[Closed] Orange five XL too small for tall blokes?

[url= http://www.ninerbikes.com/fly.aspx?layout=bikes&taxid=93 ]You need a WFO[/url]

what inside leg?

Orang - you are in something like the 95th percentile. Most things in the world are made for, at best, the 80th percentile. There is little profit in the XXL or the XXS, so few make them. Most decent sized bikes are in the American marketplace as they are made over there. British companies have almost no interest in something as niche - Hope won't even do their Hoops in 29er (yet do 26" and road wheels).
Until you ride other bikes (especially those that actually DO fit you), you won't know what actually fits and you may well think it fits when it doesn't. I've been there.

I'm 6'4" and had a 20inch (biggest) 5 and it was too small, I need a 120mm stem and tons of seatpost, it was all wrong! NIce bike though.

So what did you end up with TooTall, I really want to stick to 26" wheels for now as I do alot of trialsy type log jumps and stuff on my local trails.

Br-37" I think.

Orang - I've gone pure 29er now and I'm not looking back. It depends what you want, but if you want to stick with 26", then you should look at a Turner 5 Spot in XXL - it is a 23" frame. I personally think 29er is the way forward for big blokes, but if you want kiddy wheels, at least get a big enough frame.

If you are riding 'trialsy' you want a hardtail don't you? 😕 Full sus would be a compromise for that sort of stuff?

I'm 6'5" and have a 20" 5, wouldn't want it any bigger personally.

I've also gone 29er after finding my 22" XL Trance and 21.5" Trek 8000 just a bit too small. Now far happier on my 23" Rockhopper 29er and my 22" Salsa Big Mama.
I still have my 22" Kona Hoss as my singlespeed though but now the wheels feel a bit small.....
I think my 29ers looks nicely in proportion in the largest sizes, my big 26" bikes never looked quite right.
Try a 29er, if you are very tall it's definitely something you should try before you continue down the 26" route. Find someone local to you off here who'll let you have a test ride.

I'm 5.10 an ride a 16 Orange (subzero, think hardtail patriot/five) and with a 50 stem and layback post its a right laugh, depends on the kind of stuff you prefer to ride but what floats my boat is downwards fun stuff, you get the picture.

@ Tootall & MrTall - Amen brothers.

Try a 29er before making a decision, I'm sure if you ask nicely there is someone local to you who has one you can have a spin round the block on. I know that as soon as i rode my 1st 29er i knew i had found my holy grail and i'm 6'5" with only a 34" inside leg. My BlurLT in XL felt to short in everyway which is why it sat in the shed while i rode a 29er that cost a 10th of the price of the Blur 😯

I'm 6'5" and have a 20" 5, wouldn't want it any bigger personally.

Have you ridden much that is bigger, or do you just want the bmx feel for riding?

Orang, one of the guys in Biketreks / Bikedebts seemed to think that Orange were considering bringing out a 22" Five, might be worth checking with your dealer or even Orange themselves to see if there is any truth in this.

I'm 6 foot 4 ish.

I'm looking for a new hard tail and I'm amazed how many bikes aren't made beyond a 19 inch frame.

I'm fine on a 20 inch orange

Have you ridden much that is bigger, or do you just want the bmx feel for riding?

I had a 21" inbred 29er, that was massive! Definitely felt too long, have gone down to a 19.5 scandal which is much better. I might just have short arms or something though...

I'm 6' 6" and I have:

Yeti 575 XL - absolutely huge bike. Much bigger that the Orange. Specc'd sub 30lbs

Commencal Meta 6 XL - Think it's about the same size as the Orange. Much heavier build, probably around 36lbs and much smaller cockpit. Prefer to ride the Yeti on long rides but this for downhill days, hopefully mega avalanche in the summer etc

About to get a Scandal 29er for next years solo attempts...

Recommend you try the Yeti for size, it's a big bike and it's chuffing fantastic...

I've gone pure 29er now

I know who bought Agency_Scum's Karate Monkey!!!

In terms of Orange doing an XXL, why not? They make them in house and are knocking out random protos all the time - I could see this happening, especially with the bike's hardcore reputation (stiffness and strength), they could make a killing.

GaryLake - Agency_Scum covets MY bike and he buys stuff from me - not the other way round! I make my money at the bike jumble from selling to him.

I doubt Orange would 'make a killing' on an XXL bike. The market is small (despite the hugeness of the riders) and a huge 26" wheeled bike has very limited appeal now other manufacturers are getting 29er geometry sorted.

On first impression from what I read here it seems to be down to rider preference but I wonder how many tall riders out there are happy with their bikes because there just isn't the choice or availability of test rides on big bikes. I would love to ride something that I felt was just too big so I could set a benchmark for my ideal ride.

Definately need to demo a 29er again before I spend any money I suppose. I did try one at aston hill a couple of years ago but found it a bit vague and cumbersome (Haro Mary I think) but geometry has probably moved on since then. Did look at a Banshee Paradox recentlty but bottled it.

I doubt Orange would 'make a killing' on an XXL bike. The market is small

Yeah but Orange build so few bikes (you wouldn't think it from how many Fives you see out there mind), they wouldn't need to bash out that many for it to worth while!

So you're not the Karate Monkey mystery buyer?

Not me guv

Orang - if you could make it to Bristol I have 2 x 29ers in different flavours. You are more than welcome to try them and see what you think.

In 2005 I thought I'd found the bike for me. It was an XL Scott RC (30 I think), XC FS - felt brilliant, capable, so comfortable, loved it. Then I got one of the first batch of ScandAL 29ers from On One and built it up. REVELATION! Suddenly I found a bike that felt right. I rode that solid for months and went back to the Scott - it felt awful. Cramped, small, the wheels felt like I was riding on castors and it seemed like it was all tucked up underneath me. It felt like I was riding on something too small - something I'd have argued 6 months earlier.
I knew 29ers would be right for me, but I hadn't realised the difference until I really got to ride one for a while. As tall blokes, we have had a lifetime of making things fit and convincing ourselves it works (bikes, cars, seats, houses, beds etc). It isn't until you really try the right stuff (car that fits properly, decent bed, raised worktops, 29ers) that you realise how much you have compromised in the past.

I'm not as tall as you guys (at 6'2" but a 34" inside leg), but worrying about how it looks is a bit like my wife buying shoes and clothes based upon 'stated' size - rather than does it fit!

I ride a 20" HT with a 100mm stem and 711mm bars - because they fit me, don't care what anyone else thinks.

I really must get a proper go on a 29er

6'5", 35" inside leg

The biggest issue I find with big frames is that the wheelbase is too short - specifically that the chainstays don't get longer with larger frame size, meaning that with a long seat tube and seatpost you're too far back over the rear wheel making technical climbing a pain.

A 29er does help with this (though many stupidly IMO bend the seat tube to allow for shorter stays) but I just haven't yet found a 29er that I like - I always feel like I'm trundling along on them. I'm sure they're no slower but since I ride for the enjoyment of it (mainly), I'd rather have a bike that feels enjoyable to ride. YMMV clearly.

I've had a lot of bikes which have been between 19 and 21" and all fitted well (Top tube lengths between 23.5 and 24.5") with stems between 90 and 110mm. I've found 22" frames too big/long for me - just too long unless I put a silly short (eg 50-70mm) stem on which made the handling crap for XC type stuff (though fun on the steeper technical stuff) I mainly ride.

I too am 6'5" and tried out the 20" Orange 5 but found it too small, either that or ramp the seat post up so high it looked like a clown bike. Went for an XL 575 and must say it spot on, the sizing of these is pretty darn good.

6'6" here and ride a Meta 5.5 in XL. Curiously I don't normally get on with shorter bikes, I sold an XL Avalanche due to it feeling cramped, but with the Meta I get on very well.

Shorter bikes with lower front ends always leave my weight pitched too far forward, on the bars. I found I couldn't heave the bike around properly and got lots of nerve pains in my hand, which has never been an issue before. Shorter bikes with higher front ends and I'm fine.

I also ride a 2003 Stumpjumper HT which is lower at the front but very long so it works fine. I've bought a Mojo frame to play about with next year, I've only been on a spin around the local roads on it so far but it felt fine. All my bikes I run with a high rise 685mm bars and 90mm stems, I didn't like the feel of anything longer and haven't been prepared to shell out on anything lower.

fwb2006-Is the 575 a Yeti, please tell.

toasty-I know what you mean about numb fingers. I had problems with nerves in my neck giving me pins and needles down the inside of my biceps and into the palms of my hands until I got a high rise stem (I think its about 35 degrees) and riser bar. It looks wierd, especially with the 26 inch wheels but lets face it, when I'm riding the bike I can't see what it looks like.

Sorry, yes, tis a yeti.

What do you ride at the moment? As I mentioned I find higher front ends work a bit better for me, my Meta isn't crazy high, standard spacers and things:

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I've never had trouble with nerves in my hands on it though. Oddly I demo'd a 22" Trance X and it had the gate feeling a bit for me, short and high with a huge stem.

I find it really infuriating that so many manufacturers offer bikes in a decent size, but only on mid-spec models (if they bother to import them at all).

I have seen that Kona do a lovely looking 29er (King Kahuna) in a 22" frame, but it's 2 grand for a hardtail!

It all really does depend on what you want the bike to do. I'm 6'7"ish and i'm starting to think my 20" Patriot is actually too big for the type of riding i'm using it for 🙂

FWIW I'm 6ft6" with a 36" inside leg and an XL Heckler has done me fine for three years now with a Maverick Speedball and 70mm stem. My problem is getting the bar height right so I don't feel that I'm tipping forward.

I do like the look (if not the price) of Turner Sultans

I'm 6'5" with 37" inside leg and ride a Meta 5.5 Xl - seems fine but as others have mentioned maybe I'm convincing myself of that as there's not much beyond the XL size. I demoed a Blur LT Xl in the summer and it was a fantastic ride. Not sure about 29ers personally - aren't you raising your centre of gravity even higher than on a 26er which surely isn't very good for the feel of the bike?

Your weight on a bike, most of the time, is on the pedals. The pedals are the same height off the ground as the BB is a similar height for most bikes. Therefore CoG difference is tiny. You can sit and do the math all you want - riding a bike is the only true proof that it works or not.

an XL Heckler has done me fine for three years now with a Maverick Speedball and 70mm stem. My problem is getting the bar height right so I don't feel that I'm tipping forward.

So you work to compromise for the fact your aerse is too high and you feel you're tipping forward? Sounds like a bike too small.

Eh? It just means that possibly the head tube is a bit short for how he likes the bike to feel meaning that he needs a stack of spacers, a high rise bar, high rise stem or combination of all. I don't like the front end high so usually have no problem.

Ditto what clubber said - I didn't say it wasn't right, I just needed a bunch of spacers and some higher rise bars.

I looked at the XL Heckler before getting the Yeti. Sorely tempted as it was £1k cheaper but it was just too small.

When I used to ride back in the late 80's I had a 19" Rockhopper and it was too small. The back ache's I used to get were part of the reason I gave up.

Toasty, I ride a Rocky Mountain Elevation hardtail in xl size. When I bought it I was into XC and fitted a USE Sub 100mm front fork which because of its double crown lifts the front end higher. Over the last 18 months I've been getting alot more into technical trail riding and moderate jumps so have swapped out my original 120mm stem with a 70mm which is great for front end feel but leaves the bike too short. I think all I'm really after is a longer top tube on a similar sized bike but with alonger fork. The question of FS/HT and 26/29 is just making decision making more difficult.

As I said when I started this thread, I'm test riding an Orange 5 next week in xl which has a slightly longer effective top tube, albeit only 12mm. When I've had it for a couple of days I will post my thoughts on it.

As I said when I started this thread, I'm test riding an Orange 5 next week in xl which has a slightly longer effective top tube, albeit only 12mm. When I've had it for a couple of days I will post my thoughts on it.

I'd be intruiged to hear how you get on actually 🙂 Demo'ing XL bikes is always a pain in the arse, at the big events it's usually about 50/50 whether manufacturers have big bikes. Lapierre and Yeti for example, for the past couple of years I've been keen to demo both but their own demo fleets don't have either in XL. Grr.

I've mentioned before that it would be a good idea for the taller chaps off here to make their bikes available for test rides for our fellow 'tallies' as we all know how hard it is to get a test on very big bikes. I've had to buy both mine without the benefit of testing them first which is a pain given the amount they cost. I'd happily have driven a fair way to try before i buy.

I'm just south of Brum if anybody needs to test a Rockhopper 29er or a Big Mama in 23" & 22". 🙂

Rockit man? What is your bb height to top of saddle height? Also, on the XL 575, what length stem did you put on it, and what is the nose of saddle to middle of stem length.

Thank you!

6FT 4", 34" inside leg,

Had large Yeti ASX which fitted fine, had 456 and On one SS in 20" both were fine, currently running XL 2008 heckler which is fine and up for sale, also have a 20" Kona Unit 29er which again is fine.

I therefore find that any frame with around 20" centre to top measurement will fit, stem can be adjusted as can lay back seat post if required.
Most important thing for me is the full leg extension on the pedals without the seatpost being telescopicly high !

PS, The 29er is great, for a tall dude you actually feel like you are sitting in the cockpit rather than purched on top of a large bike !

yer i'm 6' 6" even getting to sit on the right size bike is an issue in a shop.

the gary fisher, trek and scott demo days were good though as they had all sized inc garden gate.

i have a xl sized singualr swift - just the job, but the xl gary fishers and scotts were a good size too.