[Closed] *RANT* - Heightist bike shops

not just shops. very hard to get second hand kit in larger sizes. i ran medium xc frames for ages until my back told me enough was enough...

I can't be the only tall person wanting to buy something like that in Cambridgeshite can I?

well, [url= http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/230_cumulative_percent_distribution_of_population_by.html ]this[/url] says that 98% of the american population are under 6'4".

If we assume a similar distribution in the UK are you surprised that bike shops don't stock stuff that only 2% of the population would fit, let alone buy?

*s*****
How's the weather up there fella?

[from a shortarse with the reverse problem] 🙂

Stop trying to deflect my bad mood using facts!

This is all about me wasting a perfect weekend of biking because these so called bike shops can't be bothered to stock something for me.

Try being 5 ft nothing. Not only is it impossible to try bikes, I can't reach anything in cupboards either.

Demo days are yopur friend, as is patience. You can damage yourself with a badly fitting bike. Good things are worth waiting for...

Well, how many other people are there, of your Crouchian proportions? Not many. Bike shops will not sell many gates, so won't have them in stock. They'll stock what they know they will sell. Expecting them to have a full range of huge bikes just on the off chance a lintel basher might come in, is a bit much, don't you think?

I know what you're saying though; I'm 'not tall', and have in the past had difficulty in finding small framed bikes to swing a leg over. Fortunately, a lot more women are into biking these days, so tiny bikes are more abundant.

I blame all these 'average' people...

"I can't reach anything in cupboards either"

we have one of thos elittle steps IKEA do so kids can reach the sink in our kitchen so my wife can reach the wall cupboards. I still have to get down anythign that's not on the bottom shelf in them though.

From previous experience Kona make larger option frames. At 6'3" I find the 20" Kona frames to be spot on but they (at leastthey used to) do 22" & 24" frames - could be worth looking for?

I too being 6' 4 had a problem getting a bike to fit. The answer is pretty simple, buy American, buy XL, build it yourself.

One thing you tall/short people ought to be greateful for is that every sale (bike or otherwise) I've ever been to is overrun with clothes, bikes and footwear that will fit you...

I'm not that keen on Kona... I know I may be biased, but they have always seemed to me to be sluggish ad heavy compared to other peoples'.

I was actually looking to get a Rockhopper SL (seems to be the best combination of frame and spec for the money) in 23", but that seems to be like getting blood out of a stone.

Yes, I might bang my head on door frames once in a while, and I have trouble getting trouser that fit, but at least I can easily reach things on the shelves at home. And see over crowds.

So there.

Stoner is over 8 ft tall, iirc. He'll have some constructive advice.

must be lack of oxygen up there making you ratty 😆

I ride with 3 guys, 6'4", 6'5" and 6'7", like riding with 3 pylons on 5 bar gates 😀

Yes, I might bang my head on door frames once in a while, and I have trouble getting trouser that fit, but at least I can easily reach things on the shelves at home. And see over crowds.

😀

(Goes to high-five willard; can't jump high enough, fails)

Bez is 9' tall yet rides a 12" Inbred.

he does use a 6ft length of scaffold pole instead of a seatpost, though.

Just order a Salsa Big Momma and have done with it. It's the only bike that my 6'5" mate doesn't look a total t1t on.

wwaswas - I have some of those ! At the front door, as I am too small to see through the peep hole that some heightist person has installed with no thought that actually small people being more defenceless have more need to see who is there.

But yes it's true, we do much better out of sales when only the 8/10 and the 20/22 sizes are left !

I got it worse. I wanted to spend some serious cash on a Carbon Anthem X, but not only do they not do full bikes on XS but they don't even do the frames by themselves. So I thought ok I will go Alu since I knew 2009 Anthem X came in XS but nop in the UK no XS built 2010 Anthems so I ended up buying an Alu frame.

That and the fact that I have to shorten all my trousers cause apparently if you have 32" waist you are allowed to have 29" legs but if you have 29" waist you can't possibly have legs any shorter than 32" GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Did you know can buy 480mm seatposts? 😉

Cannondale usually do some pretty big stuff. I am 6'3" ish and ride an XL Salsa Mamasita and I suspect it wouldn't be big enough for you but I have a 63cm Cannondale road bike that is too big for me. (do you want to buy the frame? :-))

As a 6'6" I feel your pain, but I've been riding for a while and been through a few bikes so I know that its worth waiting for the right bike. My suggestion would be to stuff the big S off and order yourself an On-One 29er, either In-Bred or Scandal, and enjoy riding a real bike rather than a 26" wheeled gate. At the moment I've got a Spec Enduro and a Scandal 29er, the Scandal is an amazing bike, and as a big guy it just feels so much better riding the bigger hoops. Don't think the Enduro is going to be hanging around much longer, wouldn't be surprised if a Santa Cruz Tall Boy or perhaps one of the new Giant Anthem 29ers replaces it some some time soon.

At least you tall/short folk get good deals in the sales

www.torico.co.uk have some large sized bikes in stock, depending on what you're after.

Tree-magnet, good call on Torico... Just spoken to the chap there and was really impressed with him.

Unfortunately, he has given me _another_ choice for my money (Genesis Core 20) and so I need to go and do some more searching for reviews. Damn this internet thing. And bikes... Rapidly hating them now. But the Genesis does look very nice indeed, and well specced for the money. Anyone seen/ridden/own one?

JDB. Can't bring myself to get a 29er. Sorry.

6'5" here too.

It'd be great if shops all held stock of bikes in my size (or in some cases even just made them) but since they're businesses, I can completely understand why they don't.

FWIW, I don't think I've ever test ridden a bike in my size but I can't say that I've had much problem with it - I know what fits so geometry charts work fine.

Why no 29er? Don't knock till you've tried it. I don't know anyone tall guys who have gone back to midget wheels after trying a 29er out, they just make so much more sense for big guys.

[url= http://zinncycles.com/Zinn/?p=1580 ]Resons for a 29er[/url]

No they don't, they just look more in proportion. Why are they better for tall guys? The contact points are the same and everyone's at odds to tell me that the wheelbase is similar to 26" bikes so why is your height a factor? (FWIW, I would actually like a bike with longer chainstays since being tall with standard sized chainstays means being too far back over the wheel).

I've tried several now and just don't get on with them. I like the idea of better rolling but not at the expense of enjoying the ride which is the issue I've had. I'll keep trying to find one with geometry that I like though..

From the article linked

For a tall rider, bigger wheels make sense; the bike is not only more normally proportioned, but the steering tube length on suspension forks is no longer such a limit on the maximum handlebar height, since the top of the fork is three inches higher due to the taller wheel.

So to summarise, the major benefits for tall riders are that they look more in proportion and it's easier to set the bars up high. Great 🙄

You could take a lot of great quotes from that linked article....

Timid, technically inept women, for lack of a better way to say it, particularly benefit from them. The women I ride with around here call them “big girl wheels.”

8)

I'm sticking with 26" wheels, and having to take a gamble on large bikes fitting without a test ride, for the foreseeable future.

Oh no... Just popped onto the Merlin website and seen that they have a Malt 2 with a 21" frame in stock, pretty much the same spec as the Genesis, reduced to the same price, but with 10% off at the checkout. Only problem is the 12 day build time, but now that I am resigned to actually waiting...

Ok, so if anyone has any experience of the Malt 2 or the Core 20, can they let me know?

The only place i ever found that carried decent stocks of big bikes were Evans in London as there was usually a few knocking around in one of the umpteen stores within a few miles radius.

I have a Spesh Rockhopper in size 23" (the 29er version though i'm afraid) and i think it was one of 2 in the country when i was looking. It's simply uneconomic for small shops to stock such big bikes i'm afraid. Having said that, it's amazing just how many very tall guys are on this site. There was a thread a while back that surprised me with the amount of 6'4"-6'9" chaps on here. I am a definite fan of 29ers now as well so i'd suggest you at least try one but i also still have a 21" Hardrock and a 22" Kona Hoss in 26" wheeled size.

Your best bet is to ask on here if somebody near you has a bike in your size for you to try as other tall folk will usually happily let you test them out (then you can safely order one). Failing that ring Evans and see what stores may have a 23" Spesh in stock and jump on the train to the big smoke and pick it up...

Evans are showing the rockhopper in stock in 23" in both red and black. You could have it by the weekend. If i recall they also will send it to a local store and you'll get to have a sit/test on it before you commit to buy?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/rockhopper-sl-2010-mountain-bike-ec020001

Edit - And if you join the LCC - London Cycling Campaign (around £30) you'll get a card that gives you 10% off at Evans so it'd be £630.

Agree with Mr Tall - Evans are good for both upper and lower limits as they have so many stores they can keep a few in the central; warehouse to send out as necessary.

I was trying to get hold of them today to order one, but their ordering system is down and I missed the cutoff for getting one shipped. Thanks for the tip on the LCC thing... Is it wrong to join this and yet live in Cambridge?

Nope, i kept my membership for a year when i moved back to B'ham. I used to spend loads in Evans as i worked within 400 yards of 2 of their shops in Waterloo. Spent most lunchtimes there wandering around....

I would just double check the price to join and that the discount still applies. It also takes a while for the membership to come through with the card. At least you'll also get 3rd party cover for your bike.

I got it worse. I wanted to spend some serious cash on a Carbon Anthem X, but not only do they not do full bikes on XS but they don't even do the frames by themselves. So I thought ok I will go Alu since I knew 2009 Anthem X came in XS but nop in the UK no XS built 2010 Anthems so I ended up buying an Alu frame.

Doesn't sound massively worse, 6'6" here. I fancied a carbon Meta but they don't come in XL, XL Scott Genius were too small for me, XL Orange 5/ST4s are a bit too small. Pretty much every steel 26" bike frame is out. No Cotic/On-One etc, entire brands are out of my height range, and I don't think my height is that bizarre frustratingly.

Out of my 3 current bikes, I test rode NONE of them. They're all massive gambles, over the last few years I've taken a few gambles that have backfired and had to sell the bikes on at a loss. Shops just won't order in big frames unless they know you'll definitely take it. Bought a 61cm Tricross last week actually, fortunately it seems fine 🙂

Just bought a 61cm Spec Roubaix.....Seemed strange that that had loads in stock with Spesh.

6'5" here and generally don't have a problem with frames - had a couple of 20" Konas, a couple of XL Chameleons and currently a 20" tinbred. All with silly long seatposts mind but smaller frames are more fun. The majority of people I ride with are 6'4" plus (I'm a tallist, or would it be shortist?) anyway, they all ride easy to come by frames.

I've never found good stuff in the sales being tall though, big frames are never in sales because they don't make many.

Pretty much every steel 26" bike frame is out. No Cotic/On-One etc, entire brands are out of my height range, and I don't think my height is that bizarre frustratingly

You must have some strange proportions/requirements as i'm bigger than you and happily ride a 26" wheeled 21" (or could even be 20") framed Inbred 🙂

willard, i know a 6ft4'' bloke who has a 2 month old 21'' rockhopper pro for sale.....it is huge too. 8)

6'5" - shorty!!

I'm one of the 6'9"ers that Mr Tall has referred to and (unaware of this post) have just posted on my woes with Evans promising a 23" Rumblefish for the last 3 months and failing completely to deliver it. When I asked them today (sorry, when I snarled at them today when they told me that the last 3 months of promises were hollower than a very hollow thing) about a 23" Spesh 29er or a 22" Kona Kahuna they said 'no chance'!!

TallBloke- Evans website say that they still have 23' spesh Rockhopper SL's in stock, and i saw one in the waterloo shop a couple of weeks ago, might be worth calling again.

johnnyc - cheers for the heads-up. However my ride out with MrTall has convinced me that a 29er is the way to go. I have a 23" Kona Cindercone which is great EXCEPT the wheels look all out of proportion to the frame - they look like they've been transplanted from a kids bike!

I'm off to the states in a few weeks time and am now thinking I might get a Spesh RH Comp SL 29 (if I can find a bag big enough to sneak it home in). I really did like the idea of a full susser though (sadly the Turner Sultan is a little out of budget)

I know I probably seem a shorty in this company at 6ft 3in, but although you've all managed to club together here guys the fact is that if you're 6ft 4in or taller you are very much in the minority/unusual. Even at my height I only know three people who're within 1" of being as tall as me, and that's out of scores of people (I'm not just limiting this to bikes). I feel your frustrations, and I rather selfishly designed the large Soul to be the smallest frame I could sensibly use, which does tend to preclude people taller than me. However, a few years ago I heard this tall bloke cry, responded with an XL Soul, and sold exactly 4 in 2 years. I sold off the other 5 at a knock down price in the only sale in Cotic's history. That's exactly why small guys can't cater for you. That number of frames is much less than 1% of total sales, and I imagine the numbers are the same for the big players, but given the volumes they'll actually be looking at selling a couple of hundred. Still, I know it's frustrating.

You must have some strange proportions/requirements as i'm bigger than you and happily ride a 26" wheeled 21" (or could even be 20") framed Inbred

Fair enough, it's 20" though, the only 21" they make are 29ers, with a shorter top tube than a 19" Rockhopper. I even directly asked Brant and was told (rather abruptly, I assume he got a lot of these mails) that none would fit.

I'm 6' 5". Not much to add to Cy's comments above - market for big bikes is very small, not least because a lot of tall people seem happy to ride bikes that i'd consider way too small for them. No shop will ever run an XL demo frame (it wont get any use and will be difficult to sell) so you're only chance is to find a shop owner or rider (by posting on here) who has the bike you're looking for. Amos at Keswick mtb always has one of their stock brands in an XL for himself that goes out as a demo.

FYI Nicolai, of course at a cost, do full custom geometry on all of our frames and have made some properly big and unusual frames over the years - a jump bike for a 6' 7" rider and recently a Helius AC for a 6' 9" rider.

I've not advertised it yet but my XL Helius CC Rohloff in black/white/grey camo is currently for sale.

Willard, jsut to echo what many of the folk are saying here, strongly consider a 29er. I ended up with one recently, and it is bloody superb.

I was looking to build a hardtail, and to get anything to fit I was so put off by the 'gate' aesthetics of big 26ers, so the reason for switching was a bit fey. However...

On Sunday went on a ride with my usual riding buddy (another 6'4" behemoth) who rides a stumpy FSR 26er, and a new guy on a 29er also like me. We totally converted my mate, it just seems to be a whole lot better on 29ers. I am clearing stuff that I had no chance of doing so before (esp rooty stuff), and the wholoe thing just feels right.

go 29! Naybe chat to charlie the bike monger? he gives good advice.

Kev

Too late guys... Found the Merlin website yesterday and fell in love with the Malt 2.

I know it's not a 29er. I know it's not flash, or modern, or hydroformed, BUT it is a stunning looking bike and the chaps that I pestered at Merlin were really good.

It's now just been ordered and I should have it soon, although if my wife asks, the shock upgrade was free, ok?

I am now officially excited about it turning up (could be a week, could be ten days) and have got the same feeling I used to have when I was a kid waiting to see what I had got at Christmas.

i'm 5ft 7.5". All shops, bike or other always have my size in stock and there ready to buy.

No reason to post this other than

na na na na na, na na na na na

There's always the custom option.

I second the views on a lack of 'shorter people' bikes. Plus all womens clothing, even that marked 'large' is actually nearer a size 6. Bike related suppliers hate any woman who does not look like an anorexic supermodel. And no, I am not seriously overweight before anyone suggests that 🙂

I know a lanky bloke with a Malt2 and he really likes it.

I'm not lanky (unlike some other tall people I know, I don't look like a rake with feet at one end), and with any luck my new Malt 2 will be here this weekend in time for a play.

I haven't been this excited about a purchase since the last time I bought a wakeskate.

I haven't been this excited about a purchase since the last time I bought a [b]wakeskate[/b].

A [i]what[/i]?

[img] [/img]

a wakeskate, earlier.

I know nothing about them but it doesn't look a comfortable way to travel.

That looks like it's gone a bit wrong...

i had the same probs being 6ft5. i looked everywhere and called everywhere all sayin they dont carry xl bikes in stock and wont order them either. giant even said the same for their own stores sayn i would have to pay a deposit which is shit. in the end i bit the bullet and bought a XL 21" merida full susser. its perfect. shame that i just had to bite the bullet rather than trying a few out but im happy

nick

Hope the bike works out for you big fella!!

My wife has the same problem but the other end. She's only 4'11", has a 12.5" GT Backwoods MTB (2000 model, I don't think they do that size any more) which is a bit long. Also has an XS sSpecialized Vita road bike which fits her perfectly (it has a 19" toptube!!!!!!!!!)

Specialized do seem to cater for the extreme ends of the height range so it's probably going to be another Spesh if I ever buy her a new MTB.

For big bikes Trek are normally one of the few people who do massive sizes but often they are only in cheaper models and if shops have to order them from Trek you may end up paying the full amount to get it in.
Hmmm off to look at the Nicolai website, shame we don't stock them though.

I'm 6ft 4 and ride fairly hefty and ride xl nicolais..... Si how much you want for your cc?

I have a brand new Giant Reign frame & shock for sale in size XL - live on eBay now - ends Tuesday 11/05/10

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Giant-Reign-Mountain-Bike-Frame-XL-NO-RESERVE-/200468733449?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item2eacde1e09#ht_500wt_1182

I'm 6'4" and took a big gamble a few years ago when I saw a brand new, fully built up Ellsworth Moment (in [u]medium[/u]) on eBay.

...four years later, I'm still riding it and still having great fun on tight twisty technical trails.

Recently, I had the chance to directly compare a large and an XL Knolly Delerium back-to-back and I found the XL waaaaay too big. So, I've come to the conclusion that small frames are better for my type of riding (at the risk of looking like I'm riding a kids bike) 😉