My feeling riding the Warden was that it felt shorter and more agile than a reach number of 500 mm suggests. My remark about the geometry feeling dated is that many of the bikes that came out this year are longer and slacker for the same size. The Warden in some ways has made me re-evaluate how I think about bike sizing. I had two size large test bikes this year that were 500 mm reach and they couldn't have felt more different on the trail. So instead of looking at Reach, I now look at the Wheelbase, the Rear Center, Head Angle, and BB Drop. This tells me where my wheels, feet and hands will be in the bike. Ultimately I think Reach can be a misleading as a small stack height will effectively reduce the Reach as you add stem spacers, head angle plays a big factor in the front center length and rear center plays a big factor in how a bike feels on the trail.
Nov. 13, 2020, 9:09 a.m. - Tim Coleman
My feeling riding the Warden was that it felt shorter and more agile than a reach number of 500 mm suggests. My remark about the geometry feeling dated is that many of the bikes that came out this year are longer and slacker for the same size. The Warden in some ways has made me re-evaluate how I think about bike sizing. I had two size large test bikes this year that were 500 mm reach and they couldn't have felt more different on the trail. So instead of looking at Reach, I now look at the Wheelbase, the Rear Center, Head Angle, and BB Drop. This tells me where my wheels, feet and hands will be in the bike. Ultimately I think Reach can be a misleading as a small stack height will effectively reduce the Reach as you add stem spacers, head angle plays a big factor in the front center length and rear center plays a big factor in how a bike feels on the trail.