(There's another thread on this, but it's morphed into a riding shorts thread.)
My GF is just over 5-feet tall, and we FINALLY found two frames that she can actually stand over the top tube without squashing the goods:
13" Gary Fisher Cake GS, 5" travel
- XC bike, she loves it. Light and a climbing machine.
13" Jamis Dakar XLT, just over 5" travel
- Just picked up the frame, going to swap over all the parts from her too-big 17" Giant AC. The XLT is designed to be a trailbike, but with 68.5* head tube angle it could easily be set up as a small DH bike. It's built pretty stout too, and considering 230Lb guys have good luck with the large XLT frames I'm sure she won't break it. (the '05 frames are stronger than the '04) Also, the XLT 3.0 frame comes with a Fox Talas shock, which can be shortened on the fly 1/4" or 1/2", which will instantly slacken the head tube angle for even better DH characteristics. The rear triangle looks like it will have no problem with 2.5" wide tires (full 3" cleance between the chainstays at the tire), and could maybe go bigger - especially if running a single chainring to keep the chain from rubbing on the tire. The integrated headset is the only weak point I can see, but that's minor. Jamis does say "no triple-crown forks", but is officially okay with a 6" single-crown. I'm sure a lightweight rider could run a 7" single-crown (Marzocchi 66 or something) for DH without problems.
My GF is just over 5-feet tall, and we FINALLY found two frames that she can actually stand over the top tube without squashing the goods:
13" Gary Fisher Cake GS, 5" travel
- XC bike, she loves it. Light and a climbing machine.
13" Jamis Dakar XLT, just over 5" travel
- Just picked up the frame, going to swap over all the parts from her too-big 17" Giant AC. The XLT is designed to be a trailbike, but with 68.5* head tube angle it could easily be set up as a small DH bike. It's built pretty stout too, and considering 230Lb guys have good luck with the large XLT frames I'm sure she won't break it. (the '05 frames are stronger than the '04) Also, the XLT 3.0 frame comes with a Fox Talas shock, which can be shortened on the fly 1/4" or 1/2", which will instantly slacken the head tube angle for even better DH characteristics. The rear triangle looks like it will have no problem with 2.5" wide tires (full 3" cleance between the chainstays at the tire), and could maybe go bigger - especially if running a single chainring to keep the chain from rubbing on the tire. The integrated headset is the only weak point I can see, but that's minor. Jamis does say "no triple-crown forks", but is officially okay with a 6" single-crown. I'm sure a lightweight rider could run a 7" single-crown (Marzocchi 66 or something) for DH without problems.