Short people, what do you ride?

Balance bike?

Ride whatever your comfortable on, I ride a Roscoe 9 in Med that’s for a very low stand over possibly the best clearance I’ve ever had, also ride a rail in Med and that’s massive but fits in length and every other way, I gave up with stand over clearance years ago as small bikes I was too cramped, im 165cm height 30” inside leg.

It’s one of those not every bike will fit but I find trek do tend to have a sweet spot for me sizing wise.

Not taking the Michael but have you looked a femal geometry bikes, they'll be shorter and come in smaller seat tube lengths so you can fit your dropper?

5'7" and ride a 15" Specialized Chisel. I'm probably on the limit of the frame size but the next size would have been too long in the reach. They do seem to have a long top tube.

have you looked a femal geometry bikes

I have looked but the colours put me off a bit.

that’s for a very low stand over possibly the best clearance I’ve ever had

Not talking about standover. It's the long seat tubes that are the problem. A medium frame with 120mm dropper is too tall for my short legs. Your legs are 2 inches longer than mine.

Have you looked at Juliana or Liv bikes?
what sort of bikes are you after?

How short a seat tube do you need? Are you on 165mm (or shorter) cranks? Quite a lot of newer bikes seem to be below 400mm seat tube lengths but with reach closer to 450mm.

A lightweight downcountry bike. Really don't want anything over 12kg. Seat Tube needs to be 405mm or less.

Quite a lot of newer bikes seems to be below 400mm seat tube lengths but with reach closer to 450mm.

Which models?

I was waiting on a Transition Spur with X01 spec but the new ones are AXS and heavy.

Surely at that height you don't need a long dropper or can't you get 100mm or shorter one's these days?

MrsBeanZ is 5'3" ish -  small whyte t130 fitted great , currently on a medium levo sl- very similar geo to the t130- 100mm dropper is slammed tho.

5'7"

Medium Santa Cruz Tallboy

54cm Cannondale Systemsix

S/M Giant Revolt

Medium Giant Trinity

very bike dependent

“A lightweight downcountry bike”

That does massively restrict the choices - it’s in trail and enduro bikes that I’ve noticed the seat tubes getting really short size for size. The size down from my Moxie hardtail is 395mm seat tube and ~460mm reach. The new Cube Stereo bikes are all 370mm seat tube in a small and about 420-430mm reach.

5ft 4" here with 27.5" legs. 🙁

I ride a small Orange stage eco, I have had a Transition Smuggler in small, and a Cotic Solaris in small as well.

Most small frames should fit you I would have thought? The later geo should give you a longer reach.

I feel your pain OP as someone who has seemingly short legs even for my short 167cm height. I found that there are a couple of brands that usually have shorter seat tubes, Transition & Ibis definitely do.

In my own circumstance I have worked out that with a max seat tube length of 410mm & crank length of 165mm I can use a 150mm OneUp dropper & these are now my golden measurements when I'm bike shopping. I would suggest that if you haven't looked at the OneUp dropper you should as it could buy you that vital few mm that would allow you to fit onto a medium frame. Using this setup I'm able to ride a medium Trek Fuel EXe which is the biggest bike I've had in years but I feel much more comfortable on it than being cramped on the size small bikes I've had previously.

I would suggest that if you haven’t looked at the OneUp dropper you should as it could buy you that vital few mm that would allow you to fit onto a medium frame.

This. The last bike I bought I couldn't get the saddle low enough for the drop with the standard dropper. A One Up fixed this for the same drop.

Look for low stack droppers and even low profile saddles.

What about throwing 155mm cranks into the mix well. Most bikes seem to have 170 cranks so would improve your saddle clearance by another 15mm if you switched over. Couple that with the fact that at your height you probably have shorter than average legs as well and you might find your riding improve.

I'm 5' 6 and have both a Canyon Exceed and a Lux in small, Exceed I think goes down to XS size worth looking at Cube as there frames typically come up small anyway.

Definitely don't want shorter cranks. Tried 165mm and didn't like it. Plus shorter cranks means less leverage.

I'm on a small T130 now with a 125mm reverb. Fit is perfect but I'm finding it heavy for more XC rides. A capable XC bike might be an option. I get more of a buz pushing for a a PR going uphill than downhill. But do like to have fun on some rides too.

“Plus shorter cranks means less leverage.”

You have to go down the right number of teeth on the chain ring - torque drops but cadence increases so power stays the same. You’re probably just not used to shorter cranks but if you’ve got short legs I’d be very surprised if your body didn’t work better with 165mm or shorter cranks. I have long legs and ride 165mm cranks!

Carbonda FM909 has a 410mm seat tube but with the shock mounted under the top tube it allows for a longer section of the seat tube to be straight to accommodate a OneUp dropper which can have its travel fine tuned to suit maximum drop / leg length / seat tube.

Geometry is pretty progressive for an XC bike and it'll take up to a 120mm fork and maybe a 42.5 stroke shock to eek a little more travel from the rear.

I'm 5'7" with a 30" inside leg and have a FM936 and can only use a OneUp dropper with 110mm of drop using 170mm cranks.

5’5.5” medium transition spur. Think I got the last one in lockdown. Love it. Mines deore spec, so fork and shock aren’t the best, and it could lose some weight, but then so could I.

Jamis dakar same set up as above comment

5'5 here and been Riding a size 17.5 Carrera Banshee X for the last 13 years.A bit to big for me,so I have moved the seat forward and attached a short stem.Still to big and heavy but I'm not cramped!Thinking about moving on to a Jamis dakar of some description.

I was going to say Transition and Bird both tend to have short seat tubes. On a medium Sentinel at 5’9 I can run a 210mm dropper with room to spare where I could drop the post in further. Obviously the Spur is the only lightweight one Transition make in full suss.

Bird Aether 9 / 9c is the lightest bike Bird make - probably much the same as your T130.

I’m sure there was another recent thread similar to this one - someone else short and obsessed with getting below a certain weight of bike - but with less of a budget than you must have.

Could you just pickup a Spur frame only and pick your own build kit seperately? Put 35mm stanchion SIDS on it, some lightweight carbon wheels, sram mechanical XX1, carbon bars and cranks, lightweight casing tyres etc?

When I look at more xc ish stuff you tend to get shorter reach vs seat tube height.

Epic Evo is normally quoted as an alternative, as is the Izzo and Vitus Rapide FS (also sold by Carbonda and NS bikes I think).

I'm 5"6ish and ride a medium transition patrol and a medium Stanton Switchback fs160. Both have a 150mm dropper, and probs could fit a 170mm. the patrol has 165mm cranks the Stanton 170mm.

Both fit well, but have got hold of an aether 7 in medium as I find the Stanton a bit short and wanted something with less travel. Stanton used to do some custom geometry where you could have a larger size reach but a smaller size standover. Not sure if this is a thing anymore though.

Mrsfoo is 5'4" with short legs long body, generally rides medium to get decent reach so squeezing in a dropper can be an issue. She now has a medium v4 Santa Cruz 5010 with 165mm cranks managed to fit a 150mm OneUp dropper in, thought we might have to shim it to 140mm but seems OK. 12kg is more of an issue you'd need lightest wheel/tyre/crank/fork combo. More recent frames have shorter seat tubes these days, on older frames I've considered cutting seat tube down to get a longer dropper in.

geometrygeeks.bike web site is good for figuring frame sizes out.

5'6" 30" inside leg

Enduro is a medium

rc529 is medium and kenevo is S3 (so medium)

All give enough room to move around on. The enduro is smallest of the three and although medium is smaller feeling.  I'm usually on the s/m cusp but always go bigger because they feel more fun to flip around.

1m77 here on a medium Rail with a Bonty 170 dropper slammed into the seat tube and an S3 Kenevo SL with the stock X-Fusion 150 also fully slammed into the ridiculously short seat tube. Both bikes have 165 cranks.

Look for low stack droppers and even low profile saddles.

The Bike Yoke droppers are also low stack (v. good but £££, although an additional benefit is that it is easy to change the drop with appropriate spacers).

I’m 5’ 10”, but have a 30” inside leg, so fitting is a challenge. I <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">still ride my now v old Sanderson Breath most of the time because it’s one of the best fits that I’ve ever had and still delivers all day fun. That bike has a 100 mm Thomson dropper that I usually set at just below max extension (I’d have bought an 80 mm, but the one I bought was too good to refuse from Ebay, plus it works fine at whatever extension you set it).</span>

As mentioned Bird seat tubes are generally on the shorter side. I'm 5'9" (~31" legs) and ride a M/L AM9 (420 ST) with 170 cranks and a 170 dropper.

I think the medium frames are ~400 ST.

1 Inch taller , 29 inside leg , ride mostly small sized , mtb, plus bike and fat bike, road bikes a 53cm (cube) or 46cm small giant , gravel bikes are 52cm , all fit fine with plenty of reach ... try a longer stem if reach is an issue ?

Ibis are a good bet - short seat tubes with very deep post insertion. The boss at Ibis is v tall and the main designer is v short so they seem to consider non-average humans!

Found a pic of them:

Looking to spend about 8k if it has everything I'm after. Basically an XC bike with 120mm travel on both ends.

Just looked at the Bird Aether 9C but it's not light at 2.7kg just for the frame. I don't need anything that burly. For example when I had Rebas on one bike and Pikes on the other, I never noticed any extra flex on the Rebas. I probably would if I was a bigger rider.

Good call on ibis. Just had a look and their geometry looks pretty great in a medium.

What reason have you got for not going with a carbon wasp truffle this week?

5'7 and have a small SolarisMax with 170mm cranks. Doesn't feel anywhere near big. Standover height is great and has a 180mm One Up dropper.

Yeti SB120

&

Evil Following

What reason have you got for not going with a carbon wasp truffle this week?

Just not that keen on it. Im tempted, but keep hesitating and can't work out why. If I do get one, I'd probably build it with SIDs and an XX1 groupset so would tick all the boxes. I'll have another look.

What reason have you got for not going with a carbon wasp truffle this week?

perhaps the seat tube length?  their medium is 420mm.

I was waiting on a Transition Spur with X01 spec but the new ones are AXS and heavy.

looking at the transition website, only the top model is offered with asx. the GX Rock Shox model is quoted as 12.2kg for medium.

the latest ripley has superboost rear axle. i’d be surprised if the ripley frame is lighter than the spur.

I'm another with a Bird (AM160). I'm 5'6" at a push, leg 29". I also have a Pipedream Moxie. Both with c.170mm droppers and 165mm cranks. Essentially I just researched a lot of geometry info. Frames that are known to be long for their sizes are likely to be low (in seat tube length as much as any other measure) for their length, I figured, and so it largely was. I did also find various other options that would suit me in this regard but I wasn't looking for a similar bike to you. This class you're talking about is pretty much all 29er, which won't help but shouldn't be insurmountable either.

Also as mentioned above, Crank length obviously makes the corresponding difference, and low stack droppers too. I have a Bikeyoke, which I bought for this reason but on a previous frame. Both of my current frames have a little room to spare, and the Bird has a stock Brand X.

5'7" here with a 29" inseam.  I'm on a custom geo Starling Swoop which is somewhere between small and medium but has a super short seat tube at 380mm.  It means I can't run a bottle in the frame so a bit off trend but it does mean I can run a 180mm dropper quite comfortably. I could use a 200mm+ OneUp but I'm still towing the kids around so the Traxx tow rope sits above the seat clamp until the kids legs get a bit stronger.

Oh and can 2nd the short cranks - I'm on 165s and have been for at least 10 years. I'd never go back to 175s gear it appropriately and there's no disadvantages.  I'll swap to to the Hope 155s at some point.

5'6" with 30" legs. I have a 26 aint dead BFE in small and a medium Aeris 9 both with 165mm cranks but the BFe has a 125mm dropper and the Bird a 150 althought i could probably just about squeezed a 150 into the BFe. Due to two bouts of covid over the last 6 months ive hardly done any distance on the Bird but what I have done it feels really nice but way too heavy for youre 12Kgs. The BFe i must have had for 7 years? and regardless of it maybe being a bit short for me its what im used to and because of that it just works.

168cm here with 75cm inside leg.

Most S frames (40/41cm) frames have been good for me, even with recent LLS geometry - my current RocketMAX S frame feels spot on (as did my previous S mk2 Rocket and 16" Alpine 160). All used with pretty short stems (35mm/45mm).

I've used 165cm cranks for years now and that seems to help things feel better fitting.

Will always run the longest dropper I can fit in the seat tube but find that's the easiest thing to be pragmatic about when setting up a bike as a shorty.

Scott Spark in small is probably perfect for you, they're tiny to be honest, 415mm seat tube, reach of 410mm, 130mm travel, 125mm dropper about as capable an XC bike as you can get, if you can get them.

My nearly 11 yr old ride a small Scale 950 with a 100mm dropper, granted the seat tube is a bit shorter but he's 4'10" and the dropper isn't slammed to the seat collar.

I'm 5'4" with a longer leg to shorter body ratio.  A whyte T130 size small is the bike of choice.

5'5" with a 29" inside leg. I'm currently on a small (S2) Stumpjumper (not Evo - 130mm back, 140mm front). I started with a medium but it was too long. It came with a Fox Transfer with 150mm drop (was on the M frame).

I realise it's probably too much travel for what you want, but Spesh have the S-Works Stumpy for £8.5k on sale

I was on a 120mm ASR5 before the Stumpy and swore that was the perfect amount of travel for my riding, but the Stumpy is surprisingly nimble.

5' 6" with a 29" inside leg.

Specialized Rockhopper Expert - Small - 27.5" wheels. Had to change the 40mm stem to a 80mm stem to make more comfortable.

Scott Scale 710 - medium - 27.5" wheels.

I dont like 29" wheels, too big IMHO for the bike and my size/height.

Scott Spark in small is probably perfect for you

It would be if it had more reach. Its shorter than all my bikes and has a steeper seat tube so will feel very short. The medium has too tall a seat tube for me.

I dont like 29″ wheels, too big IMHO for the bike and my size/height.

I use to think the same till I bought a 29er that fits well. Now I realise the benefits of 29ers and really want to replace an 8 year old bike to something more modern.

Good call on the Cube stereo. The One22 looks great. Amazing value too.

1cm more travel than requested but how about an Atherton AM130, 22 sizes to choose from.

1cm more travel than requested but how about an Atherton AM130, 22 sizes to choose from.

It's very heavy at 3.1kg for the frame without shock.

Bird Aether7? small A7 is quite small, but assume you are wanting 29er...

anyway something to look at in case 27.5 is still an option

Geo:

Frame Data & Geometry | Bird MTB // Born in Swinley, Built in the UK.

looks like they have some smalls in certain colours in stock also.

Another one in the 'short leg' group.

I'm 5ft 10 but with 30" legs - my height puts me on the m/l boundary for many bikes, and I prefer a longer reach, however on many bikes I simply cannot fit with a decent length dropper.

Its the ratio of reach to Seat tube length that matters, I've spent hours and hours studying geo charts.

Good options:

Santa Cruz (ego Juliana)
Ibis
Transition
Orange

Bad options
Orbea
Trek
Specialized

etc etc.

Oh and look at crank length, but also Dropper post design - the new version Fox Transfer has a much, much lower stack height than the original, for instance, and meant on one bike I could go from a 125 to a 150mm dropper.

One-up posts are good for this too.

Just had a look at Juliana and did a comparison with the Blur TR. They're exactly the same according to geometry geeks. Am I missing something there?

No. Its a paint job and some marketing.

(I nearly bought the Juliana equivalent of the Hightower once. It was a better colour!)

how about a pivot 429? 460 reach with a 394mm seat tube and a quoted 2.7kg frame weight

5'4" here with 30in inside leg.

Currently riding a small 16in Giant Anthem with 27in wheels. Think it's a 2017 model, the one with 130mm forks. It fits great.
I also have an old 2008 OnOne Ti-456, that's a small 16in frame. Got a bit of sweep on the bars for that one.
A 16in Giant XTC back in the day was probably the best fitting bike I've ever ridden. Just perfect with a short stem.
Had various others over the years ovbs as well. A 15in RockHopper was probably the smallest bike I could get away with riding. Mediums are always too big, too long in the top tube.

how about a pivot 429? 460 reach with a 394mm seat tube and a quoted 2.7kg frame weight

Because the frames a hefty 2.7kg. I don't need anything that strong at my weight.

that’s less than 200g heavier than a spur. if your concern is short a seat tube to reach, you may need to compromise in other areas.