Originally Posted by
Oil_LOL
Speaking of which, there is another bike I'm interested in in the area. It's a late 90's Rockhopper, and the seller says it's mint and stock. They're selling it for 150 (I know, a lot more, and without slicks or a rack, but... I'm impatient) . I'm gonna inquire, ask about size, etc, because I haven't gotten a response email from this guy yet. Could anyone recommend a good size for a vintage (90's rigid) MTB for commuting, if I ride a 58 cm road bike?
I'm not particularly long limbed, ride a 58 cm (23") road bike and I've always found 19" frames of any vintage to fit very well. The rule of thumb is to go 2" to 3" shorter than your road bike. It still a pretty good guide to start with. I've had a couple of 18" and always felt far too cramped on them. An 18" is 5" shorter than my road bike. I had to run the longest seatposts I could find and I had to get stems of 150 mm or longer (yes, there are longer ones around).
One caveat: A 19" frame from 1995 is going to have a seat tube length of very close to 19" and top tube length of around 600mm while a newer version of the same brand will be slightly longer top tube and a much shorter seat tube.