Mountain Biking - anybody ride an x-small Hardrock Sport?

Hi all:

Just getting back into cycling this year after many years off, bought a sweet 2002 Klein Quantum earlier this year on Ebay and have been enjoying the road, esp. on such a nice bike. Anyway, this month I decided I wanted to get an entry-level mtn. bike to have a bike to tool around the neighborhood with my 3-year-old daughter and maybe try out some easy singletrack trails in the area. I had a 13-inch Rockhopper back in the day, so when I found this 13-inch Hardrock Sport (see pic below) on Ebay, I ended up being the winning bidder for $160 +$30 shipping.

Am I wrong in assuming I would still fit on a 13-inch HRS now? Upon further scrutinizing the pictures, I am somewhat concerned about the extremely steep upward slope of the top tube. Will this throw off the handling of the bike, esp. for my intended use (i.e. I WON'T likely be doing any big jumps, etc.)? Oh, and I'm 5'4", with a 29-inch inseam--would I have been better off with a 15-inch frame?

If any smaller folks out there could let me know their thoughts, that would be helpful...
Thanks!

we have the same inseam but i am 5'9" o_O but i ride a 17 or 18 inch, or Medium frame..

well.. i would of told you to go to a LBS and test ride the different size hardrocks they have before you ordered it.. but since you did... eh..

its okay to assume you still fit a 13 inch... you said you used to have a 13 inch rockhopper back in the day.. well how back in the day was it? did you grow any at all? if you grew it MIGHT not fit you, of course it depends on how much you've grown... worse comes to worse, you have yourself a nice urban BMX type bike.. :p

Discussing bike geometry makes my head hurt, but in my(admittedly limited) experience having a smaller bike makes it a lot easier to handle on the trail. Seems to me that you can put more body english on it. Hope I'm making some sense. I'll leave it to the smarter posters to address the top tube issue.

you said you used to have a 13 inch rockhopper back in the day.. well how back in the day was it? did you grow any at all? if you grew it MIGHT not fit you, of course it depends on how much you've grown...

HA! Well, it has been a while (my bike was from the early to mid 90's) but I most definitely have not grown since then (I was in my early 20's at the time...).

I guess my question is about how the geometry of mtn. bikes has changed since then--my Rockhopper had NO suspension, and was a pretty basic small frame. Nowadays it seems the geometry is really different, but I guess I won't worry about it, and just ride the damn bike. Probably better to be on a too small rather than a too big bike...

Hello,

I'm about 5'3 and I ride a small dirt jumping frame. However, my kona was made to dirt jump and yours wasn't so you might have a slightly long top tube. You may be a little cramped on your bike. Let time tell.

P.S That's a 13 inch frame.