Originally Posted by
Swimmingbulldog
Thank you for all your insight. I am surprised you all said go down a size. It makes sense to me now, No doubt that is what would be best for mountain bike riding. I failed to mention that I was thinking more along the lines of gravel riding/cyclocross. I did one cyclocross race last year and it was a 17 in vintage mountain bike with flat bars. I felt more stable on rocky terrain, but maybe the flat bars were not the best when on flat grass or gravel. Do you all think this would change the sizing to a bigger frame so as to be more forward riding posture?
Do you have a road bike fit? A CX fit would be closest to a road fit, while gravel tends to favor slightly more upright postures and useful drops. If you have a fit analysis completed, use it, or even go back to the shop and ask their fitter what tweaks you could make. ATBs generally have a longer reach compared to a road frame, even with the long stems in use at the time, so getting a larger frame, combined with more relaxed ST and HT angles can make you very stretched out, or unbalance the bike by putting too much weight on the rear wheel, or force a short stem leading to floppy and twitchy steering.