Just being slowly drawn in by the awesome sounding Orange Blood – http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/2010/blood/

But wondering how the limited sizes of either 15" or 17" works for a rider like me, who rides around the 19" mark.

Is the limited range because this is:

a) a side effect of it being some kind of niche, low volume bike
b) or because for the intended riding these are the optimal frame sizes
c) or is just kinda tough luck and if you really need a different size then find a different bike?

Would be interested in any available wisdom on why this is the case.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Frankly, there;s no common geometry sizing across brands or even with brands. You need to find out what the manufacturer recommends for your dimensions. The 17" Blood is a big beast.

B.

The 17 is a decent size. I normally ride normal 17/18 bikes and the 17 Blood feels big.

Freeride bike like DH's tend to be small for chuckability.

I'd say it is because for the intended riding it will be doing you wouldn't want anything bigger, but then I'm bound to get told otherwise!

I'd say it is because for the intended riding it will be doing you wouldn't want anything bigger, but then I'm bound to get told otherwise!

Dont know why you'd want a 19inch frame for riding downhill and doing jumps on.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like b) then – that size suits the intended riding, and it's a biggish bike anyway. Appreciated. I will definitely look to demo one.

A bike shop in Edinburgh has one available for demo. 17" – powder blue.

A 17" bike would feel and look like a BMX on me and wouldn't even consider looking at one @ 6'5"! Although the V10 I tried is only 18" and felt pretty good :?. Who knows!

I'm about 6'2" and have a 17" Blood. Its rangey on the top tube so don't feel like I'm sitting bolt upright. A 410 mm seatpost has loads left in the frame so although its called 17" I think its plenty big enough for most. Proper fun bike. Get one.

I use the wheel base and top tube lengths to size bikes,check the manufacturers bunf. its kinda dated using the length of the seat tube length as the only way to size a bike without riding – unless stand over height is critical?!?!but thats just me. But of course the best way is to test the damn thing.

Maybe its down to the bikes angles
so they dont need to make to many sizes
Take out a test bike and try

Probably because making anything bigger than the 17" whilst keeping the toptube shockmount and linkage pivot in the same place would be impossible?

6'3" on an 18" Alpine with a 410mm Thomson post practically at the min. insert line.

@druidh – is there a 15" demo, too…?

they never expected to shift the amount they have ,hence making the 2 most popular selling sizes of the 5.

the new blood xc will be more widely sized

Orange was testing a full 6 inch Blood