It was able to get around the corner faster and back up to speed easier. The large, however, had an advantage in tighter corners, especially back-to-back corners. It rode smoother, held a line better, and kept its momentum. On straight sections, winding bits and through the rough parts, the extra-large was simply faster. Once we switched and I was on the extra-large, I did a much better job of holding his wheel. I can’t usually keep up with him anyway, but it was even more apparent when I was on the smaller frame. When Zach was on the extra-large and I was on the large, I couldn’t keep up. The bigger frame was faster - just about everywhere. One of the most surprising differences between the two sizes was overall speed. If you’ve got the skills to make it happen, it’s not a bad way to go. I think it takes a higher level of skill and bike handling to ride a smaller frame. That makes the bike more maneuverable, more lively, and quite a bit easier to get off the ground. The advantage is that you’re able to affect the bike more with your rider input. A smaller sweet spot isn’t all bad, though. The second you start to lose your focus, the bike reminds you by doing something squirrely and weird - hopefully, it’s not a painful lesson. It required me to always bring my A-game and be laser-focused to stay centered on the bike. It was easier to get my weight outside of the bike and into the danger zone. Switching to the smaller frame, I felt an immediate shrinkage of the sweet spot. It gives you more stability and more confidence on the bike. The bigger frame gave me more room to move around on the bike before I started falling off it. Get outside this sweet spot and bad things start to happen. What I mean by “sweet spot” is where your weight is balanced and centered between the wheels. With the bigger frame, comes a bigger sweet spot. One of the bikes is bigger than the other - that’s just how that works. We found a few obvious differences as well as some that were less expected. You don’t have to be that extreme to be playful, but I would argue that most folks tend to ride with a pretty average style - myself included. Most of those guys aren’t out doing basic trail rides at their local network. They’re constantly found tricks, jumping and spinning. Now, a playful rider to me is Josh Brycland, Danny McAskill, the 50to01 crew, Kade Edwards… you get the idea - folks who can 540 a downhill bike and land backward. Sure you might jump all the side hits, enjoy slapping berms and picking tight and twisty lines, but I don’t think that’s “playful.” Or maybe I should say, that style of riding doesn’t require a smaller frame. I’m not trying to bash on “playful” riders here, but I think most folks who consider themselves playful, aren’t really that playful. Are you actually a playful rider? Do you put your heels down and plow? Really think about it. Now ask yourself, how do you ride a bike. The smaller one will be zipper, quicker, and more agile. The bigger size is going to be more stable, forgiving, and confident. Those two sizes are going to ride very differently out on the trail. So instead of fretting so much about if you’ll fit on the bike (you most likely will), try to think more about how and where you like to ride. For example on the Ibis Exie, there’s an inch of overlap between each size. Most manufacturers build some overlap into their size charts. With this assumption, you should technically fit on both sizes. Otherwise, you would have already bought the size you clearly need. I’m assuming you fall between manufacturer-recommended sizes and don’t have a clear-cut answer on which one you should buy. What type of rider are you?īefore we talk about ride quality, let’s talk about possibly the most important factor when choosing a size - your riding style. Zach joined me for the test so we could each do a lap on each size then gather our thoughts and compare the differences. I’m going to walk you through my thought process when it comes time for me to buy the right size bike.įor this test, we were lucky enough to have two Ibis Exies - one extra-large and one large. What benefits do you get from going bigger? Are there any drawbacks? Is smaller better? I personally fall between a large and an extra-large on most frames. Instead, what I’m going to try to do, is lay out the pros and cons of a bigger frame vs a smaller frame.
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