Is using a layback post a sign that your frame is too small? I’ve always been between frame sizes and I’m of that old school of thought that you take the smaller size MTB frame but I’m wondering if that’s such a good idea. Is it better to have the length in the toptube and a shorter stem, even if that means taking a larger frame which may be a bit of a gate?

I think it is more complicated than that – especially when you compare reach and stack on frames with different seat tube angles…

What if it’s the same make of frame but two different sizes? That’s more what I’m getting at, sorry.

It works for me – I was exactly middle of sizes for the Orange and now Sanderson.

I just use a slight layback and have not fitted a daft short stem. A few times I look at pictures and go ‘you need the next frame up’, but then the length of a Sanderson is such that I don’t need it…

This pic sums it up…
[url=https://flic.kr/p/vJ8r6q]IMG_3129[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr