Hi all.
First time poster here. I've enjoyed reading the helpful posts that made choosing a new bike somewhat less difficult.
A little history, more than few years ago I used to ride between 250-350 miles a week in the San Francisco Bay area. Raced the Sea Otter and a few other local races more than a few times.
Got married, had kids, and started finding less and less time to ride. Well, last year the kids 9 & 12 now got into riding and I bought my oldest boy a DB with disc brakes. Of course I tried on a few myself and liked the 29ers and the better brakes, not to mention suspension.
The weather here in CO has turned nice and the boys want to ride again so I decided it was time to replace my old 26er which I dearly love. It was outfitted with all XT components but the Rock Shox fork finally gave out and I had to put the rigid fork back on.
So, given that my boys are growing like weeds and need a new bike every two years, my budget was limited to around $1000.
I narrowed my choices down to a 2013 Trek X-caliber and a Scott scale 970. The Trek had a much nicer fork but I did not care for the Avid Elixer brakes and neither did the shop mechanics. I was doing one last test ride on both to determine which I thought felt best and the salesguy told me the Scott had gone on sale and was now $599 vs $1250 for the Trek. Well, you know which one I picked, the Scott.
Thanks for bearing with me, here comes my question:
I'm 5'11" with a 33" inseam. I have a long torso and long arms for my height. I tried on the 19" trek and the Large Scott, both fit about the same. Both have about a 24.5" top tube length which is virtually identical to my 26er. The standover on both is just a little over 31" vs 29" on my 26er. I like the large size better as it feels better with regards to seating position and upper body position. The next smaller size gave more stand over height but had an effective top tube length that was an inch shorter. This felt too cramped, and gave a more upright seating position than I like, so I went with the large.
So, I started having buyer's remorse in a way, wondering if I selected a bike with too little stand over clearance? I wonder if 1.5" is too little. Hard to tell with just a parking lot ride.
I'm wondering if I should have gotten the next smaller size and installed a stem that was 100 to 110mm vs the 80mm stem that comes on the medium frame? The large has a 90mm stem for reference.
I welcome your thoughts and input. The shop has a 30 day return policy thankfully, so I can swap for a medium if need be.
My old 26er had a 150mm stem.
First time poster here. I've enjoyed reading the helpful posts that made choosing a new bike somewhat less difficult.
A little history, more than few years ago I used to ride between 250-350 miles a week in the San Francisco Bay area. Raced the Sea Otter and a few other local races more than a few times.
Got married, had kids, and started finding less and less time to ride. Well, last year the kids 9 & 12 now got into riding and I bought my oldest boy a DB with disc brakes. Of course I tried on a few myself and liked the 29ers and the better brakes, not to mention suspension.
The weather here in CO has turned nice and the boys want to ride again so I decided it was time to replace my old 26er which I dearly love. It was outfitted with all XT components but the Rock Shox fork finally gave out and I had to put the rigid fork back on.
So, given that my boys are growing like weeds and need a new bike every two years, my budget was limited to around $1000.
I narrowed my choices down to a 2013 Trek X-caliber and a Scott scale 970. The Trek had a much nicer fork but I did not care for the Avid Elixer brakes and neither did the shop mechanics. I was doing one last test ride on both to determine which I thought felt best and the salesguy told me the Scott had gone on sale and was now $599 vs $1250 for the Trek. Well, you know which one I picked, the Scott.
Thanks for bearing with me, here comes my question:
I'm 5'11" with a 33" inseam. I have a long torso and long arms for my height. I tried on the 19" trek and the Large Scott, both fit about the same. Both have about a 24.5" top tube length which is virtually identical to my 26er. The standover on both is just a little over 31" vs 29" on my 26er. I like the large size better as it feels better with regards to seating position and upper body position. The next smaller size gave more stand over height but had an effective top tube length that was an inch shorter. This felt too cramped, and gave a more upright seating position than I like, so I went with the large.
So, I started having buyer's remorse in a way, wondering if I selected a bike with too little stand over clearance? I wonder if 1.5" is too little. Hard to tell with just a parking lot ride.
I'm wondering if I should have gotten the next smaller size and installed a stem that was 100 to 110mm vs the 80mm stem that comes on the medium frame? The large has a 90mm stem for reference.
I welcome your thoughts and input. The shop has a 30 day return policy thankfully, so I can swap for a medium if need be.
My old 26er had a 150mm stem.
