Originally Posted by Maelstrom
I notice several things in your post. At 6'1 you should not be looking for a 22 or 23 in frame. At 6'5 I can comfortably and confidently ride 19" frames. Sounds like the shop you went to were a bunch of roadies selling mountain bikes.
Remember that it also has to do with your type of riding style. If you are doing mainly cross country a bigger bike would be ok, but if you are doing really technical stuff than you want more standover clearence so a smaller bike works better.