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mrs ton has a xs troll, but she dont like it. it is hefty, so i thought about building her something nice and light up.
she is only 5ft and weighs just over 10.5 stone, so i was thinking something in either alloy or carbon, thith some lightweight wheels and bits.
we dont carry a lot of gear when touring, only clothes for a evening, we wash riding gear each night.
any ideas on a suitable 14''/15'' frame or bike?
Kaffenback Tony?
Tony - my wife has a Specialized Vita and she LOVES it! She is only 4'11" tall and the XS is absolutely diddy but fits her perfectly.
It has rack and low rider mounts front and back. Hers doesn't have much tyre clearance but can fit 28c and guards on, but I think more recent versions have more clearance.
All the kit on it she loves - saddle/grips/controls/gear ratios so I haven't had to change a thing.
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BTW she did a 3 day tour with panniers on no problem.
If you're small and light you don't need a hefty steel thing, alloy is fine unless you're going all camping gear over a long period and even then not really.
There aren't many manufactures that will do bikes that small.
agree with the steel thing rob. i does weigh a bit for a small bike.
will have a look at the spesh and giant stuff in alloy. and mayge build it with some light wheels and carbon bars/stem/post.
like i said we dont camp and carry lots of stuff so it should be ok.
I'm 5,3 on a good day and 10 stone. I tour on a kaffenback 2.
I have drop bars on it but with flat bars the reach would be lovely for someone a little shorter.
Koga?
Ton - if you can't find an XS one to try let me know and I am sure we could have a day out to leeds to show you the Vita.
Robdob - thanks for posting those pics. MrsMC is 4'10 and I'm forever being told that nothing will go small enough to fit her!
giant do the thrive range down to a 38cm frame. it will take guards and racks by the look of it.
Cube do a whole series of "hybrid" bikes that the Euros call trekkers. They come with short-travel forks, are aluminium and will take racks, mudguards etc. They go right down to tiny size in a Women-fit version. They are all based on the same frame and just get more expensive/lighter with better kit.
Like this..
http://www.cube.eu/uk/bikes/tour/cross/cube-cross-pro-anthrazit-silver-green-2015-trapeze/
Why not go for a lighter steel frame? When the frame's as small as that the difference in weight between top-quality butted steel and aluminium is tiny - the weight will be in the other stuff and if you plan to build it with light kit then there's no reason you couldn't make a light bike out of it.
On that note - shameless plug coming - we have an XS Thorn Sherpa ex-hire bike available - could be persuaded to do frame-only or frame-plus-some-bits if that's any good.
drovercycles, that sounds interesting. could you let me know some prices.