[ActivEric]

Hi All,

I am a total newbie to mountain biking and made a purchase of a 19" Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc a couple of months ago. Foolishly, I went into the bike shop during the last day (hour) of a sale and picked out my bike based on looks, Specialized reputation, and price without testing out any other bike in the shop. I just went with what the sales rep recommended.

My dilemma now is that I don't feel really comfortable with the standover height of the bike. I am male standing 5'9" with a 30"-31" inseam. With my feet flat on the floor, my "boys" are resting on the rear half of the top tube. If I happen to make my way forward on the top tube, it starts getting really uncomfortable. The cockpit seems to be okay though. I might even be able to scoot my seat back a bit for a little more room.

I talked to the store manager and he said it's possible to swap out the frame to the next smaller size, 17". He was roughly my height and said he owned a 17" frame for more technical riding. I rode around the parking lot on a 17" Hardrock and it had the comfortable standover clearance of an inch, but the cockpit felt pretty cramped. A longer stem and pushing the seat back would help, but I've read other forum threads saying the steering would be "heavy" and have a tendency to endo.

I'm a newbie, so I don't know if I'll be doing anything really "technical" anytime soon. Going to ride more mellow fire trails at first and see how that goes. So what should I do?

Option 1: Stick with the 19" and get used to the idea of my man junk feeling perilously close to the top tube, but have ample cockpit length.

Option 2: Swap frame size to the smaller 17", but have to adjust components to create cockpit length.

Option 3: Try to sell my lightly used bike and get a frame that actually gives me both standover clearance and cockpit length. Would lose a good chunk on resale and don't have more money to throw at a new bike.

If you have any ideas, i'd like to know what style/kind of riding you do yourself (i.e. aggressive, casual, technical, downhill, etc...).

Thanks!!!

 

[freshwire]

On a mtn bike/downhill bike...stand over is really not as important...at 5-9...you could ride the 17"..but yes, if the cock-pit feels cramped...and you feel like your head is too far out over the bars when you stan up...then you are already well on your way to endo-ing...if it was a dh bike, you could possibly deal with it...because the head angle wouldn't be as steep and the frame would be raked back...and slack...but with a steep HA in the 60 + degree range, you prolly are in danger of going OTB without even trying...I'm only 5-7 and a small kona stinky cockpit was way too small...and I went OTB on it constantly...switching to a med. made all the difference...

If you try to sell that bike...unless you got an insanely good deal on it...you will take a beating...bikes are worse than cars as far as resale value...when in doubt...most folks would tell you to go bigger than smaller...if you're worried about your "boys" as I suppose you should be since you are new at it...you can always buy a piece of foam pipe insulation and zip tie it to top tube...BTW...I'm a downhiller and I ride pretty steep technical stuff mostly...

 

[Sandwich]

Yo Eric,
I would definitely go with the 17" at 5'9". I'm 5'11" near 6', and I ride a 19" Schwinn frame hardtail, and an 18.5" ish Trek.

The 17 will give you greater flexibility with cockpit setup, where I really think you'll be stretched out on the 19. The effective top tube on the 17 is 22.8, where the 19 is 23.8. For reference, I prefer my bikes right around 23.5", which is what my Sunday is and I think my Schwinn is as well. I tried a bike with a 24.5" top tube once, and I felt way stretched out when things got steep. I think you would experience the same thing.

For the "endo" feeling, I really think you'll find that once you get out on the trails, you'll feel very centered over the bike, and the shorter, cramped feeling will go away once you get moving. If you still feel too cramped or are riding less technical trails and more fireroads/wide open trails, you can buy a longer stem. It looks like specialized specs a 75mm stem, which is pretty short. You could buy a 90mm and that would probably be spot on. FWIW, my Schwinn has a 120mm stem, but I felt more comfortable with a 90mm stem. My trek has similar specs and a 90mm stem. I have never felt like I would endo with either stem.