Ok I really want to get my wife a gravel bike as I love mine and I think she would benefit from one too.
However she’s 5 foot tall and the options seem very limited.
She currently has a Specialized Vita which she loves as a flat bar road bike. And I built her a Myka too – 26” fully rigid MTB with off-road tyres. That’s also a nice bike but doesn’t have the speed of the Vita nor the versatility of a gravel frame – no decent braze ons anywhere and gearing is too low.
So the measurements of her current bikes are as follows:

Vita/Myka (cm)

TT C-C 48/52
Seat tube C-T 36/34
Stand over 70/67
HT 12/10
Spacers 40 (plus stem rise) 30 (rise on MTB bars)

Looking at the Vita the frame looks too small – the seat is very high – and she’s always slipping off the front of the saddle (can’t seem to adjust this out). It’s an XS size BTW, and the Myka is a 13” but that fits her a bit better it seems.

So my options are:
1) buy a whole new bike – pros I would like to and I’ll get all the spec I need for her hopefully, cons I can’t really afford it and there is NO way it seems of getting a test ride as there aren’t any in stock anywhere so its a big risk buying blind.
2) buy a new frame set and build it up – pros still get the right frame, cheaper as I can use some bits I have already and move stuff from her Vita, cons might take a while, frame sets still quite spendy, still taking a risk on sizing
3) try and get a hold of an older hybrid style frame small enough to fit, with clearance to suit 42c tyres and guards and discs etc – pros – a lot cheaper, can spec up how I like it, cons – still hard to find in smaller sizes, a lot I see are at cheaper end and probably quite weighty, old hub/headset standards so might be limited in speccing it up.

Found this link which is helpful but a lot of the bikes on there are only USA stuff or incredibly expensive here (looking at you Salsa and Surly!). https://www.cyclingabout.com/list-of-touring-bikes-for-smaller-cyclists/

Any bright ideas?

Mrs Slow is 5ft. Has a 49 Spesh Diverge which fits fine.

my wife is 5ft. she rides a 650b Surly Straggler. in hot pink.

contact Shona at https://keeppedalling.co.uk/

5′ mrs_oab rides Liv Invite in xs with flat bar conversion.

£125 from FB marketplace, £60 for conversion plus spares box, £40 mudguards.

It’s on 36mm tyres, we might squeeze 40’s on there without the guards.

It’s due a new pair of wheels (current ones are heavy) and likely a 3×9 touring groupset.

The surly’s are a bit expensive IMHO.

I did see one of those Livs for sale – are they reasonably light and do they have decent tyre clearance?

Yes the frame and forks are light. Giant wheels are not.

Rear we would get 40mm in, front way more. That’s on a 2014/15 model.

This is 36mm 700c.

With 45mm Chromeplastics on.

That’s looks perfect! Thanks very much.

Any other options? The Liv bikes seems pretty rare.

Am I going to have to join FB to see some decent bikes?

Thread hijack: does anyone use a Straggler 650b as an all round road/tracks bike? They look nice but the reviews mention they’re quite heavy eg 12kg

Thread hijack: does anyone use a Straggler 650b as an all round road/tracks bike? They look nice but the reviews mention they’re quite heavy eg 12kg

That’s my problem with Surly bikes, expensive, not as well made as their cost suggest and far too heavy for their cost too. Might make more sense buying one in the USA but the shipping over here bumps the price up too much.

Patience with the searching – I’ve taken a few months to find bikes, and have to move quickly/be prepared to drive a way to find them…

Patience with the searching – I’ve taken a few months to find bikes, and have to move quickly/be prepared to drive a way to find them…

I’m ok with waiting and driving a distance to get something. It’s difficulty to judge tyre clearance on some bikes though.

There is a bike I really want on eBay and it isn’t far away but the bloke selling it is asking 2x what other bikes like that have sold for recently and was quite rude when I asked if he would take an offer – playing the long game on that one. He sent out a special offer on it which knocked 3% off. 🙄🙄

Indeed there are some profiteers around at the moment.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/942299999650515/?ref=facebook_story_share

Another

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/225378392374815/?ref=facebook_story_share

I’ll keep going..

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1997769457045888/?ref=facebook_story_share

Specialized for madam?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2665594953736981/?ref=facebook_story_share

(Gravel XS bike or Liv XS are the searches I used)

b230ftw
Free Member
Any other options? The Liv bikes seems pretty rare.

Go to http://www.kidsracing.co.uk and take a look at their CX bike the HUP Evo Disc, they build them especially with height / size tailored components from a 37cm to a 54cm frame, with bars from 300mm wide upwards. They take a 47mm wide 650b tyre and the self build bundle is well under a grand.

I’m really enjoying my Liv brava SLR (cycle to work bike 2016). 5ft 3.5in for ref.
It was labelled a cyclo-cross, the newer ones are labelled cross/gravel all rounder bike (I think).
I’m using it far more than my road bikes just now.

I am currently on the way back from North London on a 7 hour round trip to pick this up:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boys-Marin-Fairfax-SC-5-Bike-/334101326528?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

In very very good condition and well worth the mega drive to pick it up!

Thanks all for your help, I feel like I’ve stolen this bike!!! (I haven’t BTW just to make it clear). 😃😃😃

Well that looks ideal! 👍

Spa Cycles?

They have a few options but crucially the frame designs on the small bikes are really well thought out.
All the ones I’ve tried have been huge fun to ride as well.

Clearances – front is fine with 42mm Resolutes in, rear is ok at seat stay but only a mm or two at the chainstay but will rotate.
Fairly happy with that as I can go for 35/38 tyres no problem – it wasn’t designed as a gravel bike so pretty good considering.

I’ve got a surly it was £1050 and I’ve had it 8 years and I’ve used it all the time like nearly everyday. Its just needed tyres, brake pads etc when they have worn out. I think that’s good value really, not overpriced.
OP have you looked at the Merlin Malt Gravel bike with Claris for £599? They do an XS which might fit her.

OP, that does look ‘snug’, although I ride my 36mm tyres everywhere as a do it all bike. I’m a biffer and quite quick. If your wife is lighter she will get away with narrower tyres just fine.

OP have you looked at the Merlin Malt Gravel bike with Claris for £599? They do an XS which might fit her.

Have you not looked at the bike I just bought? 😂

The Merlin is too big anyway, already looked at it.

OP, that does look ‘snug’, although I ride my 36mm tyres everywhere as a do it all bike. I’m a biffer and quite quick. If your wife is lighter she will get away with narrower tyres just fine.

At her absolute max she is 9st and has coped with 28mm slicks on all sorts of gravel type surfaces so far (although was scared and got bounced around a lot) so 38mm should be fine I reckon.

£100 for a £1200 bike I’ll figure it out somehow!!

Crikey – buying some new tyres for the bike is a) difficult due to low stock levels and b) painful as tyres all seem to be £40 each!!

Hovering over the Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2Bliss tyres but even with a discount code they are £76 for a pair!!

LOL, No I couldn’t be arsed reading through all the replies sorry. Just looked..
Will your partner actually want that bike though you have got her? Mine wouldn’t accept anything like that.

Will your partner actually want that bike though you have got her? Mine wouldn’t accept anything like that.

Why would someone not accept a bike “like that”? What’s wrong with it? It’s light, well specced, nice graphics, good clearances etc.

I asked her beforehand anyway. She trusts me to get the right bike for her, all the ones I’ve bought or custom built before have been very well received!

Tyres are rather challenging to find decent ones at present…and at reasonable cost.

All checked over and nothing much needed doing, it’s in fantastic condition. Hubs were crazy tight and dry (normal from new!) so greased up and nice and smooth. Did some adjustments and swapped some parts from her other bike too.

Found these ace CST tyres on eBay which seem really nice quality and were a breeze to fit. And skinwall FTW!!

Not bothered with a shorter stem yet, I will see if she like the sizing, it’s longer than her last bike but it’s got an 80mm stem so plent my of options to get a shorter one.

Lols at the bottle cage

Bike looks great, I have an original GT grade and you can just squeeze 35mm gravel kings on it. I’m currently 16st and it’s fine and I ride some pretty rough trails on it. You wife will be fine, interested why someone wouldn’t accept a bike like that.