Marin Nail Trail 6

[Cro-Magnon]

Hi everyone. I’m currently riding a 29’er HT that feels a bit big for me and has nary any stand-over clearance. I’m getting tangled up like a pretzel when I need to quickly dismount on the trail (ok, when I crash). I’m looking into the Marin Nail Trail 6 which seems like it might be sold-out for the season already– so I can’t test fit one. The size medium 17″ (available in both 65oB or 29’er wheels) has a claimed 29″ stand-over height. How they get the same  seat tube length, same effective top tube length and same stand-over height with both wheel sizes is curious to me, but I am a bit senile. Does anyone own one of these machines and, if so, do you find that the claimed stand-over height is accurate? And, importantly, where on the top tube do they measure the stand-over height? Thanks!

[Jeff Barber]

It’s actually pretty common for standover height to be the same across sizes for a given model. To do this, manufacturers usually just kink the top tube down. For example, Trek says the standover height for the Fuel is 74.7cm for the 17.5 inch model (medium) and the 21.5 inch (XL.) Standover is usually measured half-a-crotch past the seat tube. 🙂

If we’re talking different size frames, seat tube length and reach should increase as size increases. However, wheel size doesn’t necessarily affect either of these measurements too much.

 

 

[dunleavy]

I am skeptical of standover heights.  I’m short legged and long torso/armed, so I pay attention.  I’ve compared the published specs on bikes where I had plenty of clearance to ones where I had little or no clearance, and sometimes the numbers are opposite of what an actual test reveals.  I think they are just not measured consistently.  Do an eyeball test against the Scott Scale – it looks like the Scale has a lower standover than the Nail Trail, but the published charts show otherwise (and the Scale’s standover isn’t really that high if you check it out in person).

[Cro-Magnon]

Thanks for the responses. Makes sense, and I think I’ve decided that 29ers are a better fit for taller people, in general. The bike feels awkward at low speeds, when starting and stopping and when mounting/dismounting. Think I’m going to look at some 650B fs bikes, some of which have a 4″ lower  standover height than my current  bike.

[Author]

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