Bike Sizing for Adults - How to Find the Right Size Bike?

Hey, everyone. I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry, and today I'm going to talk to you about bicycle sizing for adults, and how to find the right bike. So stick around.

All right, so today, we're going to talk about bicycle sizing for adults, but before I do, hit that subscribe button below. Stay in touch with us here at Sixthreezero. Be the first to know about all the new content we're putting out and also giveaways for bikes, e-bikes and accessories, and of course, new product releases, so hit subscribe.

All right, bicycle sizing for adults. How do you find the right size bike? It can be a complicated process. So it depends on what type of bike you're looking for if it's a mountain bike or a road bike. Also depends a lot on what you're expecting of your bike. Is it comfort-based? Is it performance-based? What are you looking to get out of it? And what I'm going to talk about here today is not going to include road bikes and some degree of mountain bikes.

When we talk about road bikes, that is a process where you're going to want to get fit and sized by a professional, a bike shop, if possible. There are also a lot of diagrams and charts out there because typically when people are getting sized for road bikes, they are looking for performance. It's something you want to ride a lot of miles. 20, 30, 40 miles and you're trying to go at a certain pace, so there are a lot of factors that play into making sure the rider can get the necessary output on a road bike.

Mountain bikes are similar, in some sense. However, there are some more general mountain bikes that come in a 26-inch tire, recreational for fun where you don't need the level of sophistication in the fitting. But I'm going to talk mainly today about general bike fitting for adults. Hybrid bikes, comfort bikes, cruiser bikes, general recreational bikes, and how do you find the right size?

Now, typically, in this category of recreation, which includes a lot of hybrids, and things of that nature, sometimes there are different frame sizes. There are small, medium, and large. The other factor, I will say, is the sizing of an adult bicycle. The number one important thing that I think about is, "How does the bike feel?" Because most people that are out for a bike, they want to be comfortable, they want to be able to ride some miles either with a friend or a family member.

Yes, you want to get exercise, but I would say in a lot of situations, comfort comes before the performance because a lot of people are not out to win a race. Again, if we're talking about road bikes, triathletes, and people like that, I completely understand performance is more important. But for everyone else that's doing more recreational riding, the feel of it is important.

Now, the issue with the small, medium, and large that I have is it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be right for you. There are other factors involved when sizing bikes for adults. How safe you feel, how easy is it for you to control, things like that. Whereas someone may tell you, "Oh, the medium is right for you," you might say, "Well, I don't really like the medium because I don't have control of the bike, so I want a small."

In that case, my opinion is, "Yeah, get the small because that's what's right for you as a whole," As long as you can adjust it in a way where it's not doing damage to your body. One benefit of Sixthreezero bikes is all of our bikes have four custom adjustment points, and you can raise and lower, and tilt the handlebars. You can raise and lower and tilt the seat as well.

So the frame, to an extent, is only one piece of it. Yes, you could have a bigger frame, but if you can raise and lower the handlebars, you can raise and lower the seat, and you can custom adjust most Sixthreezero bikes to your body regardless of the frame size. And that's what I was going to say. In the recreational segment, there are fewer frame sizes, especially when you compare to road and mountain bikes because there's more custom adjusting on other elements of the bike.

And then when you look at these categories, a general wheel size is a 26-inch wheel. The width of the tire, whether it be 2.125 inches or 1.75 inches, the width is going to be determined by what type of riding you're going to be doing. But generally, a 26-inch wheel is what you're going to see on a lot of hybrid bikes, you're going to see on a lot of cruiser bikes, and a lot of comfort bikes. The width is going to vary though. Hybrid bikes are going to have maybe a 1.5, 1.75-inch wheel. Cruiser, comfort, you're going to see something like a 2.125-inch tire.

So it really depends on if you want more comfort, if you want more performance, things like that. So if you are an adult trying to do sizing for a regular bike, generally speaking, you're going to find a 26-inch wheel, and the frame is going to depend on your height. Now, this is the reason I'm doing this video because I was going to say bicycle sizing for adults can be complex. We at Sixthreezero have developed a tool called the Sixthreezero Body Fit Tool. This is a proprietary algorithm where people enter information about their body and their riding habits, and we are going to fit them perfectly to a bike and recommend that with the tool.

The reason this is more of a complete process is that we're going to ask questions about how are you going to ride the bike, where are you going to ride the bike, whether are you going to ride up hills, and things of that nature that we're going to incorporate into the decision process, and then we're going to recommend the perfect bike for you. So it's less about the actual sizing of the wheel size, not less about it. It's weighing all of the factors, should I say.

It's not just putting the emphasis on the wheel size or the frame size, things like that, but we're also asking questions about your riding to ensure that we are getting you the best e-bike or bike that's going to be conducive to the type of riding that you're going to do. So when you go to a bike shop or you go somewhere else, these are things, depending on how good the bike shop attendant is, that they consider when fitting or sizing you.

We wanted to develop a proprietary tool online that could do the same thing in a store, but you can get it online. So I'd recommend that if you are looking to try to figure out the best bicycle size for you and you're an adult, try our proprietary Body Fit Tool on our website, sixthreezero.com. And from there, you can get recommendations for the perfect bike.

Now, if you have any other questions at all about bicycle sizing for adults, please comment below or email us, at theteam@sixthreezero.com. Or call us. (310) 982-2877. In addition to that, we have a 30-day test ride your bike policy or e-bike. If you don't love it within 30 days, send it back, no questions asked, no money out of your pocket.

And join our Facebook pedalers group and download our app. You can be a part of our community before you purchase. Ask questions, see how people love their bikes or don't love their bikes, and see what they like about them. Also on the app, you can see actual miles people are logging on these bikes or any bike you may be interested in. Then, after you have your Sixthreezero bike, you can be a part of the community, post photos, make friends and, of course, track your rides on the app. It's a ton of fun. So thank you for sticking around, and don't forget. It's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.