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I have always liked the look of the soul and fancy changing from my old rockhopper to a longer fork hardtail. However, when we looked at the geometery its pretty long in the top tube and short in the seat tube. I am 5'9" and am a classic female shape with short body and long legs (32" inside leg) and ride a 17" rockhopper and medium Nicolai Heluis, both with 570mm top tubes. The medium soul is 600 mm which is a bit long for me for a hardtail. The small would probably be better, but I might need 2 foot of seat post. Any ladies get away with riding a soul?
I'm not a lady nor have I played one on TV but I have my Soul set up quite short - 50mm stem and straight seatpost. It's slack enough that it isn't nervy like that, which may allow you to effectively shorten the frame if you're currently using longer stems.
Toptube length on its own doesnt mean a great deal, you've got to take into consideration head angle and seat angle. And then what length stem you're using, and saddle/seatpost setback.
If you post some more info about your current bike then Im sure someone will be able to help further.
But I would have thought a small with a long seatpost might be better?
I'm 5'8" and ride a medium Soul. The fit is OK but I wouldn't want to go any longer. I've got a 60mm stem on there which suits it nicely. Also got a layback seatpost. It looks "right".
I think my legs are 32", which means your upper body is slightly longer than mine so you should be fine on a medium, but I do tend to ride big frames (my Five is 17").
This Might help. I'm a bloke, 5ft 8 and have a 17 inch rockhopper frame. Now ride a soul, but after talking to cotic went for a small frame, and use a 55mm stem. Use a 410mm post. Only problem compared to previous bikes is I'm always stopping to drop the post on anything reasonably twisty/downhill to get the most from the frame, although unsure if this is a sizing issue or just being able to push the bike more.
I'm 5'11 with 33" inside leg....I used to ride a 19 inch Rockhopper, now ride a 17.5 Soul with 70mm stem. This set up works really well for me, maybe give the guys at Cotic a call to see what they advise. Beccy
Hi Ahsat,
My G/F, (5'7") ride a small soul (70mm stem) (she also races a Soda) and see loves the bike, like above has said, you can tweak the set up a little. short stem, inline post etc. (don't forget saddle/bar hight can also shorten/lengthen reach as well)
Best bet it ring Cy at Cotic and have a chat, he knows what will work :wink:, AQR hoildays MTB team ride cotics and most of them are girls, and all feel happy on cotics so I would go for it.
If you lived Wiltshire way you could test ride the G/F bike.
Thanks all for the feedback. Ringing Cotic seems like a very good idea (after I have counted the pennies to make sure I can pay for wedding first!!!).
Just run a medium with an inline seat post/saddle fairly forward and a 40mm stem. There is no better way to set-up a bike (climbing performance/descending confidence) so you're actually quite lucky with your sizing.
I am 6ft (male) with 33" inside leg. I have a medium Soda with an 80mm stem and 400mm inline seat post. The bike does feel slightly 'long' but I love the way that it all works. I think that Cotic recommend people who ride there bikes to go for smaller frame sizes rather than barn gate proportions. I think that a small would be perfect but the call to Cotic is crucial.
I would have thought a medium. I used to ride a small, am 5'5" with very short body and long legs.
You really do need to sit on one!