Originally Posted by
TonyS
Hey, last night I was trying to get a road bike for my girlfriend, who is 5'3", and we went to try out a bike we saw on Craigslist that we think was a 44cm, and it was just a little too tall as far as standover height was concerned... her inseam is 28, and she had to be on her tiptoes to clear the top tube on this bike.
And I haven't seen anywhere selling road bikes in less than 44cm... does anyone know of companies that make bikes in 42cm, or are we going to be stuck getting her a mixte frame?
You are going to be hard pressed to find a conventionally framed bike that small with standard wheels and will most likely need to find a bike with 650C or 26 inch wheels to bring the stand over height down even more.
With compact geometry the options get better and Fuji does make some very nice smaller bikes.
My little sister is just a spot over 5 feet with rather short legs and rides a Centurion LeMans which is 46 cm and runs on 650C wheels... my 12 year old daughter can ride this bike quite comfortably and actually has longer legs.
I work with a frame builder who specializes in building bikes for people who don't fit any standard sizes... I currently have a touring frame in a 66 cm size and a touring frame that is at the other end of the scale at 48 cm with conventional geometry.
The 66 cm frame...
The 48 cm frame... it rolls on standard 26 inch wheels with custom hubs.
