# What bb height/bb drop for rigid 26" MTB?



## MPU (May 15, 2009)

What height do you use for rigid 26" MTB's? I suppose that for non-rocky trail use it could be lower than for rocky trail bikes. Please give me your opinions.
Thanks,
Marko


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## febikes (Jan 28, 2011)

I used 1" drop on my bike and feel it works well for me. 1" drop seems fairly standard for an XC bike.

On my wife's bike I am using 1.5" drop because she will be riding much less technical trails (mostly double track). 

If you run shorter cranks, you can use a lower BB height. Another factor is how much travel you plan for your fork. If you are running a rigid fork you don't need as much height while. If on the other hand you are running 180mm cranks with a fork that provides 160mm of travel you should consider a slightly higher BB.


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## MPU (May 15, 2009)

I'm going rigid with 175mm cranks. My current bike has about 58mm drop/275mm bb height and I was wondering if I could go with lower bb as it is really annoying to stop on traffic lights when I can't reach ground with my feet. My MTB riding is mostly in quite easy and level trails (that's what age does, I have no interest in banging myself in rocks and roots). 
Marko


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## mhickey79 (Feb 22, 2007)

MPU said:


> I was wondering if I could go with lower bb as it is really annoying to stop on traffic lights when I can't reach ground with my feet.
> Marko


Have you looked at Electra's "flat foot technology" geometry?


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## febikes (Jan 28, 2011)

The key to all geometry is to understand how you want the bike to ride. For what you describe lower is better. You may want to look at this in bike cad and make some adjustments based on a number of factors. For the type of riding you describe you can go quite low. If you combine this with a slack seat tube angle you can easily get something close to flat footing at lights.


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

If you are just riding street and dirt path, then 270-275mm of height will be just fine. 270 would be my choice. The feeling of a nice low bike on the road or dirt is pretty awesome.

Basically, road height. It won't be 'sweet' in the rocks, but it will ride really great everywhere else.

I've ridden Marin singletrack with 172.5mm cranks and 265mm bb height and I was able to get throught the day. But this height was just a little too low for hard pedaling corners on street without dragging pedal (toe cage style) so I'd call 270mm a minimum height.

I wouldn't go any higher than 290mm. That's fine for full rigid off road riding on real trail.


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## pvd (Jan 4, 2006)

It will also help to check your saddle setback. If you are too far forward now, it's going to raise you on the bike, thus more of a reach to the ground. Set it right like you would on a road bike and use that number. KOPS and a 150 degree knee angle will get you in the ballpark if you haven't done any fit work before. Most folks are using mid cleat these days, so set that up prior to setting the saddle.


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