WGB 

I owned a mountain bike in the mid to late 80's when I was in the Army and I simply don't recall how sizing really works for these bikes. Is it the same as road bikes or is there a different set of rules. I live in the Niagara Region and want a bike I can use in winter.

I currently ride 25 inch road bikes. When I look at ads for used mountain bikes they generally refer only to tires "has 26 inch tires", etc. I've never seen frame sizes named, beyond sometimes seeing "L" or "XL".

I don't want to drive around testing strangers bikes. I could email and ask "how tall are you?" but many sales are by re-sellers who don't fit the bike or don't even reply.

Ryder1

Sorry, no easy answer here. Mtb sizing can be challenging, especially if shopping for used bikes. The L or XL letters don't mean much because they vary among bikes. Assuming you're looking for a hardtail, you're probably best off looking/measuring/comparing effective top tube.

It sounds like you're squarely in the XL camp, maybe XXL if you can find one. 21" or 23" seat tube, 25+ effective top tube.

WGB 

Ryder1 thanks

WGB

JonathanGennick 

Mountain bike geometry has changed a lot in the last 10-15 years. Top tube lengths have gone up. Stem lengths have gone down. Seat tubes are shorter to accommodate dropper posts. I've a 19" frame size bike from the early 2000s in my basement that has a way shorter top tube than any current 17" frame. I actually find that older 19" frame to be too small in the horizontal, because I need the longer top tube found on current designs.

Some brands put sizing recommendations on their website. Salsa, for example:

TIMBERJACK SLX 1x11 27.5+ | Salsa Cycles

Scroll down to the Geometry tab, and Salsa provides height ranges for each frame size. Those might give you some perspective on where you might fall. The thing is, top tube lengths are generally longer today. In the example above, the medium frame horizontal top tube measurement is 23.94", whereas back in the day I can remember 22.5" being a common top tube size on medium frames.

So I guess....pay attention to the age of the bike, because what it means to be a given frame size has changed dramatically over time.

I don't know what you're budget is, but you might look at commuter bikes. There are some nice commuter and urban bikes on the market now, and I wouldn't necessarily default to a mountain-bike for winter.

WGB 

JonathanGENNICK

Taking your suggestion and since I would be riding more on roads, what do you think of this bike? If you don't know of him, Steven Bauer was a professional racer who opened up his own line of bikes. He mostly built road bikes but also some mountain bikes.

This is an XL frame (23 inch frame) which I am told should fit me. I am unsure about the front forks. I was told that this was his entry level model.

Any thoughts???

JonathanGennick 

Well, it's got the old-style, long-stem geometry that I personally don't enjoy because it leaves me feeling like I'm going over the bars. The frame size might be right, but it's best to test ride if you can.

Ryder1

That feeling goes away once you're on the ground, staring at the back of your knees -- then you'll have a whole new set of feelings.