring bike and a 17.5" Trek mountain bike, measured both from ground to top of seat tube, both the same. Measured from ground to centre of bottom brackets 1.5" of difference, the Trek is 1.5" higher off the ground than the Dawes
 

SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
MTB frames do tend to have more BB clearance. If I compare my Raleigh MTB to my Raleigh hybrid, which are both of the same design era, the hybrid geometry has 1 1/4" more BB drop than the MTB. However you also have to consider wheel diameter (26" vs 700c in my case) and tyre width fitted as both will affect ground clearance and standover height.. It's obviously better for an MTB frame to have a marginally lower standover height than a road machine, but even so there are a lot of really silly small sized frames being ridden these days, especially on Road.
 
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