6’5
21″ Orange P7
22″ Kona Condercone

My mate’s a giant like you. He rides a Santa Cruz Tallboy

6’6″

Custom 29er hartail
xxl (20″) kona coiler dee-lux which will be changed to a custom frame when finances allow.

Customs the way to go unless you want high rise bars, 30 degree stems and stacks of stem spacers!

Only about 6’3″ here, ride an XL Singular Swift and Gryphon.

Edric 64 – Member
6’3″ and a bit and ride a 16.5″ or 17″, I’ve never understood why you need a gate.

Have you short legs ? or do you ride with a very bent knee position.Im an inch taller than you and just squeeze onto a 20inch frame .Seat height 82cm seat rail to bb centre .A 400mm post is nearly long enough

16.5 or 17 what? c-c or c-t? To me it’s ett length that’s important, but even with a saddle height a few cm lower than yours (81cm to top of saddle) I think I’d struggle to get the saddle high enough on such a short ST.

6’5″ 35″ inside leg trousers

XL Singular Swift – 82cm saddle height (centre BB to top of saddle along the seat tube/post)
20″ Inbred (26″) – 82cm saddle height
20″ Kona – 83cm saddle height
60cm CX bike – 83cm saddle height
61cm road bike – 84cm saddle height

Basically, top tube lengths of 24″ – 25″ish for mtbs and 59-60cm for road

clubber – can I have your crank lengths, shoe thicknesses and different pedals for each bike as well? Oh – saddle type too. Just to be proper and complete you understand.

This thread was revived for the OP to tell us what bike he got BTW. He got his answer.

6’4″

20″ 456
19.5″ 29er

It does depend on body proportion as well. Some people are tall because they have propoprtionately longer legs, some because they are longer in body and legs. I am the latter so the 21″ Spesh that I started with was simply too tall for decent standover. Ironically it was the only time I followed usual advice for a newbie and bought from an LBS.

oh 😳

175mm cranks, saddle accounted for in the measurement already, shimano SPDs. Haven’t measured shoe thickness but I’m pretty sure that all my road/mtb/winter ones are fairly close and standard 😉

6’4″

20″ On One Inbred
XL Transition Bandit

Morning, 6’5″, 21″ Specialized Rockhopper – with gold handlebars. The bike shop wasn’t convinced (by the size) but it suits me fine.

saddle accounted for in the measurement already

Same saddle on all bikes? I bet there are differences in squishyness you’ve not accounted for. Shame on you. 😡

Actually, no – they’re all similar spesh ones except for one which has very similar squish 🙂

Sorry. Can’t resist. 🙂

6’3 (35″ inside leg) and on a 17″ and a 16″ frame here too. both are loong (the 16″ has the same vtt as a 20″ 456), and with a long post its fine. Kona are good for making plus sized frames though. the 16″ could do with a 400mm post for road slogs, but the 350 I have now is the right hight (at full extension) for xc

Me neither 😉

6’4″, 36″ legs.

21″ Orange P7
60cm Orbea road bike
15″ Planet-X Jack Flash.

I don’t understand how anyone “of height” can get away with a smaller bike and still be able to pedal. I use my Planet-X for a spot of downhill and some street stuff but even just pedalling it for 5 mins makes my knees ache.

6ft 5″,

23″ Rockhopper HT

Would love a 29er at somepoint soon…

6’6″ here, currently own:

XL Scandal 29er – which fits perfectly – I worry a bit about the new one having a shorter chainstay.
XL Meta 55 – which has always been a bit short, I’m sat too far off the back really, good fun though!
61cm Tricross – fits very well.

Previously owned:

Ibis Mojo XL – far too short wheelbase, both off the back, and over the front at the same time somehow.
XL Specialized Pitch – huge looong bike, fit very well, rode a bit too like the Meta so it got sold, in retrospect I should have kept this one really.
XL GT Avalanche – too short, sold it on quick

Has anyone tried an XL Anthem X 29er? Very tempted next year. Although completely different kettle of fish, the Horsethief looks huge too.

6’4″

XL trance, L socom…looking enviously at XL swifts/inbred 29ers….very big wheel curious. Would sell the trance and try an anthem X 29er in XL if I could easily…

(XL anthem x 29ers weren’t brought in to the uk in 2011 AFAIK only the 2012 ones are)

Oh, and an XL tricross, but I’m borderline XXL, went smaller as it was a bit comfier for the commute.

“far too short wheelbase, both off the back, and over the front at the same time somehow”

That’s a quality I like in a bike. It lets you unweight either end more quickly and with less effort.

Do you guys find it a bit trickier to chuck the bike about when riding a bigger frame? I used to ride a 21″ frame (probably the right size for me) and hated it. Great for climbing, not so great at tight twisty stuff, manuals and jumping.

6’6″ here.

20 inch Orange 5
20 inch Kona Coiler
20 inch Blue Pig.

To be honest, they’re all probably a bit too small for me but I’ve got used to ’em. The 21″ 5 wasn’t available when I bought mine but would buy that if I were in the market for a new frame. Nice short reach on all bikes though so all quite flickable.

6ft 4.5

21.5 Trek 8500
21.5 Gary Fisher Tarpon
54 Zesty 514

I wish the zesty was a tad shorter sometimes, could of done with an even bigger size on the Gary Fisher though.

What kudos said. I find long frames too stable in corners and way too cumbersome to rock back and forth when hitting bumps at speed. A shorter, lower bike lets you redistribute weight with lesser fore/aft movements; and pump it much more effectively, as your arms are closer to vertical. A long bike is a bit more comfortable for cranking out longer, non-technical rides, though. But that’s what road bikes are for 🙂

6ft 3 (34inch inside leg)
20″ heckler (150mm forks)
18″ 456

I used to ride a 16″ trailstar, so I’m pretty comfortable on smaller frames…

Friend who is 6ft 4 rides a 20″ 456.

6’4″ (34″ inside leg)
20″ Cube AMS 130 with high rise bar

I don’t understand how anyone “of height” can get away with a smaller bike and still be able to pedal. I use my Planet-X for a spot of downhill and some street stuff but even just pedalling it for 5 mins makes my knees ache.

put the saddle up?

Also bear in mind that it’s not just leg/arm length that determines if a bike feels long or short, but that flexibility comes into it too. One person’s stretched out is another’s short, as they barely need to reach.

6′ 4.75″

Large Giant Trance
Long Yeti DJ (with 400mm post 🙂 )
maybe soon a Large Yeti ASR5 too

Surprised by the number of people on XLs, is it not like riding a gate/barn door? I looked at a n XL trance and it was a farm gate.

put the saddle up?

With a 400mm post my small bike is not even vaguely pedallable for any length of time.

I would rather buy a bike that fits. Sure they may look like gates but they fit me but, frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.

6ft 7ins

XL Giant XTC

XL Nickel

As discussed….don’t care if they look gate like gates (the Giant prob does, the Nickel not at all IMO), it’s just nice to have something that fits (unlike cars, tables, chairs, plane seats, blah, blah, blah.

Surprised by the number of people on XLs, is it not like riding a gate/barn door? I looked at a n XL trance and it was a farm gate.

Giants are particularly er… giant…

With a 400mm post my small bike is not even vaguely pedallable for any length of time.

I would rather buy a bike that fits. Sure they may look like gates but they fit me but, frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.

my bikes fit me too, thanks 🙂

lets say a 350mm post has 270mm ‘showing’. if you also assume a saddle gives you an extra 20mm, a 17inch frame and 185mm cranks will give you a 35″ saddle-to-pedal height. a 16″ frame is an inch less. I personally don’t ride xc in such a way that my leg is fully extended, and I believe most fitting guides reccomend a slightly bent leg. A 16″ frame, with 350mm post at full extension is thus the perfect size.

That just brings up the length of the bike. I wouldn’t want to ride a normal xc bike in 16″ size (a quick look at on-one suggests an inbred of this size has a 59cm ett). my 16″ frame has a 617mm effective top tube. My 17″ frame has a 620mm Your orange has a 620mm effective top tube. I fit 50mm stems on both. Given I’m an inch shorter than you, I find that fits perfectly, thanks 🙂

I’d argue people shouldn’t write off shorter seat post frames without understanding the geometry fully.

To add to the stats:

6’4 – 34″ legs.

Large SC nomad Mk1
19″ Curtis xc100

plenty of comfort

I’m only 6ft 2 but have long freak legs (about 35″). I ride an On One Inbred 21″ which fits just about.

6’4″ with 34″ legs

Giant Anthem XL 22″

Often wondered if Carbon 456 will fit a lanky man like me?

I can ride a 19″ frame with a 410mm thomson post (6’6″) but for me it’s the headtube length. I’d agree some of the xl or xxl frames top tubes are a bit to long (for me) but the trouble is getting the bars high enough without stupid amounts of spacers or 30 degree stems. How people ride on-one’s is beyond me, don’t they all have 120mm headtubes?

for me it’s the headtube length

Exactly. You can adjust the reach and saddle height to a certain extent on a smaller frame (although my older ‘Dale in L is right on the limit with a 400mm post) but there’s a limit to how high you can get the bars.

6f 5 with 36″ inside leg

A 20″ zesty and a 19″ Cotic Soul which i managed to bend the 400mm seatpost after 4 rides!!

I ride a fairly long stem though – but it seems to work for me 😀

A shorter, lower bike lets you redistribute weight with lesser fore/aft movements; and pump it much more effectively, as your arms are closer to vertical.

We call that bike a ‘BMX’.

I don’t want to ride a BMX.