Do they make them small enough and still able to get suspension fitted in correctly. Any five footers out there with experience of this?
Ta
mamadirt will be along shortly, I'm sure
(meantime: trance, titus, ... ?)
Specialized seem to do some tiny weenie womens bikes
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=40588&eid=215
I think thats a 14 inch frame. Mrs TJ rides a 16 inch frame and its perfect for her at barely 5'5" ( not one of those tho)
My biking other, is a short 5ft2 ish and uses my Trek Fuel ex7, but she occasionally complains it too small, trek used to do a WSD versiosn in the smaller sizes.
i'm 5ft 4" and I ride a 15" Ventana X5 no probs.
The Orange Diva is available in crazy small
There's quite a big choice of bikes available that would fit (Chumba xcl,giant reign,turner 5 spot to name a few) but as you point out I'm not sure that the suspension works as well.
Hi - I'm a five footer with a full-sus ๐ I've got a titus motolite (which is the xs - a 12.5 inch frame) - the suspension fits in fine and it's a great, albeit expensive, bike. The other bike that fitted perfectly was the Orange Diva. I'd just say that it's not only the reach / standover that are important, but the overall weight of the bike - I'm obviously quite a small lass and really struggle with heavy full-sus bikes.
just fyi - gf 4ft10 Spec Myka Pro 13" with down curve tube - one of the few bikes I could find to fit her, it's not full sus, but it's light etc and good kit level (and was in a sale)
(google edignburgh bike sale)
Specialized Safire is worth a look. Very low standover height relative to many other similar sized frames.
Have a look at Cube.
GF is 5ft1" and rides a Giant Trance. I think its an XS.
If your getting gnarly, how about a kona Stinky 2-4
A friend of ours that we ride with has a Marin rift zone full susser & she gets on really well with it. She must be about 5 ft 2.
#1 daughter has an old model Anthem in XS (c. 14.5") and she's just hit 5'2" but had it from 5'.
Spesh also do small women's frames, their hardtails start at 13" so I imagine they'll do suss in similarly small modes.
Spesh were a bit long when I checked it out. Turner 5 spot would be great but she would have a newer one than me. In my world that ain't right. It's common knowledge they have to have worse bike so you can always look fitter.
scaredypants - Membermamadirt will be along shortly, I'm sure
Hello ๐ . That 5 Spot is lovely.
I'm afraid I've never been very sensible when it comes to full-sus bikes - zero standover clearance and all that (explains why I have my seat at such a quirky angle for easy bail outs off the back - nothing to do with pinching the seat for no handers ๐ . . . I wish). I tend to look at toptube length when speccing a new bike. Small Heckler, Intense Tazer and current bike Bullit all have 20.5-21" toptubes and feel spot on whereas although I've loved the couple of longer toptubed Kona f/s bikes I've owned (05 Stinky and 07 Coiler) - both were very 'shut-up and hold on' in that I was really trusting their travel to get me through stuff instead of feeling in control. I'm 5'2" (with short legs ๐ ) btw. Have a look at the small Intense Tracer too if your budget can stretch that far (mine can't just yet ๐ ) - cracking little bike - light and plenty of [s]travel[/s] skill compensation too.
Oh and yes, the Stinky 2-4 may be worth a look if you don't mind the extra weight. I had a [url= http://mamadirt.fotopic.net/p58910179.html ]brief flirtation with one[/url] a couple of years ago - absolute riot on the downhills (especially with a 26" wheel up front) but the super short (19" iirc) toptube made pedalling any distance a complete no no.
SC Juliana comes in teeny too, there's really a good range of choice out there these days. Not that I need it now I'm Tall ๐
BillyBull - MemberSpesh were a bit long when I checked it out. Turner 5 spot would be great but she would have a newer one than me. In my world that ain't right. It's common knowledge they have to have worse bike so you can always look fitter.
Typical macho response, both Mrs NBTs bikes are newer than mine - if you need the latest gear to look better then you must be rubbish, I can look bettter on anything ๐


