Bicycle Size by Height Chart: The Easy Guide

Riding a bike is one of life’s great feelings. Legs moving up and down in harmonious synchronicity. A deft flick of the handlebars to round a corner. The world rolls slowly by and your everyday worries slowly drift to the back of your mind. A gentle squeeze of the brakes to come to a stop.

And the really exciting thing? This idealistic view of riding a bike for fun, leisure or as a means of getting from A to B isn’t that hard to achieve.

It all starts with the right-sized bike and in this piece, we aim to guide you to the correct bike for your height. With the various demands of different bike riding disciplines, we’ve also split our guidance into various tables based on different bike types. 

What Size Bike Do I Need for My Height? 

Almost all models of bicycles are sold in various frame sizes so the same bike can be ridden by people of different heights. 

There are exceptions, however. Some bikes are sold in one frame size – mostly notably folding bikes. Usually, these bikes have adjustable features, namely the handlebar and seatpost, that slide up and down to suit riders of different heights. 

Back to those bike’s that are in different sizes. Your height is the key figure to have at the forefront of your mind as you begin to search for a bike.

Anthropology and the evolution of humans have meant that your height and your leg length are directly related, with most people’s total leg-to-body ratios sitting between 1:1 and 1:1.5. Put simply, as your height grows, so does your leg length. 

The taller you are as a bike rider, the larger the size of bike you need. Whilst this is not a groundbreaking fact in itself – it is one that goes some way to explain the important measurements bike designers use when aligning different bike sizes to riders of different heights. 

As a general rule, most bikes are sized by their seat tube, that’s the part of the frame that rises vertically up from the bottom bracket ending where the seatpost is inserted into the frame. Usually, this figure is measured in cm or mm.

Somewhat confusingly some bikes are also sized using clothing sizing: small, medium, large and so on. This more common sizing parlance is helpful in some ways but the measurement will almost always refer back to the length of the bike’s seat tube. 

Most mountain bikes continue to be sized in inches.

Men’s Bike Size Chart

Beginning our lengthy list of bicycle sizes by height is our chart for men’s bike sizes. In the table, you can see the three most common units of bike size, the bike types that use that format and an accompanying height range. Typically all bikes, or those marketed as unisex, can be shoehorned into this table.

Women’s Bike Size Chart 

Broadly speaking, women and men tend to be different shapes so some bicycles are manufactured with a women’s specific fit. Most women tend to be shorter in height and have shorter arms so a women’s bike will have different proportions to a unisex bike. 

Road Bike Size Chart 

Typically road bikes are measured in CM. Some brands prefer to use standard sizes like medium or larger.

There’s no industry standard sizing for road bikes and each brand will have its own approach to both design and sizing. Therefore be careful when comparing brands. A size S in one brand may well equate to a size M in another.

Once you’ve chosen the right sized frame for you, a road bike can be fine-tuned to fit you exactly. Adjusting the saddle height is the easiest thing to do.

Changing the handlebar height or the stem length (a component which determines how far forward you have to reach for the handlebars) is a little more complicated but definitely not out of the question for a competent DIYer.

Mountain Bike Size Chart 

Inches (“) are the most common unit of measurement for mountain bikes – although recently manufacturers are more frequently listing their bikes as S, M, L and so on. Mountain bike frames are much smaller than road bikes, so comparing two bikes with the same frame size is like comparing apples and oranges. 

Gravel Bike Size Chart 

Gravel bikes are closely related to road bikes, so their geometry is broadly similar. Like road bikes, they’re usually measured in CM. Gravel bikes designed for fun and exploration tend to be more comfort-orientated with an upright riding position. 

Folding Bike Size Chart

As we’ve discussed already, folding bikes are usually manufactured in one frame size. Despite that, they have a range of adjustable components in order to help make the bike suitable for riders of different shapes and sizes.

In our experience, the best folding bikes will suit any rider from 4’7” all the way up to 6’8”.

Hybrid Bike Size Chart 

Hybrid bikes offer the best of both mountain and road bikes. They combine the ruggedness of mountain bikes with the faster elements of road bikes. Hybrid bikes can look and ride more like mountain bikes or road bikes, so sizing can vary greatly. 

Whichever size hybrid you buy just be sure that you’ll be able to stand over the frame with a small gap between your crotch and the top tube.

Fixie Bike Size Chart

Fixie bikes are great for zipping from A to B. Their simple design removes the faff from riding a bike and allows you to focus on the simple jobs of pedalling, turning and braking. Fixie bikes take their heritage from traditional road bikes with the odd flavour of track bike thrown in for good measure. Usually, fixie bikes are sized in CM. 

How to Tell Bike Size 

Most bike sizes are indicated by a sticker attached to the frame. Whether it’s a clothing size (e.g M), a unit given in CM (e.g. 56cm) or in Inches (e.g. 18”) the sticker is usually located somewhere on the frame’s seat tube. 

What if there are no labels? Whip out a tape measure and calculate the size of the seat tube – that’s the distance from the bottom bracket to the top of the vertical seat tube. That should give you, at the very least, a rough estimate of the size of your bike.