Just looking at a couple of different big 29ers and the Covert looks ace but, is it just me or does it size up basically a size small? Comparing with the Five 29 (whose medium felt, well, medium) and the Meta 29, it’s like 20mm shorter, 30mm shorter in the top tube… Whereas sizing up to the large brings everything into the same ballpark…

Just wondered if any owners had similiar thoughts- don’t think it’ll be possible to demo one…

Hi
I have a large Bandit 29 and that feels short in the to tube compared to my other bikes
Not actually measured it and bar width and stem lengths are equal.
Feels nice and playful though and mainly ridden at trail centres so far rather tan xc rides.
Had a car park go on a medium Covert 29 and that felt very small, but the owner was the bloke I bought the Bandit frame off and he seemed to think it was ok!
He was a lot better rider than me though and did more session type stuff in the woods than pedally rides so that may be what he was after
Cheers
Steve

The covert is a short bike. I’m 5’9″ with a 30″ leg on a medium Covert 29. In terms of stand over height it feels on the limits, any larger and it’d be too large, as it is it’s just right, but length wise it feels short – not too short, but not like a stretchy XC bike. This has benefits in terms of them manoeuvrability of the bike and it’s ability to manual and wheely – it manuals and wheelies better than any 26″ bike I’ve had even in my unskilled hands. It’s got a flicky feel to it, but not unstable when descending. The only downside is that in steep technical climbs the front can get light and pop up, it’s something I’ve got used to and find it useful in technical climbs to get the wheel up and over steps easy. But this plays into the main objective of the bike as a fun bike to rip up the trails and send down the steep stuff. Of course that’s me all over…… 😉

Yep similar frustration here, the covert looks great but short top tube and 20″ seat tube for an xl is just not enough.
Now if the xl prime had the coverts travel i’d suddenly be poorer, geometry wise it looks ace but “only” 130mm of travel.

Yeah, it was the Prime that started me looking at 29ers again actually! The reach is something silly like 50mm longer than the Covert, size-for-size. And some great deals on frames about (in fact quite a lot of people seemingly trying to sell used frames for pretty much what you can buy them new)

Hmm. This bears thinking about, cheers

All i can say is give it a try if you can, they ride great and the short cockpit isn’t a problem, at least for me. They’re a bike designed for a certain style of riding, but it’s also a very competent all-rounder.

Transitions and Santa Cruz always come up short, and it’s worth trying next size up.

Problem with sizing up is the seat tube is longer and that brings its own problems if you want to run a dropper in that you may not be able to insert it low enough.

This is the problem I’m finding…plenty of other brands though: the kona process 111 for example have nice long TT and short seattubes. Codeine is another

Yeah, that’s exactly my concern, comparing with my existing bikes the medium is going to be too small for my taste (I’m trying to go longer not shorter!) but the raised seatmast looks like it could start to create seatpost issues.

Don’t suppose anyone with an L fancies doing me a favour and quickly measuring to the top of the seatmast and the standover? Doesn’t seem to be available online!

Lots of alternatives tbh but the Coverts seem to be excellent in most other ways and there’s quite a few out there which is another advantage!