Planning to build a mtb for the gf based on the Brand X HT-01, but can’t decide between a S or a M on the sizing front.

I know a few peeps on here have them, so what would you recommend for someone 168cm?

Also picked up a Fox Factory Float 32 27.5 for cheap, but its 100mm. The frame is designed for 120mm, do you think the handling will be affected much?

My lad has a medium that I built up for his 13th birthday in January, already making it look a bit small! Looking at the pencil marks on the wall I think he was about 169cm when he got it. I would think medium would be better for your gf- they aren’t long in the TT and have plenty of standover.

Yeah, M. My son was only just 11 when he got his size small.

Geo on these gets worse as the sizes get larger. Much less standover on the bigger versions.

All are quite short and steep. I think the front will be pretty twitchy with a 100mm fork.

I’ve just bought something to replace my sons small HT-01 on which he is looking a bit small at 169cm.

Just on the fork length – if you can extend them to 120-130mm travel it would be better. With a 130mm fork my nephews large (he’s 5’11) handles fine. I think with 30mm less travel it might be a bit twitchy / head down.

I did that with my boys. 130mm fork and a 2 degree slackset. 😁

My wife is 5’5″ and the stand over on the small frame with 27.5″ wheels is just enough and no more. 130mm travel on her forks at the moment. I’ve used various travel forks on medium and small ht 01 frames and the handling doesn’t seem to suffer greatly, we’re not in the habit of doing anything heroic mind you.

Thanks for the all the info! Sounds like Medium is the one.

From my calculations, the head angle would be 1 degree steeper with the 100mm forks and still less than the Trek X-Caliber (which she was planning on buying). I guess if it was bad I could get a slackset?

Quite the roadies in this house and I’m still running a 26″ anthem so not sure we’ll notice the “twitchy/head down” handling with a shorter fork.

Looks like a decent frame for the money. Gonna get it sprayed a better colour, then build it up with these Fox 32s and a Deore/XT mix 1×11 I have in the cupboard.

Yeah, I built up a medium one recently and I’m 172cm if anything it feels a bit short, can fit a 125mm dropper with about 50mm to spare ( I have short legs too). As it happens I’ve also fitted 100mm forks pending being able to afford something longer, it runs fine managed to ride some reasonably rough and steep terrain well as much as you’re likely to try on a 100mm hartail.

Still being in the dark ages in terms of mtb geo, I’m bit confused on stem size for this.

What sort of length stem should I run on a small/med HT-01?

I think it would benefit from a ‘traditional’ rather than super short stem- try 60-80mm to start? Quite short in the TT compared to some current long frame/tiny stem options.

I think they are great value frames.  I have a large (181cm) and run a 120mm fork and 60mm stem. I mainly use it for trail centre type stuff in the winters. No complaints from me.

50mm on the small here.

Reverse components make a spacer that fits between the fork crown and cup to lift it up a bit and give you half a degree more slackness.