[Fuse6F]

Stack height is everything for a tall rider. There are legit only a handful of off the shelf carbon FS MTB's on the market that are truly going to fit someone 6'6"+. Most bikes top out in the 610-640mm stack range. Even with a 46mm riser bar, this just wasn't enough for me. I had a Trek Superfly, Stumpjumper, Evil Following, Ibis Ripmo, and none of them quite fit. I got a 2XL Tallboy and couldn't be happier.

Tallboy, Hightower, Megatower all come in 2XL. Just get a 2XL of the one that has the travel you need.

Still too low. My 685 stack has uncut steerer 40mm spacers and 38mm risers. So 725 seems about right for 6'6" and up

 

[Alias530]

Still too low. My 685 stack has uncut steerer 40mm spacers and 38mm risers. So 725 seems about right for 6'6" and up

I run 46mm riser bars with an uncut steerer with 30mm spacers below the stem. I think you'll be fine, it's going to feel different. The concern is when it's WRONG, i.e. too low and you're going over the handlebars because it's too easy to shift your center of gravity. I have longer inseam and same arm length as you.

 

[jeremy3220]

It really depends on the individual rider. I think for most riders in the 6'5"-6'7" they can get into a neutral position with 35mm bars on the Santa Cruz XXL bikes. Cathro is 6'7" and runs a 20mm rise bar on his Tallboy (stack 654mm). However, body proportions, age, riding style and flexibility come into play.

 

[Fuse6F]

Where are all the slammed stem flat bar riders complaining the stack is too high!!!

might manufacturers actually be missing the stack for our size!

lets see them step up and build a frame at 700 stack so we dont need 46mm risers!


if they were correctly sizing, shouldnt we also see just as many medium riders also running 46mm risers?

 

[Tall BMX'r]

It really depends on the individual rider. I think for most riders in the 6'5"-6'7" they can get into a neutral position with 35mm bars on the Santa Cruz XXL bikes. Cathro is 6'7" and runs a 20mm rise bar on his Tallboy (stack 654mm). However, body proportions, age, riding style and flexibility come into play.

Ben has also complained about the short chainstay on his SC bikes. I would bet his custom V10 has a really long CS.
BTW, my modified SC HT now has a stack of 670mm. Longer forks and the installed Slack-R bumped it up. The downside is the seat tube angle became .3 deg. less. Not much. Had to move my saddle forward a little, and put a slightly longer stem to balance it out... Kind of. I pretty happy the way it is now. It's not going to get any better.

 

[jeremy3220]

Where are all the slammed stem flat bar riders complaining the stack is too high!!!

10 out 10 strawman.

"if they were correctly sizing, shouldnt we also see just as many medium riders also running 46mm risers?"

I'm not opposed to larger frames existing but I think ~660mm stack not being high enough for 6'4"-6'7" is mostly isolated to older guys wanting extra comfort. Which is fine. I don't care if someone starts making 700+mm stack bikes but I think you're the exception not the norm outside of this forum.

 

[brawlo]

It really depends on the individual rider........However, body proportions, age, riding style and flexibility come into play.

This 100%. It really does depend. It depend on all of your physical attributes and then it also comes down to what kind of trails you ride and what bike characteristics you like.

You can make bikes, even much smaller bikes work for you and accept the compromises or just get onto a bike that genuinely fits well. For talls, that is a really hard factor, particularly when you look at stack heights. Now for me at "only" 6'5", my saddle is up at around 890mm from BB to top of saddle. That puts me at over 200mm above the stack level of even the larger stacked bikes. At those lofty heights, getting the bars up to saddle level where I find handling works best for me means lots of spacers, bar and stem, so stack is a BIG factor for me. The other compromise is that I also go rearward a lot which means I find CS length to be an important consideration as well.

Now years ago I sat on a track bike specifically made for a guy that was 6'7" while we were working out a custom track frame for myself. The fitter just happened to have it in the shop to build so we used it as the base for my own frame rather than the retul. Coming from that, me at 2" shorter in stature needed 2" more reach and 3" higher saddle. It was a true eye opener as to how differently you can fit on a bike regardless of your height. Physical proportions are everything in a bike fit, height is just a nominal number that doesn't really help that much

 

[Fuse6F]

10 out 10 strawman.

"if they were correctly sizing, shouldnt we also see just as many medium riders also running 46mm risers?"

I'm not opposed to larger frames existing but I think ~660mm stack not being high enough for 6'4"-6'7" is mostly isolated to older guys wanting extra comfort. Which is fine. I don't care if someone starts making 700+mm stack bikes but I think you're the exception not the norm outside of this forum.

Within this tall clyde forum i feel it is the norm to see guys complain about poor stack and short cs.

that was my point.

but if it was a normal biometric thing we would see this issue in smaller sizes.
if it was an age thing we would also see it for older riders in smaller sizes!

my bars are within an inch below seat height

 

[jeremy3220]

Within this tall clyde forum i feel it is the norm to see guys complain about poor stack and short cs.

that was my point.

but if it was a normal biometric thing we would see this issue in smaller sizes.
if it was an age thing we would also see it for older riders in smaller sizes!

my bars are within an inch below seat height

Riders aren't going to start threads the Clyde forum to talk about how they have no problems with fit. Also, the forum demographic is older. I've seen plenty of 6'4"+ riders on Reddit and PB saying they size down to a large. The typical 22 year old is just going to go buy whatever the suggested size is in the model they want and be fine with it.

 

[jeremy3220]

Also, most riders run some saddle to bar drop. I run about 1.5". That's where I like them while standing because that gives neutral weight on the bars (I don't set bar height for my seated position). This is also probably why I'm good with the Tallboy's 440mm chainstay. If my bars were 1.5"/38mm taller I'd definitely need a much longer rear center to keep the front weighted.

So I understand why the same MTBR group that runs max spacers and 40-80mm rise bars wants 470mm+ chainstays but I don't think that's typical for taller riders. That bike would be so cumbersome. I've already contemplated sizing down, not because the bike would fit better but because I already feel that my bike is too long for the way the trails are built. The problem is if I go down to a shorter reach the stack also drops too much. So I'm not really opposed to XL and XXL bikes having a higher stack but the front center will grow longer for a given reach. Maybe that's what needs to happen next.. instead of the reach growing the stack increases... I'll be sizing down though. The bike industry might not like that though because they seem to leave stacks and seat tubes a bit low to allow riders to size up.

TLDR: I think around 660mm stack is high enough for most 6'4"-6'7" riders but probably not too high for any of them. A higher stack might be a good thing and allow some 6'4" and 6'5" riders to size down.

 

[Fuse6F]

My bike is too short in reach, I have a 70mm flat stem. So my hands are out far enough to brace while braking. yes i understand running my bars higher will move my hands back. Thats factored in. I want my most comfortable position to be my standing attack position, then i adjust seat etc for seated pedalling.

i recently rode a borrowed hardtail for a week. 2022 rockhopper xxl. i put a 90 riser stem on it to bring the bars up. The standing position had much lower bars than i was used to. But more reach. I survived, but i preferred my taller setup for the neutrallity it profiveds on descents. your just always in a better position to react. The ht had my butt high (standing) a bit more than i like.

For you, better overall handling by the shorter reach is what your alluding to. It gives better bike balance as you have the reach but a much to short rear center. Now certain trail types are going to hate a long bike. I get that. Even my shorter bike is cumbersome in tight punchy situations. I like wide open faster trails As it suits the bike. I also like longer cardio rides.

Sadly my bike is compromised at both ends for me. fc and rc too short. so much so that I choose a 51mm offset fork just for the longer wheelbase.



i understand rc as this.... if i rode a zero length rc. How would the bike feel. No weight on the front tire, forcing me to put my weight into my hands on the bars to be able to turn. Therefore, there must be some certain length of rc that matches up with a fc which works ideally. Fixing the rc across a size range guarantees differing amounts of compromise between riders.

Comfortable on a bike can mean diff things, comfortable with the way the bike reacts on the trail, comfortable as not causing hand pain, ability to ride it for long periods, etc.

 

[Fuse6F]

Why Does a rider size up on a bike??

i feel its because they like to ride steep chutes and feel more comfortable with more bike in front of them and with the taller stack!!!

i doubt they size up and run a negative stem. Bwdik

 

[jeremy3220]

Bringing up random bikes without mentioning geo numbers is just muddying the discussion. The XXL Rock hopper has reach (485mm) closer to a modern large. I'm not sure how that's relevant.

 

[Fuse6F]

deleted

 

[Fuse6F]

Just for fun. See the red and green numbers.

My rad measurement is about 970mm
my bike is first column
30mm extra reach would bring my bike much closer to perfect.
second column

stock s6 is third column
s6 w 70mm stem and 100mm stack to centre of stem and switch to 38mm riser bars is fourth column


2018 stumpjumper xxl Modified Vs 2022 stumpjumper s6 stock

 

[Fuse6F]

So to the op. Get a huge stem riser and huge riser bars and you will probably fit the s6 fine.

but then whom did they design that s6 for? Since it clearly is under stacked for our size!

 

[jeremy3220]

but then whom did they design that s6 for?

Someone around 6'5", I could ride that bike fine with a 0° stem and normal riser bars.

 

[Tall BMX'r]

And here is Ben Castro's new V10 with a 470mm chain stay / rear center. I want some of those little custom dropouts! Please....

 

[jeremy3220]

Interesting to see Cathro size down (XXL -> XL) on the new Megatower V2.

I mentioned earlier in this thread I've been considering sizing down. The XXL is comfortable but definitely a performance disadvantage on tighter trails. The new XL Megatower looks like the sweet spot for me but hoping for a Hightower with the same sizing.

 

[Fuse6F]

Good discussion

observations
the only riders that like short chainstays are the ones who dont run 520mm reach
some like a size down/shorter front center in order to feel more front end grip. (Went too far w the reach thing/not far enough w the chainstays)

dropping sizes seems okay but stack is a limitation or at least a bigger consideration
more stack wouldnt kill us as it would make it easier to size down!

cathro is a pretty cool guy!
the v10 was rocking super tall risers, reach extension and chain stay extension. Changed about as much as he could on the bike. Seems to me, the bike out of the box isnt well suited for a tall rider.
( Long stem on a slack bike adds to stack.)

Cheers all