Touring - Tiny gal wants to start touring

So, my mom is an avid cyclist and has been bugging me about doing centuries with her for years now. She wants to buy me a super speedy road bike, but if I were to upgrade from my early 80's Bianchi I would like something versatile that I could tour with, but is also light enough to lug my 125lb ass up hills quickly for a century with my 90lb mamma. I am about 5'1 and would love a frame that comfortably fits a small woman. I'm clueless so any suggestions about light touring frames would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Josie

Bike Friday ... the fit can be dialed in, because there is 8 different top tube lengths..
and varoius seatand handlebar masts .. one main ovalized tube for the core of the frame.

And the added benefit is they go into a Suitcase to Get to where you want to start your trip
without incurring all the special handling fees, airlines have come up with..

Already people tour around the Globe on them.. made in Eugene Oregon ,
you can talk long and repeatedly
on their toll free consultation line.. about the many options .. components and colors..


the small wheels weigh less. and so, can accelerate easier ..

26" LHT would likely be the easy answer. I dunno if it'd be all that quick compared to a speedy road bike but it would be versatile... the long haul trucker has a strong following so hopefully someone will chime in about their experiences.

I have a red norco ATB frame from the late 80s that is pretty tiny and was gonna build it up for my mother who is about your size... it would make a great touring bike, it has all the braze-ons and long chainstays. Even high end vintage mountain bikes seem to be on the cheap side, and they usually come with all the gearing for touring you'd need. A drop bar conversion is pretty easy for most of them.

The touring bike suggestions aren't going to help you keep up on a fast century ride. Why not have her get you the 'super speedy' and light weight road bike and then equip your early '80s Bianchi for touring (racks, lower gearing?, wider tires)?

If the budget allows, consider Sweet Pea (http://www.sweetpeabicycles.com/). Natalie, the owner/builder, is amazing as are her all women bike designs.

If it's on mom's dime, then have a custom-built outlaw from R+E Cycles in Seattle. Explain what you want to do on it and turn Dan Towle loose to design it.
http://www.rodcycle.com/

If your only need for speed is to keep up with mom on centuries, maybe a tandem for you two is in order. World-renowned tandem builder Dennis Bushnell just happens to build tandems at R+E.

Edit: You should go to the R+E website and read the articles on bikes designed for short women. They do a good job of explaining why 700C is not necessarily a good choice for many women.

Chiming in on the LHT experience, its wonderful, smooth in the city and sturdy on dirt roads. If you want something to tour on and make good time unloaded I would go for it.

You could probably upgrade the components on your early eighties Bianchi to make it a super speedy bike perfect for centuries.

I haven't ridden a LHT, but have read several reports on these forums saying they are not all that lively a ride when unloaded. Not sure they would qualify as a something in the middle that would provide a fairly speedy ride and be touring capable. Certainly the latter, but I would think not so much the former. The Bike Friday is a good suggestion. I've test ridden one and it was terrific. You might also consider something like the Specialized steel cross bike (http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/road/tricross/tricrosselitesteeldisctriple), which comes in small sizes or other similar bikes. Nashbar has a steel cross bike (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_526536_-1___202339) on sale for a great price that ease the cost of any changes you made to the gearing and so on. It should work for touring with the long chain stays, etc. However, some of the features of a touring bike run counter to the ride of a speedy bike. The geometry of the Nashbar looks pretty good in the small sizes for the purposes you describe. Nashbar steel touring bike (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_522412_-1___202339) is also on sale, but is definitely designed more in keeping with touring.

There are lots of great bikes out there. It just sounds as if you and your mother approach cycling from different angles. Any angle that makes you happy is good when it comes to cycling.

Look for a type of bicycle called ... sport touring, audax, or randonneuring. Those tend to be lighter than touring bicycles, but capable of handling touring.

Look outside the LHT box.

Try Marinoni, Rivendell, Waterford ...

But make sure that there are eyelettes for at least a rear rack.

Or Terry, She has Waterford make the Frames for Her nice Steel line..

& Trek has a WSD version of many of their bike types..
frame reach a bit shorter..

imho- some conflicting needs.
my partner is "untall", similar to OP, and wanted just one bike for touring and going fast. A few years ago she got a cannondale T2000, tweaked the setup and fit - perfect for her - ride it all day - loaded or not, commute, group rides, etc. Pretty fast, but not a speed deamon. Then her eye wandered toward a road racing style bike, she tried a few - it was almost an addiction - got the go faster bike - rides it like a broom. Her current bikes are the T2000 for commuting, our annual tour and crappy weather, rest of the time that road broom gets ridden. She liked the fit of a relaxed geometry roadie type carbon fiber wonders, suggest a model with 25 mm tires - really get a good fit -try several bikes. Have your mother follow you on longer day rides and centuries, build a separate bike for touring.

LHT or similar + an extra set of lighter roadbike-ish wheels & tires for riding with mom. takes about 2 minutes to swap the wheels. This set up works great for me with my Blue ridge. If it still takes a few more watts to push the tourning bike vs speedy road bike you will just get more fit.

Look for a type of bicycle called ... sport touring, audax, or randonneuring. Those tend to be lighter than touring bicycles, but capable of handling touring.

Look outside the LHT box.

Try Marinoni, Rivendell, Waterford ...

But make sure that there are eyelettes for at least a rear rack.

This. If speed is an issue doing centuries and keeping up with your mom (who presumably rides a sporty road bike), get a randonneuring bike, especially if you intend to tour light.

I toured on a Bianchi San Remo for years and it was a great ride for what you're talking about, but they are discontinued. And in fact, although my current steed is much, much better for the job of fully loaded touring (more comfortable, full braze-ons and eyelets for everything, hardier), I did manage to do loaded camping/touring on that Bianchi as well without any major problems over 4+ years.

Or Terry, She has Waterford make the Frames for Her nice Steel line..

I fully agree. Not the cheapest but the best to fit the needs of a small woman. My 5' tall wife has one...a Symmetry...that is wonderfully lightweight and fits her like no other bike has over the last 30 years. It's a far better choice than the LHT which can tend to be heavy.

If you are not planning to do heavy loaded touring with panniers, then a sport touring frame should fit your needs well and would be just about as fast as a racing frame. I've got two sport tourers that I use for commuting and light touring, a Gunnar Sport and Waterford RST-22. I bought both used for very reasonable prices. However, if buying new and you are watching a budget, then some good options would be the Gunnar Sport, Soma Smoothie ES, Soma San Marcos, Salsa Casseroll.

5' even, about 105 lbs., on the smallest LHT made:

293856293857

Small bikes need small wheels, so the choice is 650c or 26" MTB. Given your need for touring, , MTB rims would be the best choice. A lightweight XC style rim can take tyres down to about 1" which is fine for rapid progress.
Apart from the hefty Surly LHT, you are going to have problems locating a stock, lightweight sport-tourer in 26 rather than 650c.
The other 26" wheel is 650B but that is a boutique size best avoided as a main bike.

Small frames, being naturally stiffer than large frames, you can haul a much heavier load on a lighter gauge of tubing.

What prevents you from joining your mom on the 80's Bianchi?
The LHT is an awesome all around bicycle, but while the ride quality is not sporty (not suitable for sprints or racing) it is very comfortable for long rides.

its good to see that among the various opinions here, there are a number (like myself) that suggest a "sport or light tourer, rando or whatever you want to call it" type bike. I ride a Specialized Tricross that someone else suggested (the steel framed one with disc brakes is new, mine is 3 years old and is with an aluminum frame)

Basically 3 years ago I was looking for a new bike to replace my old touring bike, and wanted a bike lighter and more responsive than a full on touring bike (partly knowing that I wouldnt be doing fully loaded touring very much) yet because I ride often with two panniers for commuting or a days ride, I still wanted a bike that I could put racks on, fenders if need be, and that would more comfortable than a quickly steering racing bike. (yes, carbon fibre frames can be very comfortable depending on the model, but I neither wanted to spend that much money, and also didnt want to have a carbon frame that has to live daily life in the garage with my kids bikes falling onto it or whatever...)

In the end, I am really happy with this type of "light tourer" as it is comfortable riding all day, yet is still very competent with 25 lbs of stuff in rear panniers and still has eyelets for mounting a front rack. It has a triple front crank 50/39/30 and a wide range rear cassette 11-32, so the gearing is fairly low and could be cheaply changed to even lower if I were to tour in mountainous areas. It also can take much wider tires than racing bikes, which is nice from both being able to ride on all kinds of surfaces with wider tires if you want, and also from a comfort side (wider tires can be more cushy)
In my opinion, this type of bike is an ideal compromise for having one bike that will be very good at lots of things. In the end, it comes down to how much money you have to spend, having a really light carbon bike AND a touring bike would be great...but...

**all this blah blah of bike types is completely surpassed by the main priority of having a frame that is set up to fit you properly. My wife is 5'1" also, and while she rides a straight bar bike, I did change out the handlebar stem to reduce the "reach" for her.
This is the most important thing for you, we dont know how much you ride and how your old bike fits you, but finding a store with employees that really know about fit, and will spend time to change stuff to make it fit (not to mention NOT selling you a frame thats too big cuz thats what they have on the floor...)

If your old bike fits you well, or even if it doesnt by a small amount, note the distances from seat to bars, bar height compared to seat height etc, to at least have a reference to when looking at new bikes. This helps a lot when dealing with the "new bike wow effect" of looking at stuff in stores, at least you can compare and try to really think of what works or doesnt work with your old bike.

good luck with this, getting a bike that you are comfortable on, like riding, and can do what you want is the key to enjoying biking for years and years.

Though i know there are many types of touring, when I here someone mention wanting to tour I do not think of CC touring, ultralight touring unless they mention such a niche specifically. That is why I suggest steel tri-cross bikes. If fully loaded touring is not in the cards, a randonneuring/audax bike would be a good choice. Of course, the mix of riding proposed by the OP is at cross purposes and no bike will be great at both. A bike that meets both needs would be a good all-around bike, and that type of bike can be very good, but not great at most things. The small frame size required by the OP does inhibit ideal "all-around" geometry though.

If fully loaded touring is the goal, I would look at upgrading the Bianchi for century/randonneuring type riding and a purpose built touring bike. Short of buying a an ultra-light, speedy, racing type of cycle, the upgrading the components on the Bianchi might be as close as any other bike will get. What year and model is the Bianchi? After all, I think an old Bianchi Axis, Bianchi Volpe, Bianchi Randonneur, or similar bike would meet the sought after attributes.

Small bikes need small wheels, so the choice is 650c or 26" MTB.

What he said. I am barely 5'1 and have toe overlap on all three of my 700c bikes. Two are liveable but the third, a tourer type, has horrible toe overlap. Forget long fenders. I have a Vaya frame that we are building up with 650c and 26"I wheels and I didn't have toe overlap on the model I test rode. I will never buy a 700c bike in my size ever again.

So, my mom is an avid cyclist and has been bugging me about doing centuries with her for years now. She wants to buy me a super speedy road bike, but if I were to upgrade from my early 80's Bianchi I would like something versatile that I could tour with, but is also light enough to lug my 125lb ass up hills quickly for a century with my 90lb mamma. I am about 5'1 and would love a frame that comfortably fits a small woman. I'm clueless so any suggestions about light touring frames would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Josie

jmccarthy; I'll make no comment on what your mom's motivations are, but suggest going along with her idea. Getting a lot of mom/daughter time and a nice new bike out of the deal is cool. Might want to see if she would be interested in getting a tandem... then you two could take turns as stoker and captain. The big benefit of a tandem is being able to really fly (twice the power and only half the wind resistance).

It would help to know the budget. LHT is a tank not a light tourer.