too small for bikes ...

dirtydirtysouf · May 8, 2007

SC heckler might be a good bike to look into........esp. for your size

BikeSATORI · May 8, 2007

Look at a small size (14.5") Giant Reign. Should be great for a FR bike for your size, with 6"+ of travel and lots of stand-over height.
good luck!

btw- I have a friend traveling to NZ very soon for grad school in Wellington. I really want to go there this coming winter and take up some space on his couch and bike while it's snowing in the northern hemisphere!

MouseMonkey · May 8, 2007

The XS Transition Covert has a very low standover for a 140mm bike. www.transitionbikes.com and there is always the SC Juliana.

But at 5'1", you are going to have problems with any stock bike. You may have to find a custom manufacturer that does a low-mount shock design to give you a small enough frame.

MM

Eren · May 8, 2007

SWD does custom frames

Boxxer · May 8, 2007

Keep in mind most FR bikes are going to be way over built given your weight(most can easily handle someone twice, or more, your weight).

The trick for you will be finding a fully with FR geo(slacker angles, short rear center, etc) but while still being really light. That eliminates alot of bikes... atleast in their stock builds.

I had a g/f that was really petite and she rode a trek fuel. Now I know this isnt an FR bike, but it did have great stand over for her. Things light short stems, layback seat posts etc can change the way most bikes feel. Try an also get really light(maybe tubeless) wheels and tires. It will help the bike feel more flickable.

Thats a start.

OGRipper · May 8, 2007

Hi, I weigh twice what you do. In some ways you have an advantage over bigger people, who need bigger and heavier bikes: At your weight and size you can get away with a lighter bike with less travel, with lighter wheels and tires, even for some pretty gnarly stuff.

If you are talking about an all-around trail bike, Santa Cruz has a line specifically for women called the Juliana (named after Julie Furtado, a former racer and now SCB employee). They take their existing bikes and tweak the geometry and sizing for women, and the small sizes should be small enough.

If you want more of a DH or freeride bike, there are a number of newer bikes designed for slopestyle and freeride that are a bit lighter, have less travel, and are generally lower than what you could find in years past. There are also a fair amount of 4X bikes out there that would be super fun. I'm not sure about specifics of sizing but bikes like the Transition Bottlerocket (on the beefier side) or a blur 4X would work great.

thom9719 · May 8, 2007

hey,

My girlfriend is kind of in the same boat. depending on how agressive you want to get, the bike that fit her the best was the specialized bighit SPEC. while it wouldn't be stiff under my 6,2 180 lb body, it is perfect for her. it is basically designed for 14 year old. she currently has it built up with a sherman slider on the front, a swinger 4 way on the back, and a bunch of other upgrades. the only downside is that it has a bunch of my heavy parts on it, but if you are a bit careful when you build it up you could easily have it in the mid 30lb range.

how soon are you looking at getting the bike? I might know of one other option...

Kyle,

sethimus · May 8, 2007

orange makes a 14" patriot, maybe this will fit? it's claimed for a rider height of 5.0"-5.7"

missingLink · May 8, 2007

How much travel do you want/need? there's a lot more options now for shorter riders.

titus makes a XS motolite. chumba makes a custom XS XCL. the 14.5 reign is a good choice too. At your height, standover clearance may be tough and therefore the top tube length of the frame should be one of your main concerns (along with weight of the frame/bike as you stated).

http://www.titusti.com/bikes/motolite.html#

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=280825

mandown · May 8, 2007

arrow DS-3
brooklyn min-link if you can find one used or their new slope ranger (sl-6).
intense tazer
morewood ndiza ST
foes 4X
turner rail (again, if you can find one used)
4x bikes may be the way to go.

darenp · May 8, 2007

check the santa cruz juliana. My wife is 5' 0" and still givers her plenty of standover. She loves the bike and it is the only bike that she has ever liked.And it only weighs about 26 or 27 lbs

mattmatt86 · May 8, 2007

Im pretty sure the Tazer came in a 14", that should have a pretty low stand over.

Beef Cake · May 9, 2007

Yah yah
I agree with alot of those guys .
And add Advant arson , Kona Howler 24' , Norco xxxx ,
sx trail 4x verison . I seen a girl Kona Cowan ds , idon't know what size it was but i came up to my knee :shocked:

CHEERS

TreeSaw · May 9, 2007

I too would suggest the Giant Reign, I know a woman who's 5'4" maybe 115lbs and she uses it for DH/FR and even XC.

Titus would be a great option as they have a full range of sizes that fit smaller riders, but they are $$$.

I personally have a Yeti AS-X and am 5'4" with good standover. Might be a bit more bike than you need, but you could check out a 575 or something along those lines (C-dale Prophet, SC Heckler or the Transition Bottlerocket).

GrapeApe79 · May 9, 2007

To answer one of your questions, even though you are light-weight, you CAN still take advantage of a long-travel bike by setting the suspension really soft. I'm about 115# and ride a 9" travel bike for DH. Some people might think its a little much, but I can easily blow through all the travel if its set nice and soft (I have a 350# spring on my shock). It just makes the ride that much more plush and allows you to do all sorts of bigger stuff.

It sounds to me like you're looking for a good all-mountain bike since you want to ride uphill, but my advice is to not sell yourself short on the amount of travel just b/c you are small. When I first got into more riding, I was seriously eyeing the Juliana but opted for the Heckler instead b/c it had more travel. Boy am I glad I did, b/c a year later I saw a need for even more travel and got my DH bike!

Look for a 14" frame with good standover and at least 5" of travel. If you can put a 5" shock/fork setup on the Juliana, that would be cool, but I don't know if thats possible...

altix · May 9, 2007

moorewood does small bikes, shova lt or something might be a good idea,

santacruz as well

puttsey · May 10, 2007

http://www.konaworld.com/shopping_cart/FrontEnd/Products/product_detail.aspx?productid=314&parentid=253

?

gmac · May 10, 2007

Bull. Small Santa Cruz Heckler all the way. No problems. Zero reach stem if needed. You can dooo it !

gmac · May 10, 2007

Used 04 Heckler is about 450-500

GrapeApe79 · May 11, 2007

puttsey said:
http://www.konaworld.com/shopping_cart/FrontEnd/Products/product_detail.aspx?productid=314&parentid=253

?

Actually, that Stinky doesn't look too bad! Its tiny, but the geometry looks right!

rockwool · May 12, 2007

I'm 5'2" and I currently ride a hardtail again after I drounded in the 9" my correctly sized DH bike had. It was just way to much and it felt like I tried to steer a lokomotive.. My next bike for DH and agressive trail riding is going to be a Commencal 4x with 4" in the rear and 140-160mm up front.

As you've already realized it's more mental than physical. For what you described that you will use your bike for there's one perfect bike that is really easy to find as used and in good condition; the 5" Santa Cruz Heckler (as many before me have mentioned) in small (14"). Put a 35mm stem on for DH, and if you want to you can have one longer ~75mm for trail riding.

It can really do everyting and it won't be overbuilt and heavier like a 4x bike might be. If you later find it a bit too steep in the head angle, you can swop the shock for a shorter one and thus lower the bottom bracket and slacken the head angle. Put a Pike up front, and swop the spring for the yellow one, and then you truly have a do-it-all bike!

If you want to look at other bikes I agree with the others that the 6,7" Giant Reign is a very nice bike, but also consider the 4,2" Giant Trance that comes in a special size for women.

Those bikes will be pretty easy to find as used. Personally I would start of with 4-5", and move on from there if you with time out-perform that frame.

mandown · May 13, 2007

pdc?
http://www.pdcracing.com/eight2five.php

http://www.pdcracing.com/solaris_DH.php

rockwool · May 13, 2007

littlemissmarz said:
mind you ... doesn't look like the componentry on the juliana is really built to handle as much as the heckler ay ...?

No it won't. The Juliana is a XC bike and will be too nervous going fast down a hill, it's 1,5 degrees steeper! The 50mm extra travel that the Heckler has over it means that it will save your mistakes a lot more than Julianas 100. If you're not into winning XC races, don't look at it. The Heckler is still XC worthy with an adjustable fork on.

Just read that it's "designed around 140mm forks, built to handle 170mm forks". Then I would put a Lyric on instead of a Pike..

http://www.santacruzmtb.com/juliana/index.php?geometry=1&x=-5

http://www.santacruzmtb.com/heckler.5/index.php?geometry=1&x=-5

The Heckler might also fit a 2,5" rear tire while the Juliana at most will fit a 2,3"; will save your rims on DH runs.

doodoobi · May 13, 2007

Have ever considered a yeti 575?? The stand over height is pretty low for a small frame and I think if you call yeti they could get a XS frame for you. The plus is that it is lighter than any of the bikes mentioned and climbs like a goat and decends like a dh bike on crack..... My GF has just picked one up also myself and we love them, though my GF is 5'10" she can toss that bike around for a medium. I think her bike weighing in close to 26-28 lbs and is very durable for her.

Call Yeti and see what kind of options they can work out for you, if not you can try a yeti asx, their freeride rig, one light small bike. my buddy has one, size small and is built to take beating so it is kind of heavy but for you, you can get away with lighter stuff that can still handle what you can throw at it and it climbs very well for a fr rig.

Hope this helps a bit..

aloha
ddb

allsk8sno · May 20, 2007

for a cheap and small bike look at the older giant warp, 2001-2003 i think, the small size is pretty small, my wife has one and its ok, decent geometry for allaround riding and you can pick up the frames pretty cheap. we even had a dualcrown on it at one point, i'll see if i can get a few pics, my wife is 5'1" the actuall TT length is 21.25" which is alittle long but with the 45mm stem is ok, her bike currently weighs 33lbs with rynolites...which are overkill for her, heavy cranks (but 165mm), and heavy bars...i'm working on getting lighter stuff. I've looked into alot of bikes over the last few years and found few Fullys that really fit my wife, she rode a stuff 2-4 and loved the size for reference.
As kyle said, the specialized bighit spec is really small, and you could build it light and have 2 forks or adjustable fork.

couple more pics on pinkbike, same user name, and in the mudhunnies forum

Mike.rider · May 20, 2007

C'dale makes a women specific Prophet and rush at are both good bikes. as well if your on a budget the novara Bliss comes in a 12in and is a pretty solid little bike for the price.

DHS · May 21, 2007

where are you going to be in the states. maybe there's a monkey close to there that you can go riding with..

46chief · Oct 19, 2007

My wife and I found her a cannondale prophet, it's size is petite and it's a 140mm travel bike. The lefty is a quality fork and the bike came with great components we found it for 1500 usd. she has been riding lift serve and is 5'3" 125lbs and says se hasn't bottomed it out.

They also make a MX version with a rear through axle for 4cross that would be a little burlier.

I would go heckler or Prophet, but probably stick to cdale just cuz the leftys are great forks.

ATOMICFIREBALL · Oct 21, 2007

Definately check out a Morewood Ndiza ST. I just got one & built it up.Rode it today & it's the absolute best bike i ever rode. It pedals like an Indy car yet plushlike when you go over roots,etc.
The handling is impeccable hands down. I have had several bikes through the last 10 years & the Morewood Ndiza ST is lively,quick & light.Yet it's stiffly designed from the box downtube & swingarm.
A Heckler is had was a ripper,but felt flat compared to the Ndiza ST.
I highly recommend you consider a Morewood.!

TWeerts · Oct 22, 2007

transition is supposed to start producing a womens specific FR/slopestyle bike....it should fit

jtdcg · Oct 22, 2007

Another option is Knolly bikes. They seem to have made making bikes at all ends of the spectrum a priority.
For a start: http://www.knollybikes.com/frames/small/index.aspx
I think there are some small women including Barb Haley
They have a forum now on mtbr too...http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=140

too small for bikes ...

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