AndyK 

I bought this M400 new about 10 years ago, and used it as a city cruiser for a year before moving out of the city.

Anyway, from my aching wrists and shoulders, and by looking at this photo, I believe the bike is too small for me, but I'm not sure if I'm basing that on my mainly road bike experience. Can you tell this from the photo?

Do you think I could use this bike as a light trail/paved path cruiser, if I install a riser stem? As of now, the bike is un-ridable because of the severe saddle to bar drop.

Or, should I sell it and buy something larger?

Thanks.

Moozh

Hey, good to see someone else has one. I still have mine converted over to urban duties like you do yours. Mine is a 22" frame, my only gripe is that I feel stretched out on it. I dont nearly show as much seat post as you do, I maybe have 3-inches max of post showing, so I see what you mean with regards the seat to bar drop.

I currently have a race face D2 stem (35mm w/ 15deg rise~~downhill/freeride stem I believe) on mine with a FSA Metropolis bar (moustache style) to bring the controls in as close as possible and it's juuuust perfect.

I've also seen those fork stem extension and with regards another option in stems, I would look at a 'trials' stem that can have a more aggressive rise along with a bar with a deeper rise than your current one does also. The only ones I know of are Delta bicycle stem raiser and Dimension steerer extender, Delta also has a Hi-Rise stem~ search on Amazon.com to have a look and see if they are a solution that agrees with you.

Else I think the frame of this bike is pretty great. It's strong and rugged and I think it could survive the next apocalypse. It's served you well for 10-years now?

I havent taken mine on the trails but your seat to bar drop somewhat resembles my current HT which is a race XC HT 29er and that geometry/relationship allows me to keep the front end down when climbing steep ascents and allows me to dig in to get traction on faster descents. If that relationship translates the same with taking your M400 as it is on the dirt trail I cant say as mine hasnt seen a "real" trail ever, it's lived all of its working life on the city streets. I would suspect that it wont be an ergonomically comfortable way to have a relaxed pleasant ride on the trails, might work if you are looking to run hard and fast for shorter time periods.

How tall are you? What size frame is that bike? I'm 6'3" and have a 22" . My standover height also is not what I would want with a modern day MTB, it more resembles what one would look for with a road bike (2 inches til cherry contact).

AndyK 

Hey-
Interesting that you are slightly taller than I am (I'm 6 feet), yet you have a larger frame! Mine is a 20", and I need the 22" due to my longer legs. I guess you have average length legs? Did you say you use a 35mm stem? How could that be?

I really don't think raising the bars via an extender would lead to good handling and stability.

I only ride mine on paved park trails, so the high saddle, low bars really doesn't work for me. Otherwise, like you said, it's a great frame that is really put together well. I just need a larger version. With very low clearance, and such a short stem, you probably need my smaller sized frame. Wanna trade?

Moozh

I likewise only ride mine on the street, with my setup I have resolved my 'stretched out' issues and l couldnt tolerate my bars being any lower than they are. As with the case of buying a bike all set up by the LBS I surely could have used an extra 2-3 inches of extra steerer tube height to achieve 'perfection'. It never bothered me when I initially bought the bike but now it's 10-years on and I ride more frequently and dont claim to be as limber or energetic as I once was but for me I thnk I've found a sweet spot that works really well for my setup.

Yep, RaceFace D2 Freeride stem 35mm..



sorry crappy cell phone pics..

AndyK 

Cool, your bike is really set up as a cruiser. Looks way more comfy than my setup!

Moozh

Thx, I call it my backstreet bomber..those big apples are fantastic tires (2.35") and those stock cheap ass singlewall sunrim wheels have never ever been untrue. Single speed, reliable and bone simple and just works, all day comfortable. I've since changed my cranks to cheaper FSA verio cranks (38t ring), the track miche advanced cranks in the pic although give it more speed are too much effort (49t ring) for a bike aimed for easy effort riding. 22t rear cog. It's a slow poke so not the thing to ride if you are in a hurry but does climp hills nicely..