I don't personally understand the focus on standover. Maybe it's because I mostly ride XC? I'm either sitting and pedaling or standing on the pedals, but never just standing over the bike with my feet on the ground. So cockpit fit is #1 for what I do. Is better standover a bonus in other disciplines of MTB? I don't know... maneuverability improvement or jumping? Serious question.

 

One advantage I find to more stand-over is when you stall on a steep climb, it's much easier to get your feet on the ground, without the bike taking you for a ride.

 

Depends on your skills. I'm a noob and when I go over rocks, I sometimes get stuck and don't have a choice if my foot is lower than the wheel. a lower standover makes me much more confident surviving such incidents. In fact, that was one of the multiple reasons to upgrade my fat-frame from old geo to new geo.

Of course, a skilled rider can get stuck and lean the bike, or don't get stuck to begin with. But this is me.

Longer or shorter reach depends on what number we are talking about. Some bikes are on the longer end, some on the shorter. and your body can get used to more things. But your body doesn't' get used to a too high standover (unless it can grow longer legs).

Pick a bike where both are correct. IMHO.

Edit: also think about if you want to install larger tires on the bike in question, that raises standover even more. Or if you plan to add a longer fork etc.

 

Edit: also think about if you want to install larger tires on the bike in question, that raises standover even more. Or if you plan to add a longer fork etc.

That does give me more to consider.

 

I personally don't focus or care about standover height. Reach is much more important to me. As you sated, you can stand flat footed but it's tight. In my opinion that should be sufficient. I just don't see the advantage of being able to stand flat footed since pretty much everywhere I ride is going to have a root to either raise one or both tires or a dip in the ground that my foot will fall into and prevent me from standing flat footed. I know some people feel a sense of security that being able to stand flat footed over a bike with clearance is somehow going to further protect them in some way or save them in a crash but it it isn't going to offer much help during a crash at any decent speed. I've seen some people attempt to run out some crashes (still crashed) and I think they would have been better off to just go down without all the crazy effort.

 

Just a thought, but I wonder if a dropper post might give you the best of both worlds? Like HerrKaLeu said, I also find that a lower stand over helps in confidence, but my dropper post also gets my seat out of the way which really helps for being able to handle the bike in more technical terrain and/or downhills. I was originally skeptical about if I would use a dropper post enough to justify the added weight, but now that I have been riding them for several years I don't think I could ride without one. Again, just a thought.

 

Oh I'll still be using a dropper.

 

Because I don’t stand over my bike, ever, and realize that’s not part of cycling.

It hasn’t been a consideration since I was a beginner and thought that I needed the clearance.


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Hell, my bike has massive standover clearance because of its design, and because of the things I attempt, I often have to bail in spots where setting a foot down on the ground puts me into negative standover clearance, since the bike is up on something elevated, usually rocks. Putting a foot down in the wrong spot can result in a broken ankle because it's not smooth and probably not stable, so it's not a non-issue.

But that's the thing....you can always find situations where the standover of a particular frame is insufficient for just putting a foot on the ground.

What does this mean? It means you need to upgrade your skills. Learn how to handle the bike to minimize the problems of low standover. Learning to lean the bike (or totally ditch it) if you have to bail isn't that hard in the big picture of mountain bike skills.

Primary fit consideration should ALWAYS be cockpit length. IF you ride in such a way that benefits from extra standover clearance, such as lots of jumping, technical maneuvers, and needing to bail out in high-consequence situations, then find something that fits the length while giving you as much standover as possible. Doing this might mean throwing your budget out the window. If you have tail-of-the-normal-curve body dimensions, it might mean a boutique brand or even a custom built frame to get both a length that fits and a standover clearance that works for how you ride.

 

Primary fit consideration should ALWAYS be cockpit length. IF you ride in such a way that benefits from extra standover clearance, such as lots of jumping, technical maneuvers, and needing to bail out in high-consequence situations, then find something that fits the length while giving you as much standover as possible. Doing this might mean throwing your budget out the window. If you have tail-of-the-normal-curve body dimensions, it might mean a boutique brand or even a custom built frame to get both a length that fits and a standover clearance that works for how you ride.

I'd like to think that I'll need the clearance one day to tuck my bike under me while jumping. But if I'm being honest with myself, I'm going on 44 and not going to be learning big jumps at this point in my life. I missed that boat a long time ago. lol

If anything, I just want to bunnyhop and jump off small kickers and roots, nothing more than that. Injuries are too expensive at my age.

 

Cockpit fit should always be paramount. Get the reach and ETT you need to be comfortable.

That said- I wouldn’t size up to get reach if it means the dropper has to be less than like 150mm because the top tube is so high.

What good is all that ‘aggressive geo’ if you can’t get low enough to make use of it because your dropper is 125mm?


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I am going through this right now. I just bought a large in the exact same bike that I have a medium and I'm trying to decide which to keep. Over the past 35 years I have erred on the side of smaller standover on most of my mountain bikes, but so far in the first 5 or 6 rides on this bigger bike the higher standover has not been an issue, even though it is exaggerated by a fork that is 20mm longer than the smaller bike has.

 

Reach over standover every day of the week & twice on Sundays [emoji108]

Trails I ride (suggest most of us ride) are rarely flat i.e. there's usually some camber or slope involved.

Getting the uphill leg down (generally speaking), is hardly ever an issue.

What if I'm stopping on the flat!?

If you fall over on the flat, that's gold [emoji383]

You'll just look/feel silly and there shouldn't be any real damage.

PS - if I'm riding single track, I'll often just use a hand on a tree/ledge etc to balance whilst I wait for others to catch up or whatever.

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You have a long torso. If you choose a bike for that you'll be on a Large. Look at frames where the top tube makes a straight line with the seat tubes down to the rear axle. Then you'll get low standover.
Way easier to find in a hardtail.
For fs a frame the Evil Following has a top tube that looks similar. Makes a line to the rear axle. 675mm standover 480mm reach for the Large. The Fezzarii in L is 767mm and 463mm.
https://www.evil-bikes.com/a/bikes/following
Probably you think it's out of your budget. But it's an example for comparison. When you have out of norm measurements your choices are reduced.
Transition Spur is another. 670 and 480.
https://www.transitionbikes.com/Bikes_Spur.cfm

 

+1 for reach

I’m also long torso and short legs for my height. I ended up selling my last bike that was the smaller size and buying the next size up and would never go back to shorter reach. Had the bike 3 years now and can count the number of times standover was an issue on one hand.

 

Proper fit is paramount. There are enough bikes out there for you to get the reach you need without sacrificing stand over. Seems like Fezzari geo not be the ideal you. Transition Spur is good example. Ibis also has bikes with good stand over.

Expand your search to find a bike you like that fits you well. You will be enjoy riding more and will feel safer.t

 

Standover is pointless, really. The only time it matters is if you just want to stand there with the bike upright and look like you ride, or something. Otherwise, let the bike start to lean just a little to one side, put your foot down on that side, and you instantly have your half-inch of standover back. I don't want to sound like I don't care about what you think, it's just that 34 years ago, the ONLY mtb frame I could find was so big I couldn't stand over it if I tried, and I learned how to ride on it. I took a couple hits, but I've taken worse since I did a little growing and fit/ride frames even larger than the one I started on - the sort of hits you can only take when you break the chain on a single speed riding up hill through a rock garden. Just forget about standover, and get a bike that fits well while you're riding it, and the standover will matter even less than before.

 

Marin Rift Zone 29 3 is some what comparable in price and use case and has a 28.5” stand over in XL. Cascade Peak has 30” in a large frame.

 

Marin Rift Zone 29 3 is some what comparable in price and use case and has a 28.5" stand over in XL. Cascade Peak has 30" in a large frame.

That's a sweet bike. I convinced myself last night that I was gonna settle with my Fezzari, but that bike does give lots of clearance.

On the other hand, I'm really intrigued about the DVO fork that comes on the Fezzari. And, it's already in my house. This is hard! lol

 

Pick reach/stack/ETT/STA first, then if the standover doesn't work for you, find another bike. That's why I ended up with a GG Trail Pistol. I'm almost the same dimensions as you, 5'10.5" and 29-30" inseam. My bike has a 490mm reach and a 430mm seat tube.

 

YT Izzo has L reach of 472. they don't list standover. But the frame design is straight to the rear axle. $3k for a complete.
https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/2388

 

That is nice!

 

If I could stand flat footed then I will pick the size based on top tube length and reach. I have a long torso also and usually size up to get the right fit. Fortunately with new school geometry and dropper posts, it is easier to get a fit nowadays.

 

Sometimes the nuts appreciate a lower stand over height. It's has nothing to do with standing there with the bike.

If you have to dismount, there is less of chance of coming down on the top tube before hitting the ground when you jump off the front of the seat.

Very low standover is appreciated on a fat bike. Step off the trail and your foot keeps going down in the snow and the gonads hit the bar...

Difference of 30mm reach can be made up in stem length and seat position.

 

I'm one of them long torsoed people. I'm 5'11 with a 30.5 inseem. I'm always right between a medium and large sized bike, mainly because of that unfortunate metric.

My most recent purchase is my first full suspension bike (Fezzari Cascade Peak). It's got a good trail geo with a decently long frame. The bike I'm coming from is a HT that is put together with more comfort in mind since it does double duty as a trail bike and long paved rides. The cockpit is kind of short and it's not of the new "long/slack" variety of bikes.

After a quick test ride on my street, I'm liking the length of my new FS. I do wonder how advantageous longer reach would be on the trails? I hope I get a chance to try my bike before winter. However, the stand-over could be a bit better. I can put my feet on the ground, but it's tight. If I downsize to a size medium, I gain a 1/2 inch stand-over clearance, but lose 30mm reach.

What's your opinions? Do you find more stand-over or more reach to be important for simple trail riding?

How much time do you spend flat footed standing over your bike vs. riding it.

To the comments about dismounting, in the 20+ years I've been riding I can't think of a single time on the trail I've dismounted forward to a standing position over the TT.

There is the answer to how important stand over is.

I'm in a similar boat, 5'11' but slightly longer inseam- I have yet to ever look at stand over for any frame purchase I've made- don't care.

 

I have zero concerns when standing over my bike.

The only situation where lack of stand-over clearance concerns me, is when I stop on a steep climb and have to put my feet on the ground. I do realize that's not a very common situation though.

 

For the standover to work...you'd literally have to be standing right in front of your saddle. How often will you be in that particular situation? Standover is an old way of fitting bikes when they had horizontal top tubes. Bikes now have super short seat tubes with massively sloping top tubes. I have a ~30 inseam. I can clear the top tube right in front of the saddle...if I slightly move forward...I'm ballz deep in top tube.

 

I was in between a medium and large and went with the large, I ended up returning it for a medium because of the standover. I didn't like how close the jewels were to the frame, and the stack height was a tad high too. Maybe it won't matter to you, but I prefer a smaller bike that is easier to toss around, and the standover makes a difference for me when venturing into rocky, technical stuff. Plus the wheelbase gets a tad smaller too. You lose a bit on reach, and perhaps some stability in the downs.

There is no right answer, ideally the frame would be custom made to have the perfect combination of all geo figures for you. Manufacturers are now putting out more sizes for those "in-between".

I think of it on a smaller bike you are more "on" the bike and a larger you are "in", if that makes any sense. Ultimately it is going to be personal preference and what type of riding you do. In fact alot of people my height are perfectly happy on the large where I just couldn't get along with it, and judging by this thread I'm in the minority.

 

I have made this trade off before. Rode an XL HTLT at 5'10" for a while and loved it.