Yes, we’ve been here before, no, she has never bothered acting on any of the previous ideas you’ve offered us, but today MrsMC has again suggested that we should perhaps look for a better bike.

She is only 4’10, and has cerebral palsy so she doesn’t have full use of her left leg and arm. She currently rides a 24″ wheel rigid girls bike, and is happy on easier English blue routes, but struggles on the bigger and more technical blues that we’ve tried in Scotland which the kids are just starting to manage, hence the idea of a better bike.

Looking at probably second hand due to how it will have to be tweaked properly for her.

She can’t swing her leg over the saddle to get on the bike, so needs a really low top tube she can step through to get on it. She can fit on a 26″ wheel, 13″/xs Spesh Myka when we’ve tried it, so initial thought was to pick one up second hand and tweek and lighten it for her.

However, one of the problems she has is that she cannot stand on the pedals so takes a beating when trails get rougher, so I was wondering if anyone ever made an xs short travel full sus with a low stand over, or would the extra weight over a hardtail be counter productive?

Another issue is braking. She effectively can’t brake with her left hand or shift gears (so we’d be going 1x anyway), and has had a couple of confidence sapping crashes when she’s overcooked it in the last year or so. Is it possible to run front and rear hydraulic brakes off one lever? Pretty sure I’ve seen it done elsewhere.

So what ideas or advice does the hive mind have while she might be more receptive to them? Or any websites or experts that we can chat to? Budget is vague – she doesn’t think it’s worth spending much on her, but I’m not sure we can get it right without throwing some (of my next bike) budget at it.

Thanks in advance.

I’m sure one of the Hope founders had a single lever setup on his bike in a mag article a while ago – might be worth dropping them a line?

However, one of the problems she has is that she cannot stand on the pedals so takes a beating when trails get rougher, so I was wondering if anyone ever made an xs short travel full sus with a low stand over, or would the extra weight over a hardtail be counter productive?

Would something like one of those sprung seat posts help with this?

I’ve nothing to add in terms of suggestions, but I admire her dedication.

Yep, two calipers off one master cylinder is fine, we have numerous access bikes set up like this, mostly with maguras as they made lots of levers that will take two hoses.
We have others set up for those with similar requirements, too. Some require a shorter crank arm or even a single spd to allow better flow with an uneven pedal stroke, some others have a makeshift steering damper to help hold lines in corners.

For parts, Mission cycles are good, but a little pricey as they serve the (rather cornered) access bike community.

Also, another chap who comes to our group with a day service has absolutely fallen in love with our trailmate trikes as he can forget about the balance bit and happily steer with one hand as he has trouble reaching with both. He says that they are really comfy over the rough stuff, too.
Trailmate.com Also have good parts for modding

Yep, braking can be fixed with some clever single lever/split hose goodness. I also seem to remember that Hope set up, but can’t find it! I’ve certainly worked on some single lever set ups over the years, last one was with a Magura rim brake set up. Clever stuff.

The closest fit I can think of on the low standover bouncy bike would be a Liv Lust (Liv being Giant’s female brand.).

Comes in a XS size, numbers here – https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/lust.1/25021/90619/#geometry

Kiddyback tandem with suspension seatpost.

Hope had a go with the brakes but couldn’t get it to work IIRC as the master cylinder was too small for 2 calipers. I think some have made it work by attaching the rear hose to the front bleed port but you end up with lots of throw. Seem to recall Magura being mentioned? A straight split in the system wouldn’t work as you’d have 50/50 bias which you wouldn’t want. Double levers are done a bit, you’d need flip flop brake levers like sram or some hopes as shimano levers won’t work as one needs to be upside down and they don’t like that. Grip shift would help keep the controls manageable?

Had a bit of a Google to try and find the hope setup and came across this? http://www.mtb-amputee.com/bikemodifications.htm

Older stump jumpers had a lot of stand over and came in small sizes, 120mm of travel. 06/07 era. Would be pretty cheap if you can find something like that to give it a go?

Our maguras work at 70/30 by running a wider hose on the front. Seems to work fine.

Also, Yep, stumpys are pretty low. We use hardtails for some as they are tiny frames! Coupled with a thudbuster type post it might just work out a bit comfier

As to brakes, I love these! http://www.pedicabshop.com/blog/perfect-twin-disc-brakes-big-magura-twin.html
Two years with no maintenance so far!

Cable set ups work too with a cable splitter.
http://recumbentparts.com/cat/0/6/27/0/disc.html

Cheers guys, some useful ideas and experiences there to follow up. Will look at older Stumpjumpers and Livs as well.

My wife is 5’2″ has Cerebal Palsy and rides a GT Avalanche WSD XS. She’s doing the guild wheel round Preston on it tomorrow!

Edit: Her left side is affected too.

The Tektro Auriga Twin system runs two calipers from one brake lever – I use them on recumbents quite often.

Dartmoor shine is a slopestyle fs frame with horizontal dropouts. You can also run it geared with a hanger that slots in the dropout if you wished.
It’s tiny, has very low stand over, pretty light ALU, and you could borrow it to hit some jumps / pumptrack.
Here’s what mine looked like..

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc310/jenga101/DSC_2746_zps586cf9ad.jpg

24″ FS?

Perhaps Kona Stinky 2-4 second hand plus a little dieting / respec’ing.

120mm travel, stock weight 36lbs (really) but easy to get under 30lbs and I think you could get near 25lbs if you really wanted.

Number one son loved his in the Alps last two summers.

That said there are a few other nice looking small FS bikes now mainly aimed at overindulgent fathers.

Propain do one, as do Commencal, Norco. Propain looks nicest I think and a decent spec as (not that cheap) standard.

Will be tough to find 2nd hand as they’ve not been out for long, but one of these could fit the bill:
Transition Ripcord
But maybe get the frameset and build it up with 2nd hand/modded parts?

Scott Contessa has low standover height as well iirc
Thudbuster lt fot the seat post. We use the short throw on the back of the tandem and it is great for soaking up bumps so I would guess that the larger version is even better and you should probably have the room for it. Requires almost no maintenance as well

Thanks for all the replies – lots of ideas to look over now.

BenjiM – can I ask what changes have you had to make to help your wife with that GT Avalanche? Email in profile if you prefer

On One Fun Fatty?

I had wondered about a Fat Bike option. Not sure she would accept anything with the word “Fat” in it without taking offence. Why isn’t there an On One Big Boned?

if second hand is an option…
the old orange 5 diva fs, from 2007/2008 in size xs has a low standover height..

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/orange-5-diva-who-owns-one-and-how-is-it-set-up

Was going to suggest the Orange Five Diva too if you can find one, they are diddy as a diddy thing, with the kind of low standover you’d be looking for.

26″ front 24″ rear could help too – lower BB, more standover, slacker angles.

A straight split in the system wouldn’t work as you’d have 50/50 bias which you wouldn’t want.

Would running different disc sizes front/rear help, ie 140mm rear vs 203mm front?

I’m same height and find my 14 inch Trek Lush xs still hard to get on (lowest standover i could find) as with the short reach required there isn’t much room to stand over. A dropper post is a must to get the seat low and when she feels steady she can put it up. Would she be able to manage a dropper post with her left hand? Happy to let her try some of my short person solutions.

However, if you want to go new, how about trying the new childrens’ trek fuel: 26 inch wheels, 100mm travel (Was reviewed on this site recently)? Trek fuel jr Probably a bit smaller. TBH if she finds this too big then I’d go for 24 inch wheels. Commencal did a fs 24″ downhill bike, they currently do a 20″ one.

Trek fuel ex jnr could be an option.

Here’s the link to that Propain Yuma. Designed for riders 1.35m and over.

Propain Yuma 24/26

Thanks guys. Just seen Evans have an ex demo baby Norco FS for sale. This could get very expensive!

Wow. Those Yuma bikes look ace!