Originally Posted by
seitenryu
43cm and 45cm NEED to have 650c wheels, horizontal top tubes and short head tubes. Without smaller wheels they will fit like crap..just like the small Surly sizes. My friend has had a lot of trouble with both her bikes because she can't get low enough as the sloped top tube encourages incorrect frame sizing. She's 4'10". Sam
+1 for smaller frames geared toward shorter women with 650c wheels. My sister is 5'3" and is looking into a ~47cm (equivalent) women's model. The best fitting bikes for her have 650c wheels, which allow for a nice short top tube without making the head tube way slack. It's great some of the bigger companies are producing smaller women's frames. The
average height of a woman in the US is around 5'3", but the appropriate women specific geometry frame (w/650c wheels, short top tube, acceptable angles) that I have seen are generally the second smallest size, leaving only one size for anyone below the average, which is a significant proportion of the female population.