superdex

Comparing the Stack and reach of a large TJ with my road bike (Fairdale Goodship in a 58):

Goodship stack: 593mm vs TJ: 620mm
Goodship reach: 399 vs 454mm

Add in the stem lengths and the TJ is 35mm longer than my road bike. Does the increased stack really compensate for that? I don't need to be stretched out any farther....

Darth Lefty 

It doesn’t sit or handle at all like a road bike, or a 25 yo MTB. More like a dirt bike. Well, maybe not that far, still like a bicycle. The stack is caused by another inch of tire radius and five inches of travel. Your road bike has the hoops and brifters adding three or four inches.

Even so it’s not that bonkers compared to something like a Banshee (474 reach for L, another inch of fork)

I’m 5ft8, right on the border of their small and medium, so I chose a medium. I recently went to a 50 stem. That’s not science, I know.

prj71

You are comparing apples and oranges. Different tool for different job. Weight forward on the MTB to keep the front tire down on the terrain it's designed to ride on.

superdex

sure, but you don't know how I'm laid out on the road bike (saddle drop in the 4" range). Just trying to get a visual of how the fit would be different (or not). Of course all this would be resolved with a trip to the LBS, but I'm not exactly comfortable doing that yet, so it's the tried and true BF tradition of staring at numbers and asking questions that have been asked a million times before. Nice to see some things didn't change with the pandemic

Darth Lefty 

I would trust their sizes if you are near the middle of the height range and consider how you feel about it if you are near the intersection. For a while now the conventional wisdom on mountain bikes has been to size up if unsure because that gets you a longer front-center for the reasons prj71 stated above, but if you aren't going to ride it that way or you're unsure you can go down instead. If you are in "I fit special" territory then you better test ride, I guess.

Darth Lefty 

Here’s my medium with a 170 dropper if it helps you decide

superdex

Does nobody ride clipless anymore? (though totally bonus points for color matching pedals and helmet. My son would be proud of you)

I'm on the L/XL overlap of like every sizing out there (I'm 190 cm tall) , and I have a very old but still solid unpleasant memory from my first mountain bike, a 22" RockHopper, way back in like 1990. In hindsight, it was eyyyuge. So I'm nervous about XL-sized mtbs. Sigh. Yes, only a test ride will decide.

The thread can resume now ...

superdex

A 2019 TimberJack Deore 29 came home with me today. Including pedals (Crank Bros Candy 1 at 10% off) and tax, I was out the door for $1130.

After test-riding the 27.5+ vs 29, and then the L vs XL, the L 29 was the one for me. I'm pretty stoked.

Some anecdotal flim-flam for others who may be at the edges of sizes:
At 190cm (just under 6'3"), the L felt just a smidge short, but nimble. --edit-- just checked the bike and the saddle can go back a few mm. That'll take care of the just short feeling. The XL just felt big. I could feel the difference making the smallest, slowest s-turns I could -- and the L stayed balanced for me better than the XL. Also on the XL the seatpost was inserted as far as it would go and it was just my height, reinforcing that I'm at the smallest end of the range for the XL.

for fun, here's a pic of the TJ behind my road bike (a size 58 Goodship). Hopefully this shows a little about stack and reach differences....



At any rate, it's a great bike for a grand. I'm happy--

Darth Lefty 

Nice, enjoy! Good that you could get a test ride, considering.

Mine originally came with a regular setback seat post but droppers are nearly all zero setback.