• Mountain biking seems to be lost in its own world of sizing where effective top tube us never used because that's associated with road bikes, where as in reality is the most useful measurement.

  • Nah, only for XC bikes. The rest of MTBing cares more about how the bike feels in the tech stuff when you are likely to be out of the saddle, so your contact points are only pedals and bars. Reach is the important measurement.

    This RAD stuff really does seem like overthinking it. You only have to see how much variation similar size pros have in their set-up to realise it's all personal. You also have to get used to how a bike rides and adjust your technique to get the best out of any set-up.

    186cm here and my new XL Trance X has a reach of 510/519mm and I use a 35mm stem. The Giant website sizing said I should be size L but I have a smaller HT for local twisty stuff, the Giant is for fast and/or steep!

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