[Closed] Any short arses ride a 29er?

I'm 5' 8" with a 31" inside leg and I've only ridden 29ers since 2008.

Medium frames are perfect for XC, large are for touring and small for trail riding fun

Test rode a Specialized Epic I think. It felt great but then I realised I was trying to hand over £2k for a bike with one less shifter and a chain device and I came to my senses.

Felt great while I was riding it though. The Epic was a 17.5" I believe.

That Emily batty

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please don't, especially if it ends up like this
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Rocketdog - Is that Emily's set up? You got to admit its a clever solution, just looks wrong.

the clever thing would be to give her a bike that fits... oooh, i dunno, maybe like a 26" wheeled bike?

5ft 6 here and picking up a 16" Whyte T129 on Friday hopefully. Coming from a 16" trance and a 16" inbred. Had a spin on a couple small 29ers and I reckon it'll be fine. It would need to live up to the hype though...

Phil

Cheers phil, can you give us a review of it, after your first ride?

FactoryPhil ......it will ....enjoy 😉

I'll be honest that pic of her riding , it doesnt look too bad, I cant help wondering if that is actually a 26er in that pic though..

5'9" here and ride a 16" inbred 29er. It's fine, I probably should have bought an 18" but the smaller one will be more fun.......

5'7" and riding a MEDIUM Salsa El Mariachi - they go down to XS too.

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/druidh2000/8623128816/ ]IMAG0408[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/druidh2000/ ]ScotRoutes[/url], on Flickr

I've been playing around with bar height/position a bit. I initially set the bars very low (with a horizontal stem) but they were too low. I now have around 15mm of spacers under the stem and the stem pointing upwards.

That Ed Oxley isn´t the bearded man mountain that people think he is 🙂 He´s totally sold on the whole 29 thing.
Edit: He´s on FS.

Geologist, will do.

Singlecrack, thanks. I know you're right...

Phil

At 6'3 I'm probably too tall to comment on this, but. Would 650b be a better fit. Both SC and yeti are now offering the same bike in 29 for medium and above and 650b for xsmall and small

Personally I love mine, but at my height and fast track and trail riding, if it isn't for me then it ain't for anyone.
What ever you buy Enjoy.

Mrs Fish is 5'3" and rides a Niner.

15.5" iirc.

Her 26's haven't been out the garage since I built it for her.

5'7, Superfly hardtail (17inch), it took a bit of getting used to compared to my 26" full suss but it flies. I love it.

[quote=bikebob ]At 6'3 I'm probably too tall to comment on this, but. Would 650b be a better fit. Both SC and yeti are now offering the same bike in 29 for medium and above and 650b for xsmall and small
Yeti reckon a Medium frame is suitable for riders 5'7" to 5.10".

In any case, it's all to do with the wheel size....what's the point in 650B when a 29er runs better?

5'9" with 30" inside leg. Got Medium frame 29er hard tail and 140mm soft tail. Bikes feel fine with none of the fictitious drawbacks often touted around on the Internet, not that I've noticed anyway. Wheel size is not an issue as you're sat in between the wheels and not on top of them, so you're not any higher off the ground as you would be on an equivalent 26er. Put my bikes next to my mate's 26er and the BB height off the ground and the saddle and handlebar height off the ground are exactly the same. He happens to be the same height as me so bike set up is identical.

5ft9 with a 18 inch scandal perfect fit and now very chuck able once used to it .I wouldn't go back to 26

I'm 1.74m and have just started my first 29er experiment. I've test ridden a few previously but like Ming I'm now riding a Superfly and loving it. Quite different from my 26" FS.

5'8" 29 inch inside leg and ride a medium Air 9C (80mm stem)
Also ride Trek 69er 17 inch if that counts

Got to agree to an extent on scots comment on 650b. But for some smaller bods 29 will possibly be just too big. OP is 5'7. Same height as my mate. He's looking at 29 but is struggling a little with standover. But, there's a lot to go at out there and choice is good.
Personally I feel 650 is poss just a marketing ploy. I get 29' I get 26 but 650 is just over an inch bigger than 26. My jury is out on it but for bike manufactures it gives another option and USP for smaller riders.
For me 29 is great.

No problem for me. I'm 5'7" 29" inside leg on a medium Trance X 29er. My 100mm stem is reversed, but it's on top of about 30-40mm of spacers, although I might try lower just to see. The biggest thing for me is getting used to comparatively wide handlebars. It's true I have very little frame standover with both feet on the ground, but that's always been the case for me, and I've never had an incident from it while riding. I feel that the top tube length or reach is more important to fit and performance than standover. If my legs were in proportion to my torso then no-one would question whether I was tall enough for my frame. Since my saddle is lower that also effectively shortens the reach, so again I wouldn't go to a small. Interestingly, when I called a Giant shop for frame size advice they said medium unequivocally just on the strength of my height.

172cm and have 3 mediums. You'll be fine, the '29ers are for tall people' is a long dead myth.

Just under 5'8" and I ride a M El Mariachi. It fits like a glove and is proper comfy.

5'7" here spent a weekend on a medium Santa Cruz super light 29, fitted surprisingly well, great stand over as I have short legs. It was the lowest spec one but rode nicely.

5'8" 32 inside leg.

Medium Gyro, did have a Medium Superfly 100…

29er all the way for me.

I'm 5ft 3 and have a Scott Scale Contessa, which is great at putting the miles in on less techy stuff. I still prefer my Stumpy 26er for techy stuff though, because it has a bit more standover, and I like the full suss to compensate for my lack of skills... 😆

1m74 here, riding a small/16" Haro Mary rigid singlespeed. None of my other bikes seem as much fun anymore.

5'9" and riding an 18 Inbred SS. It fits and rides well but is definitely less playful than the 16" 26 Inbred it replaced. Difficult to say how much of that is down to wheel size and how much to the frame. Just ordered a medium Singular Buzzarrd for play duties.

Try it, see if you like it, then buy accordingly.

I am 5' 6" with a 29" inside leg.

Have ridden a 17.5" 26" wheel Felt hardtail for the last 3 years. Great fit.

Just ordered 17.5" Genesis Fortitude Race 29" wheel. Felt brilliant on my test ride.

Top tube height only slightly taller than my Felt. Does look a lot bigger than the 26" though. Optical illusion I guess...

IMO height is only a very rough benchmark for bike fit anyway, and standover is overrated too.

If you're really worried about standover, get a Yelli Screamy.

Yeah a short arsed mate of mine rides a 29er Epic and keeps winning Gorricks!

5ft 10 with short (30inch) legs. Tried a Solaris, ordered a Soul 🙂

29 felt fine, but too much undercarriage/top tube action when dabbing on tecky stuff, which is mostly what I ride. Horses for courses 😆

& anyway, who you calling a short arse?

5ft 7 here

17inch frame

Forme 29er carbon
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iainc - Member

29 felt fine, but too much undercarriage/top tube action when dabbing on tecky stuff...

hang on, that makes little/no sense, won't the toptube height be more or less the same for the same 'size'...

?

ahwiles - at the saddle end, yes, but the front of a 29er with a 100mm fork is approx 2 inches higher than a 26'er with a 120mm fork.

good point, well put.

It's the angle of the dangle that matters. Some 29er's like the Trance have loads of standover height,it's lower than the 26" anthem according to the web site.

LOLs at 5'8/9/10 people who ride MEDIUM frames calling themselves short!

avdave2 - yes, but only when measuring standover at a point directly beneath the nose of the saddle. I can straddle a Solaris fine there, similar to Soul, but if I slide forward towards the stem, which is where i often stumble in my inpetitude dabbing on rocky stuff, the Solaris is 2 inches higher than the Soul, even with 20mm shorter fork.

Ian, tried a dropper post? Might help if not (then no need to be forward of the saddle, which really isn't where you want to be anyway).

Luke: given conventional wisdom seems to indicate that 29ers are for 6 footers or above, I think it's valid…

mattjg - what I mean is that riding them is fine, but when I'm scrambling around a scottish mountainside, with lots of on, off, stop, start etc, the crotch clearance when not actually riding is a problem for me. As I said earlier though, horses for courses. If I was riding different terrain I'd have gone for the Solaris - more compliant, better distance covering, soaks up some of the stuff better.