[Mcsquared33]

Hello all,
I'm needing some help with sizing. I'm on the shorter side at 5' 5.5" with 29" inseam and considering a phantom. My main concern is that the medium might be too big?
Would like to here experiences of any shorter riders on the phantom (or prime).

A little background. I've only been riding for the last year and don't have much experience with a lot of other bikes to know what I love and don't love about various geometry charts. I'm also not in an area that has a lot of bunch of FS bikes to demo. I'm riding a Cannondale Cujo 1 (sm) 27.5+ with a reach of 383. I feel comfortable on the Cujo but don't think I'd have an issue with an additional inch of reach. Although I know that reach isn't everything.

Mostly riding flat to flowy singletrack trails with some roots, shorter climbs and descents and nothing crazy technical. No interest in racing. Just try to maximize fun every time we (12 y/o and I) go out and ride.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Vegard]

Reach on the current medium Phantom is 426mm, you'd have to get very lucky on the cockpit to make that work for you I believe. What you could do is try and look for one that's a couple of years old to get shorter reach.

For reference I'm 5'7 and on a medium Prime from 2015, got the frame nib recently for the specific reason of having shorter reach [411mm], and that it was cheap .
It feels better on the type of trails I enjoy.

 

[builttoride]

Honestly I'd recommend a small Spitfire for you. It will be more fun for you to ride and be a better fit all round. At 5'5.5" those big 29" wheels can be difficult to ride with. You'll have more confidence on the spitfire as a result, and find it easier to handle.

 

[LyNx]

You didn't list the cockpit setup on your current SM, what length stem and width bar, but going to assume that it's a mediumish length stem, probably 60-70mm, so you could drop to a 35-40mm stem or maybe even a 50mm if you like to be stretched out and feel fine.
I am a believer in wheel size to suit body size, that being said, I think a Phantom would be a good bike for you - efficient suspension, climbs real well, good geo and descends as good, would serve you for a good few years, maybe more. Standover shouldn't be an issue, I've let people a bit taller than you on my Large Phantom and XL Prime and they had room, so should be plenty on the M.

I kind of shy away from the Spitty because of it's quite a bit more travel, not sure it would be as nice to pedal around for general light trail riding/XC like the Phantom, but then the Phantom can rip the downs. Keith and I are on the opposite side of the fence in terms of riding style, so he prefers the smaller wheels for a more poppy, playful ride, but I guess being 6'2" and not liking hitting anything over 3ft, love chunky, slow tech, I don't have much issue with the Phantom's playfulness, my first ride out on it I couldn't believe the difference between it and the Prime.

 

[S​​usspect]

Another reference point, I'm 5' 8" on a newer model phantom. I actually went from a 50mm to a 70mm stem to open up the cockpit a bit, and been riding like that ever since.

With your inseam, you might find you're limited to a 125mm dropper. I can't remember my bike inseam offhand (32"?) but my pants inseam is 30" and I use a 125mm dropper, may be able to fit 150 from some brands but I tried a Fox Transfer at first and it was a bit too long for where I wanted my saddle.

But one area the phantom would fit you perfectly would be your goal to "just try to maximize fun every time we (12 y/o and I) go out and ride".

The builder recommends you try the spitfire... you'd probably love it. It's a different bike though, with a lot more rear travel. If you can't test ride the banshee, maybe you can find a bike with the same 426mm reach and see how it feels?

 

[Mcsquared33]

Thank you for all of the input so far. I definitely understand where Keith is coming from suggesting a smaller spitfire. At my height, 27.5 versus 29 is something I debate. Currently I'm riding a 27.5+ and don't think there will be a huge difference to 29er. Also, there isn't a lot of overly tight switchbacks. I do fine on the plus bike so hoping the 29 wouldn't be too different.

Lynx - I believe it is roughly a 60 mm stem, I will have to check whenever I get back home. The bars are 760 mm and also running a 120 mm drop post.

For whatever reason I seem to be drawn more towards the short travel 29er. Around here, Oklahoma, 29ers seem to be the go to and there's mostly xc type of riding. Therefore, I doubt I'd "need" more than 130/120 f/r travel.

Jenson does have a nice deal on a spitfire in small so it's intriguing but yes, a different type of bike.

Outerbike is coming to Bentonville in October so the smartest thing might be to hold out and make the 4 hour trip and ride everything I can get my hands on. It looks like MRP might spec some of their forks on various banshee models.

 

[LyNx]

Yes, MRPs demo fleet includes several Banshee's, probably a good idea to check with them and see if by chance they have a Medium Phantom in the lineup. If you're happy on B+, then I think you'll really dig a regular 29er like the Phantom with some nice 22.3-2.4" rubber, should feel quite a bit snappier handling actually. Another "plus" of the Phantom is you can also easily swap your B+ wheels into it and give that a try and basically get 2 quite different feeling bikes, more so depending on what whels and tyres each wheelset is made up of.

Thank you for all of the input so far. I definitely understand where Keith is coming from suggesting a smaller spitfire. At my height, 27.5 versus 29 is something I debate. Currently I'm riding a 27.5+ and don't think there will be a huge difference to 29er. Also, there isn't a lot of overly tight switchbacks. I do fine on the plus bike so hoping the 29 wouldn't be too different.

Lynx - I believe it is roughly a 60 mm stem, I will have to check whenever I get back home. The bars are 760 mm and also running a 120 mm drop post.

For whatever reason I seem to be drawn more towards the short travel 29er. Around here, Oklahoma, 29ers seem to be the go to and there's mostly xc type of riding. Therefore, I doubt I'd "need" more than 130/120 f/r travel.

Jenson does have a nice deal on a spitfire in small so it's intriguing but yes, a different type of bike.

Outerbike is coming to Bentonville in October so the smartest thing might be to hold out and make the 4 hour trip and ride everything I can get my hands on. It looks like MRP might spec some of their forks on various banshee models.

 

[S​​usspect]

Outerbike is coming to Bentonville in October so the smartest thing might be to hold out and make the 4 hour trip and ride everything I can get my hands on.

I live right around Bentonville, if you make it up here before October hit me up and we can work out a ride/let you try out my phantom.

 

[Mcsquared33]

I live right around Bentonville, if you make it up here before October hit me up and we can work out a ride/let you try out my phantom.

Awesome, I appreciate that. We are going to stay in Bentonville a day or two in early August and plan to do some riding on our way to Big Cedar.

 

[builttoride]

And this is why the mtb community rocks! Love it!

 

[S​​usspect]

Awesome, I appreciate that. We are going to stay in Bentonville a day or two in early August and plan to do some riding on our way to Big Cedar.

Sent you a pm.

 

[Mcsquared33]

Sent you a pm.

Doesn't appear that I received it

 

[S​​usspect]

Doesn't appear that I received it

Resending from an actual computer.. this should work better.

 

[barefootdan]

I could use some help on this too. I'm 6'1" with a 34" inseam. Stuck between L and XL always. For reference, my 2018 Kona Process 153 29er was L and felt great. My Guerrilla Gravity The Smash is L and feels a bit stretch out. Both of these are known to be long and big bikes though. I test rode an XL and L Giant Trance 29 today and I think I liked the L better. It's mainly a reach thing, I don't like to be super stretched out. But the problem comes when I had a L yeti SB4.5. It felt a little cramped and perhaps an XL here would've been better.

 

[rushy41]

you will get different answers - ! am 185 cm with a 85 cm inseam and I am riding a 1st gen Phantom in L and a 50 mm stem....reach could be slightly longer but I like it that way. Not a fan of a mega long reach though.....

 

[barefootdan]

you will get different answers - ! am 185 cm with a 85 cm inseam and I am riding a 1st gen Phantom in L and a 50 mm stem....reach could be slightly longer but I like it that way. Not a fan of a mega long reach though.....

Thank you! I am leaning towards a L. The XL is just so much bigger. And agreed, I'm not a fan of monster reaches. It's ones reason I am not sad about moving on from my Smash

 

[Vball_MTNBKR]

Hi all, I'm going to jump on the Phantom sizing help bandwagon. I am looking at getting a 2017 phantom V2 frame online for a good price. I'm 6'-4" with a 36.5" inseam. If it helps, my torso is 25.5" and my arm length (armpit to center of palm) is 26" (+1/2" ape index)

In another forum when asking for advice on upgrading my frame, it was recommended to go with a newer frame with a longer reach at my height. So i was wondering if anyone here has ridden a phantom V2 that is approximately my height and if they felt they could use extra reach.

I'm coming from a large 2006 GF sugar 293, so anything with newer geometry and an XL size will be a big improvement for me. But just wanted to suffice myself on the reach before pulling the trigger.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[tobiwan]

@builttoride: Are the Reach and stack numbers of the geo chart in low or high Settings?

 

[builttoride]

@builttoride: Are the Reach and stack numbers of the geo chart in low or high Settings?

Reach and stack are always in low. If switching the high the reach increases about 3mm and stack reduced by about 1mm.

 

[LyNx]

Bit shorter than you, only 6'2.25", 35.5" cycling inseam and I had a PP V1 Phantom with 450mm Reach and ended up running a 60mm stem/780mm bar, will be going for a V2 shortly and trying the XL, where I expect I'll need to run a 35-40mm stem to get the same cockpit fit, so you should be more than fine on the 488 Reach of the XL with a 40-60mm stem depending on your flexibility and riding style. FYI, I also ride a PP XL Prime from 2012 with a 478mm reach using 40mm stem/780 bar and love the fit. Also, I do not like the steep STA thing, so run a setback post on both my Banshee's to help slacken that out, so guessing if I didn't do that I'd maybe want a 10mm longer stem to get the same cockpit feel.

Hi all, I'm going to jump on the Phantom sizing help bandwagon. I am looking at getting a 2017 phantom V2 frame online for a good price. I'm 6'-4" with a 36.5" inseam. If it helps, my torso is 25.5" and my arm length (armpit to center of palm) is 26" (+1/2" ape index)

In another forum when asking for advice on upgrading my frame, it was recommended to go with a newer frame with a longer reach at my height. So i was wondering if anyone here has ridden a phantom V2 that is approximately my height and if they felt they could use extra reach.

I'm coming from a large 2006 GF sugar 293, so anything with newer geometry and an XL size will be a big improvement for me. But just wanted to suffice myself on the reach before pulling the trigger.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!