Originally Posted by
Kapusta
When you say the Rainier is too small, HOW was it too small? Not enough reach to the bars, too short, or both? Getting clear on this, and being able to identify what year it is so that geo numbers can be compared might be a useful guide. I say "might be" because MTB geo has changed radically over the past 5 years, and some of the key numbers are not really comparable.
Excellent question. It "feels" to small in the seat tube. I feel like my leg doesn't straighten enough. I understand that off road bikes may have a different feel to them than a road bike and am not sure if the same amount of knee bend is needed or even wanted. I really only noticed it when riding on bike paths or on long wide sections of dirt trails (I.E. not single track). On single track or any decent mountain bike trail it didn't seem as big of a deal. When just cruising along I always have alot of the seat post showing. I drop it down off road. It a 2004 or 5 Rainier with a 19 inch frame.
The large TopFuel is a 19.5 inch seat tube so slightly larger than the Rainier but not much but has a ridiculously long 170mm dropper post (I say that because I have a 170mm post on my Litespeed road bike and it looks like a seat tube that goes in the seat tube LOL). I don't know much about modern bike Geometry. The Rainier is essentially a big BMX frame with a suspension fork.
I wanted a 60cm Domane because my old Trek 2.3 race geo felt cramped in a 58 in the seat tube. Well ... road bike geo has changed too and I couldn't be happier with the Domane in 58.
My gut feeling is that a large will be good but I can only learn so much from sitting on similar bikes at the shop. Finding a Topfuel in L/XL size locally is impossible so riding and evaluating that way isn't really an option.
Thanks for all the replies.