Are you a tall rider that feels like your bikes never fit you? Always needing to gooseneck your steer tube and stem and use riser bars?

We know why!

Over 90% of all bikes sold are Mediums. Therefore, the bike industry designs and specs for the Medium crowd and the rest of us get a frame that accommodates those components.

The bike industry starts every design with a focus on the largest customer base. As they consider the rest of the market, they have to make a decision on whether they will adjust the geometry for the rider height or adjust it so they can minimize their overhead. Axle-to-Crown is an important component of geometry. As the bike rider height increases, so too should the axle-to-crown. Since introducing a different fork into the assembly and marketing process would create too much expense, the appropriate geometry is sacrificed for margin. So the same fork length is used throughout the model line from XS to XXL with only small variations in head tube length. Effectively, the front half of the frame is “stretched out” resulting in taller riders being stretched down and out over the frame.

Additionally, if you look at any bike model, you will notice that the rear triangle is the same. This too is to reduce overhead in the manufacturing process and increase margin. As tall riders have longer legs, they end up sitting back over the rear axle more than they should and creates ride stability problems and the front end popping up on climbs.

Wicked Mule has addressed these issues by designing a frame specifically for tall riders. We use longer axle-to-crown to provide the necessary stack for tall riders and we also have longer chain stays to ensure better rider placement over the frame.

In addition, we focus on wider hub spacing for stiffer wheels for the heavier rider and allow for wider tires, while keeping Q-factor low with an 83mm bottom bracket. It is important for tall riders to understand that if we send a Medium rider through a corner at speed on a 2.4” tire, physics tell us it will take a wider tire to support a heavier rider at a higher center of gravity to take that corner at the same speed..