Any suggestions for Mrs Sideshow, whose Giant Trance size S is honestly still a bit big, heavy and long legged?

Budget around 1500, unless it’s *really* amazeballs; end of year sale and decent 2nd hand both considered but please consider this a “what should we be looking out for” rather than a “wanted” thread.

Might be a bit big, but a good deal..

Scott 2016 Genius 720 Plus Full Suspension Mountain Bike was £2900 now £1449 in Small

Might be a bit big, but a good deal..

Scott 2016 Genius 720 Plus Full Suspension Mountain Bike was £2900 now £1449 in Small[quote]Approximate Weight 13.8kg / 30.42lbs[/quote]
Yeah, too big, really heavy and not really an XC/Trail bike at all – exactly what the OP was after.

Yeah but apart from that, it’s perfect 😉

My wife is the same height and rides an xs giant. Looks like Pauls has some of the 2016 women’s FS bikes in that size, the lust 1 looks interesting at £1500

Mrs_OAB loves her Trek Superfly – was £1k on C2W after 30% off in sale last year. She is 5’1″, was almost on the 15″, but we went with 13.5″/XS. It needs some beefier tyres, the fork I dropped out oil and put some slightly lighter oil in to get it to respond better as her weight is below what the fork can / should have air pressure wise.

It is light, especially as a ‘non bling, no carbon’ bike.

I think there are some carbon versions on sale at momenent, but they are only a 100g or so lighter, and I think investing the money in seatpost/saddle/bars/cranks would be better.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/LxFSxU]Laggan Wolftrax August 16[/url] by Matt Robinson, on Flickr

To add: we looked at FS, but nothing came close in terms of weight and good kit, or feel of acceleration on the trail. Sure a FS would be more comfy and controlled, but mrs_oab is about fun, not shredding teh gnar….

(Yes that is Laggan, that a few folk have told me can’t be ridden on HT).

Similar to the idea above, the new Alu Pro-Caliber might be a good call.
Don’t think you’ll get a FS that’s not an anchor on your budget, and it only takes a look at the Womens XC WC to tell you that the lighter riders there select a HT much more often than the men as heavy bikes have much more impact on them.

Don’t think you’ll get a FS that’s not an anchor on your budget

Hence my ‘unless its amazeballs’ comment – if there are brilliant deals on carbon around we’d consider a bit more

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s185p6915/GIANT-LUST-1-2016

XS in stock

Womens Specialized Camber and Whyte T130 both come in XS

http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Specialized-Womens-Camber-650b-11558-36-0.html

http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Whyte-T130-SX-12019-36-0.html

Bird zero tr in xs my other half has one and is of similar height. They also do demos to check it fits

https://www.bird.bike/product-category/complete-bikes/zero-tr-hardtail/

Much though I would tout the benefits of hardtails, i think we’re looking at full suss

Ghost Lectors were only a bit over 1k in Carbon a couple of years ago, shame they had 0 mud clearance!

Female specific Canyon Neurons look decent.

Much though I would tout the benefits of hardtails, i think we’re looking at full suss

You’ll struggle to get a decent light FS on your budget. I’d second the suggestion of a Trek hardtail, the new Alu Pro-Caliber has the IsoSpeed decoupler rear, so a great compromise. Quoted weight for the Procaliber 6 womens 15.5″ is 26.50 lbs. But at ‘only’ £1300 new there is probably room for some better wheels to bring the overall weight down.

Ok, so given the budget is flexible, what 120mm-ish full susser is good for a short lady if you’ve got £2500 to spend?

Pedelon have some Sparks, anthems and treks on sale within that price.

If a small trance is currently a bit big will an anthem be any better?

at 5’1″, it’ll most likely be an XS, and at that size it’ll be a ‘Liv Lust’, as mentioned above.

MsWife has one, it’s too small for me to ride, but she says she really likes it…

Possibly too big but I have a small anthem for sale if it’s of any interest. Bristol area.