I see this being tossed around in a lot of bike articles. Do they mean:

– Long effective top tube, low standover?
– Long wheelbase, low BB height?
– A different combination of the above?
– Something completely different?

Long wheelbase, low BB height?

I take it to mean this.

Long wheelbase will usually imply a long top tube too as very few designers deliberately go for long chainstays, so both of the options for long but primarily the low BB for the low part.

I think it means long wheel base for stability, low headtube for keeping COG down.

But I could be wrong.
I derive this from:
With slack head tubes you get longer wheelbases, whilst keeping top tube short/reasonable.
Everyone is going for low stack height as they have shorter stems and wider bars. This allows you to move weight fore and aft in a short cockpit very quickly, ie without big body movements.
If you imagine a looong cockpit, then you are stretched out like the mtb’s of the 80’s and 90’s and to get weight transfer fore and aft takes a fair bit of body movement.

(This of course could all be bollocks, but it’s just what I think)

How long is considered long then?

I always think of it a long and low top tube with a low BB.

As a “for instance” example my old Cham and my new Privee Shan have more or less the same TT ( effective) length, and chain stay length, however the Shan has a lower BB ( by about an inch) and a shorter and slacker HT ( from 68′ to 66′ ) means the Shan is about an inch longer in the front centre but with a wheel base that’s only 1/2 inch longer over all, so much more stable when descending but still not ungainly in the tight stuff

With slack head tubes you get longer wheelbases, whilst keeping top tube short/reasonable.
Everyone is going for low stack height as they have shorter stems and wider bars. This allows you to move weight fore and aft in a short cockpit very quickly, ie without big body movements.
If you imagine a looong cockpit, then you are stretched out like the mtb’s of the 80’s and 90’s and to get weight transfer fore and aft takes a fair bit of body movement.

Short top tubes are great if you have a short torso but some of us a need long top tubes so we don’t end up with a 120mm stem.

iache, are you casting aspersions on my midget genes? 😆

Ha, I actually deleted some piss taking about short arses as I didn’t want to seem aggressive. 🙂

@nickc any pictures of your Privee Shan mate?

Long wheel base, low bottom bracket.
in fact longer cockpit bikes are considered to give a better weight balance on to the tyre contact patches without having to move around the bike too much, rather than dramatic weight shifts a sorter cockpit requires, upsetting rear end grip or front end turn in grip, contrary to popular belief.
Rachel Atherton rides a GT DH bike that is longer than Quinn’s specialized DH bike.

Curious, there are a few on here of it recently built up, would add them to this thread, but can’t get access to flicker (blocked)