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small frame riders

Sonic Reducer

Monkey
Mar 19, 2006
500
0
seattle worshington
I am in the market for a new DH bike and was considering going down to a small from a medium. I'm about 5'8 and ride my 20" more than all my other bikes combined it seems like. my 20" is 20.5" TT and my DJ 26" is 21" and I like those. my last DH bike was a medium and in the neighborhood of 22" TT IIRC. i've been reasonably comfortable on a medium but seems to me a small might be funner to ride, easier to throw around etc. As far as a small I'm mainly worried about a shorter wheelbase getting squirrly at speed and on big hits.

I know someone is going to ask, "why don't you just go test ride some small bikes jackass?" well, easier said than done when there are none for sale near me and I do not know anyone who runs a small.
It would be awesome to get some input from those who have gone from medium to small. what frame, what you like about the change, what you don't like, would you do it again, how tall are you, etc. TIA
 
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Loozinskin

Monkey
Jul 9, 2005
172
0
Bellingham,WA
Its a matter of preference I think. I allways err on the small side as long as the frame has a decent wheel base. ( Im 5''6")

Incidentally are you interested in a small Sunday USA Factory frame?
 

tomyboy

Chimp
May 9, 2003
51
0
Irvine
I always thought the turner DHRs were great for short people.
the seat tube is 15 in and stand over height low. try to find one if u can
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,908
634
i don't think 5'8" is so short he is in any way limited by frames. The issue he is wondering about is how it feels on the high speed and big hit stuff.
 

iridebikes

Monkey
Jan 31, 2004
960
0
seattle
You're in a tough place because you could go either way. The pro's of going with a smaller frame is that you can throw it around a bit easier and it could be more playful like you BMX and hardtail. The con's would be a shorter wheelbase that can get sketch at high speeds. If you go with a medium you'd have the overall stability of a longer wheelbase which will help out in the fast stuff as well as when it gets rough. But it could be a bit too much to handle in some of the really tight stuff depending on what kind of bike you get.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
This depends a lot on the frame. I'm 6'1" and I generally don't feel comfortable on smaller bikes. That said, I have ridden a small Sunday and it actually felt pretty good. Same with a 223.
I thought the old medium Turners felt too small.
 

Sonic Reducer

Monkey
Mar 19, 2006
500
0
seattle worshington
buildyourown, as an amateur fabricator i enjoyed your framebuilding blog very much. love that chainstay yoke and all the commentary on brazing technique. do you plan to have the frame heat treated, and did you anneal the tube prior to brazing? there is lots of conflicting info out there regarding that stuff. I'd be interested to hear what the frame ends up weighing and how it rides. i've been wanting to get an o/a setup to screw around with. :biggrin:
 

MTBracer

Monkey
Nov 19, 2007
192
0
Massachusetts
buildyourown, as an amateur fabricator i enjoyed your framebuilding blog very much. love that chainstay yoke and all the commentary on brazing technique. do you plan to have the frame heat treated, and did you anneal the tube prior to brazing? there is lots of conflicting info out there regarding that stuff. I'd be interested to hear what the frame ends up weighing and how it rides. i've been wanting to get an o/a setup to screw around with. :biggrin:
This has something to do with whether or not small frames are good....how? :huh: