Originally Posted by
seeker333
BB height does determine how easy it is to hold the bike with one leg down at a stop, which is critical when the bike happens to be loaded with gear. For a given saddle height, the higher the BB, the higher the saddle, and the further your leg/foot has to reach to plant on the ground. A high BB means you may get only a toe onto the ground, especially if it's an uneven surface. This may necessitate leaving the saddle at every stop, both feet grounded to keep the bike standing.
I may have not understood the comment, but for most of us the saddle height would be way too low if I could get even a toe on the ground from the saddle. Stand over heigght is stand over height regardles of bottom bracket height.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, my cyclocross bike, Bianchi Volpe, which is touted as having a higher bottom bracket height is within a couple of mm's of the bottom bracket height of my LHT, Cannondale T800 and a Cannondale T2 (all 58 cm frames, except T800). The T2, T800(50 cm frame) and LHT bottom bracket heights are are also amost the same as my road bikes. My wife's road bike, a small frame, is actually a few mm's lower than all of them. My wife's custom frame is the only low one at 250 mm's.
I don't have a mtn bike to measure, but almost all the bikes I measured were +/- a couple mm's of 275 mm from the ground to the center of the BB spindle. The 26" wheels also tend to put the bike closer to the ground.