Does this bike look too small for me?

I think it feels too small, and I think I'm going to sell it – but since it's the only DH bike I've ridden I'm not 100% sure.

What do you lot reckon?

no – it makes your arse look big though 😀

Another shot, different angle…

no – it makes your arse look big though

Don't need a bike to do that.

Pictures cam be very deceiving, what size is it and how tall are you?

its "chuckable" 8)

Bike = small Specialized Big Hit.

Me = 5ft 8in, 31in leg.

Would have got a medium, but it was ridiculously cheap and brand new.

It LOOKS too small for you. Doesn't mean that it is though.

Those pics show you riding along on it squatting down. Isn't the point of a DH bike that you go down hill on it? Not too indicative from that view.

Only really got these photos I'm afraid.

Maybe this is better (or maybe worse)…

Your a dead average sized bloke, just like myself, when your buying a t shirt you dont buy smalls, you probably dont buy XL's you buy something in the middle there like a medium, depending on the make maybe even a large. It should be the same when your buying a bike.
Looks a bit small to me.

edit… I guess its a very different thing your doing on it to my XC stuff, so maybe I am barking up the worng tree a bit..

um, i recongnize those jumps…

I'd say, if you want to do proper dh, a medium would be more stable at high speed, but if you want to just chuck it around, do jumps etc, stick with the small

bottom of chatel bike park, formerly known as Pre le Jeux?

small, yes. too small, probably not. I'm 5'10" with 31/32 inseam and rode a 15 inch small GT I-drive for 4 years as a play/DH bike and most people seem to run DH-specific bikes small.

'course if you got it stupid cheap youll probably not lose much if anything if you do sell it, but if its part of a stable of bikes and only serves occasional DH duties I'd keep it.

I'm 6'2" and used to ride a medium bighit, so for just playing around on a small is fine.

How much knee clearance do you have? Do you feel cramped in corners? Do you feel comfortable shifting your weight around in corners, or does everything feel a bit unstable?

I'm 6'2" I ran a small (22.5" TT) Giant VT for a year as a 'play bike' (sorry), initially it felt great, nice and small and chuckable, but after a while it started to feel increasingly unstable. Jumps felt twitchy and difficult to time right and I found it tricky to shift my body weight about (eg to load up the front tyre in corners) without overdoing it. After a few interesting 'short leg caught on shifter' comedy crashes I decided it was too small. I now run a medium Prophet (23.5" TT) which feels perfect, but some would argue is too small for me.

Yes, Chatel bike park jumps.

Tinsy – Yes, I'm a not just a medium, I'm a medium medium, for almost everything.

Lyons – Yes, it was fine jumping (disregarding the ridiculous weight), but a bit twitchy on the fast downhills. But I wasn't sure if that was all the bike or a bit me getting twitchy too (first time riding proper DH).

Munque chick – I do have other bikes for XC/AM riding, but may also be able to get a very good discount on a (medium) bike to replace this.

@tinsy I wouldnt say 5'8" is a medium average bloke height. I would say its small. I would say 6' is more average. So going by your guidelines I would say its spot on.

Me and chapking think we are medium… 🙂 6ft is bordering on giant and obviously something very wrong in the gene pool.

Average height of a UK male

according to wikipedia….

average uk heigt for men is 5'10"

and usa height 5'9.4"

whether thats accurate or not you would probably be a medium

fwiw im same height and inside leg as you and ride a large kona stab !

most DH bikes only vary in top tube length really maybe arm length is more important than leg?

it looks small to me.

That jump's grown! I'm sure when I was there a few weeks ago the one you're jumping was half that size with no real kick to it.

Delusional – Pic taken at start of July. Maybe it's shrunk.

Or maybe my small bike just makes it look bigger 😉

looks like your riding a full suspension BMX, 😛

On a serious note, it does look a bit small to me, but you probably already know yourself from riding it.

Average height of a UK male

That report suggests to me that Brits are taller and musclier than Frenchies and that's the important thing, eh?

if u cant pedal it comfortably its too small, and it looks like you cant.
imo anyway.
looks like a super soggy jump bike (a rubbish idea, jump bikes should be stiff)

excuse to buy a new frame i think!

Olly – No I can't pedal it easily, my knees were in a terrible state after a week riding it.

Samurai – Yes, at least something important has been resolved by this thread.

Delusional – Pic taken at start of July. Maybe it's shrunk.

Either that or now I'm back in the UK and AlpsVision has receded everything looks bigger!

Looks too small.

Or more accurately short. DH bikes in larger sizes don't actually get less chuckable really, just longer. Lots of people seem to think they become XC bikes in large sizes, the companies might have thought of that….

Having said that, it's a DH bike, you won't develop knee/back/whatever problems riding one that's too small. So if it's fun to ride, then keep it? What do you expect to gain from a bigger one? Will it make you faster? Does this matter?

Unless you're replacing it anyway, in which case why not try some for size first?

(at a tall 6'4" when I finally got a properly big sized DH bike it was ace, more stretched out and in the bike. Less chuckable? Maybe, but compared to what? Compared to a short person on a smaller bike? No.)

Knee problems came from pedalling it round PPdS and between resorts on subsequent days, with a very low saddle due to cut-off seatpost.

I'm nowhere near good enough to worry about going faster, just hoped a bigger (longer) bike might feel more secure and give me more space to move my weight around.

Thinking I'm going to replace with something more freeridey anyway, as a super-heavy DH bike was a lot more restrictive than I expected – and just wouldn't get enough use.