Bike sizing advice

sillygoose · 10 February 2018 at 7:35PM

I took up cycling again due to terrible unfitness and its something I can do, nothing special, got up to a quick 10 mile blast most evenings after work.

I have a hybrid bike with 700c wheels and no suspension, around here we have lots of cycle pathways but they are pretty rough and my back and joints don't do well with the jarring, or the bike but its lovely routes away from traffic in lovely countryside.

I have kind of lost my mojo for it lately, I am thinking of changing my bike to a Mountain Bike style with full suspension and smaller wheels (my big wheeled bike isn't very manoeuvrable around the passageways!)

I am 5' 11" which according the the Halfords size guide is right between a 17" and 20" frame border, would you go bigger or smaller size? I am quite heavy too. Its not a style of bike I am very familiar with to date.

There is a mind boggling choice but I don't want to spend a huge amount for my level of careful usage.

Norman_Castle · 10 February 2018 at 7:57PM

Try a suspension seat post and investigate fitting suspension forks. Full suspension bikes are hard work and good suspension is expensive.

I have kind of lost my mojo for it lately

Me too. getting cold, wet and muddy saps mojo's.

sillygoose · 10 February 2018 at 8:08PM

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Try a suspension seat post and investigate fitting suspension forks. Full suspension bikes are hard work and good suspension is expensive.

Me too. getting cold, wet and muddy saps mojo's.

I already have a suspension post which is the only reason its been tolerable to be honest. Whilst that helps me, and I really try to avoid bumps, but with no give in the rear I have had to upgrade the rear axle twice.

I am curious in what way are full suspension bikes hard work? you mean the extra weight or something else?

Thanks!

(and yes cold and wet, I didn't mind at first and you do warm up, its just that first mile of freezing air in your lungs.. brrrr!)

esuhl · 10 February 2018 at 9:59PM

sillygoose wrote: »

I am curious in what way are full suspension bikes hard work? you mean the extra weight or something else?

The inefficiency. Some of the energy you generate is used by the rear suspension, so it's more effort to propel the bike forwards. And cheap rear-suspension is quite heavy too.

The general rule-of-thumb that I've heard oft repeated is that, unless you're spending £1000 or more, you'd be much better off avoiding rear suspension. You really don't need it unless you're into downhill racing, anyway.

What width of tyres do you currently have on your 700c bike? I think the wider tyres of a mountain bike would probably give more cushioning to your ride and let you run them at a lower pressure...

Norman_Castle · 10 February 2018 at 10:13PM

I've done about 14,000 miles on a hard tail mountain bike and only had about 4 rear wheel spokes break in that time. My neighbour who has a cheap full suspension bike had the rear wheel bearing collapse after very few miles. The difference being I stand up for the bumps and he stays seated. Try standing on the pedals over the bumps. It puts less strain on you and the bike.

Voyager2002 · 13 February 2018 at 8:07PM

In order to get the sizing right, go to a decent bike shop and try out a few, and take their advice (one you are confident that the person knows what they are talking about). This is one thing that you really cannot do on-line.

chunkytfg · 21 February 2018 at 7:29PM

esuhl wrote: »

What width of tyres do you currently have on your 700c bike? I think the wider tyres of a mountain bike would probably give more cushioning to your ride and let you run them at a lower pressure...

This is where you need to start first.

Making some massive assumptions i would guess if you're poking in Halfords for a bik then your original hybrid is maybe a boardman one? I have a Boardman Hybrid and it has 28mm tyres. If you haven't fitted ful mudgaurds on it you can probably fit something like 32mm tyres on it and then drop the tyre pressure all the way down to ~60psi. You may find that is enough to remove the Jarring effect of the lack of suspension. Add some good padded gloves with gel pads on the palms and youre good to go.

Nasqueron · 21 February 2018 at 8:20PM

Could have a look at a fat bike as an alternative as you can run the tyres at very low pressure. For a commute a full suspension isn't really needed though personally if I get a MTB I'll go that way as I get back ache from riding trails on my CX without any suspension and a hard tail will just mean I get more pain with all bumps going through the saddle.

Make sure you have good clothing with good padding too.

Also, consider road riding, I commute daily on a road bike and frankly I use the roads because they're maintained, cycle paths are not so ice, leaves, mud, potholes etc are all issues

parking_question_chap · 22 February 2018 at 8:44PM

I am 6 foot with 19 inch frame.

I would suggest you get 18 or 19 inch.

Forget the suspension, just stand for the bumps. Might sound a hassle, but the suspension will take a lot of energy from your forward motion.

millie84 · 23 February 2018 at 10:29AM

Nasqueron wrote: »

Could have a look at a fat bike as an alternative as you can run the tyres at very low pressure. For a commute a full suspension isn't really needed though personally if I get a MTB I'll go that way as I get back ache from riding trails on my CX without any suspension and a hard tail will just mean I get more pain with all bumps going through the saddle.

Make sure you have good clothing with good padding too.

Also, consider road riding, I commute daily on a road bike and frankly I use the roads because they're maintained, cycle paths are not so ice, leaves, mud, potholes etc are all issues

I've just got a "semi-fat" 27.5+ bike. Its a Hardtail, but the huge tyres (2.8"wide) make it feel more like it has full suspension.
I've not had a proper go on it yet, but from what I have done, it's very grippy, and mud doesn't bother it in the slightest.
I will use it for commuting (eventually), mostly through the woods but some road riding.

Johnmcl7 · 28 February 2018 at 10:57PM

With regards to sizing I very much agree with the recommendation to try the bikes out yourself, the problem is that people are different proportions so what fits one height may not fit another. For the mountain bike, I usually go a bit smaller than the recommendation as I find the fit is better (I find the reach is too long if I go the correct size) and prefer to have the smaller frame for maneuvering.

I'd also agree on avoiding full suspension bikes, the advantage of this type of bike is to be able to carry a lot of speed over technical trail features but you're just looking for comfort, the suspension doesn't really help and they're quite a bit more expensive, heavier and less efficient to pedal.

What I find does help is a bigger tyre at a lower pressure to soak up the bumps, I have a full suspension 29er, a hard trail 29+ (bigger than a normal tyre but smaller than a fat bike) and a rigid fat bike which has 4in tyres and no suspension at all. One of the first questions I always get asked about the fat bike is do the big tyres act like suspension to which I reply no, they help soak up the rough terrain but when the bike is hitting drops and landing from jumps, it's quite a hard landing as the tyres do little to help there.

The full suspension bike and hardtail in comparison are much better and easier at landing but the 29er even though it's a full suspension is the least comfortable on a rough trail, to stop it bobbing too much I usually ride with it completely locked out until it's onto technical features.

I'm talking about very rough off road terrain though, I think a plus or fat bike would be overkill for what you're wanting and plus bikes are a bit more expensive than they should be as they're still new. I'd recommend if possible finding a local place that will hire you a bog standard hardtail mountain bike and give it a go, making sure the place hiring it help you set up the tyre pressure.

I also have a 700c rigid road bike and it's pretty much unrideable on anything other than smooth road or cycle paths, the thin wheels just soak up nothing and have to be run at a fairly high pressure. The first mountain bike I bought was a standard hardtail nothing fancy but it was vastly more comfortable than the road bike on the likes of canal paths and similar. Plus the advantage of normal size tyres is they're less work, plus and fat bike tyres particularly at low pressure can be quite a bit harder work to pedal as there's a lot more drag with them.

If you do get more adventurous and start taking on some trails, a hardtail is still very capable even on challenging trail features.

Bike sizing advice

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