Frame size

[headhunter2000]

Hi. I'm planning on buying the Scott Comp 29er. I'm upgrading from my Silverback Alpine 26er. The guy from City Cycles showed me that I should get a medium frame. My silverback's got a large frame. I'm about 1.84m and my weight is 93kg.

 

The guy showed me the 7 finger rule to adjust your sadle height. Is this correct? What size frames to you guys ride with?

[TheV]

Hi. I'm planning on buying the Scott Comp 29er. I'm upgrading from my Silverback Alpine 26er. The guy from City Cycles showed me that I should get a medium frame. My silverback's got a large frame. I'm about 1.84m and my weight is 93kg.

 

The guy showed me the 7 finger rule to adjust your sadle height. Is this correct? What size frames to you guys ride with?

 

The 7 finger rule - what an idiot - show him the middle finger - i bet he only HAD a medium in stock.

 

Trust me you don't want to buy a bike that is too small for you, you will end up hating it.

 

The fact is between 1.81 and 1.85ish most MTB sizes are right in the top range of the medium size, and on paper it will look like you can go either way.

 

I am 1.83 and almost always have a much nicer setup on the LARGE frame.

 

If you go for MEDIUM you will have to jack up your seat and it looks shite - and then you will also have issues with stem length.

 

Further to this I just checked the geometry for you on the scott site - take the large.

[NotSoBigBen]

In all my years I never heard of the '7 finger' rule, what is it

[Tumbleweed]

In all my years I never heard of the '7 finger' rule, what is it

 

If you can fit seven fingers in, then bite the pillow because the salesman is going in dry…

[Big H*]

Commission, the Xmas season is expensive

[Tumbleweed]

Commission, the Xmas season is expensive

 

I must speak to my LBS boss about a comm agreement…

[javadude]

City Cycles, thats your problem right there. They have no clue, so unless you're buying a tricycle for your kids, go shop somewhere else.

[MAESTRO's]

You should be on a LARGE frame....show CC the middle finger and find a store that will sell you a large.

[markgc]

go to a proper bike shop and get measured up..then you wont be sorry.

[Iwan Kemp]

Hi. I'm planning on buying the Scott Comp 29er. I'm upgrading from my Silverback Alpine 26er. The guy from City Cycles showed me that I should get a medium frame. My silverback's got a large frame. I'm about 1.84m and my weight is 93kg.

 

The guy showed me the 7 finger rule to adjust your sadle height. Is this correct? What size frames to you guys ride with?

 

What a freaking idiot! The 7 finger rule was wrong even when it was accepted. Do yourself a favor by not buying from them. Bit harsh, but they know next to nothing about bicycles and their workshop is even worse. For the best service and prices pop around to Cycle Factory not too far from there in Montague Gardens (021) 552 8285.

[Iwan Kemp]

In all my years I never heard of the '7 finger' rule, what is it

 

Back in the day, when the castle was still a tent and the koperasie was still selling bikes, the thinking was that when you're standing over the top tube with your feet on the ground, you should be able to get 7 fingers in between the TT and your...you know...privates. Sure there must be some space there, but that's no way to figure if a bike fits or not.

[RudoJ]

maybe the salesman wanted to fiddle around....these days you never know

[Eugene]

This guy clearly has no idea what he is talking about. Now days you get frames with different angles of top tubes (for want of a better word). Seven fingers on one brand of frame will give you a completely different height to another brand of frame.

[amasendeinja]

Hi. I'm planning on buying the Scott Comp 29er. I'm upgrading from my Silverback Alpine 26er. The guy from City Cycles showed me that I should get a medium frame. My silverback's got a large frame. I'm about 1.84m and my weight is 93kg.

 

The guy showed me the 7 finger rule to adjust your sadle height. Is this correct? What size frames to you guys ride with?

 

As much as I agree with everyone's replies posted here regarding the 7 finger rule - i.e. crock of sh1te! - I'd take any advice that says "your definitely need a size 'X'" or similar statements with a pinch of salt.

 

I'm 1.83 and weigh slightly less than you, so we're probably similar in build. But you may be one of those guys with long body and short legs or vice versa, so it's not so simple.

 

To get the correct frame size there is more to concern yourself with than just frame size, i.e. centre of the BB shell to the top of the seat tube. Making sure you have enough stand-over height so you can move the bike under you, and ensuring the overall reach is not too long or too short, which can affect handling big time, are pretty damn important. I suggest you go to Wrenchscience and use their fit calculator as it's the best online one I've found. Better yet find a decent bike shop that can do the fit for you. This way you have a set of data you can always use in future which will give you not only required frame size, but overall reach, i.e. you'll know what stem length you'll need to get the same reach for a frame with a different top tube length, and recommended handlebar width. Link to Wrenchscience fit calculator: https://www.wrenchscience.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fSecure%2fFit%2fHeight.aspx

 

Obviously all the above depends a lot on the type of riding you do as well, but either way have a set of close-to-empirical data you can use. I've got a set of data from 2004 that I still use every time I buy a new frame.

 

Good luck, and buy your bike elsewhere - if those clowns start like they have it's only going to end in tears... yours