Hi Pinkbikes...
That's one thing I was thinking, how much different the position and feel will be like on mountain bikes compared to roadies, but thanks for the advice...that gives me the idea that it's supposed to be different! I actually excited to see how the climbs will be!


Quote Originally Posted by pinkbikes View Post
I agree 100% with Irulan. I'm glad you are going to be able to test ride the bike to get a feel for it. I am also 5'3.5" and ride a Spec Era Marathon in a medium and it fits a treat. I'm a bit short in the body but with longer legs and gorilla arms. I believe when I had my fitting session we went one size shorter in the stem even so.

One other thing to carry in the back of your mind is that I think that women who have been roadies (guilty as charged your honour) and more particularly women roadies who have always ridden "men's bikes" often under-estimate the effect that too long a top tube on an MTB will have.

We are used to a more laid forward and stretched out position and may be inclined towards thinking that the WSD bike in the right size is too short for us. I found it weird feeling how upright and over the bars I was on a WSD MTB. But once I started to realise how much you need to be able to be mobile over the bike and shift your weight so far forward and back, I realised that in the stretched out position of a longer top tube I would never have been able to get far enough back and still control the bike!