Best folding mtb for a short person?
 

Hi!

I'm really, really new to serious biking, so please forgive any faux pas on my part. I tried to search for any other posts asking about bikes for short people but didn't find any, so hopefully I'm not double-posting!

I've only ever owned really crummy bikes and I want to finally get a nice folding bike that I can use for urban riding and light- to medium-difficulty trail riding.

The trouble is, there are so many manufacturers and so many choices, but I can't figure out how to weed through them and figure out what's good and what's not.

My search is further complicated by my being just a little too short for most standard sized frames. My legs are 27", which seems to be a couple inches shorter than most bikes provide for.

My husband just ordered a Montague Paratrooper, which sounds excellent, but they don't make it in a small enough size for me (plus, I'd like a bike that I can take as a carry-on on flights without entirely disassembling it, if possible.)

Can anyone point me in the direction of a mountain bike in the price range of the Paratrooper or lower, that's nice and sturdy and works for small people? I would be super grateful and would send you cookies if you like.

You haven't said what your budget is... "really nice bike" could mean a lot of things depending on people's experience. Your new to biking so perhaps you think that $300 would produce a really nice bike...?


A Bike Friday is a really nice bike and one of their models would be very good for you but might be outside what you are willing to pay at this stage. That's only normal, beginners are willing to pay far less for a bike than experienced riders, that's also how I thought when I started out.

So going by experience, maybe a Downtube, but a BF (Bike Friday) is going to be your best bet overall, since you would keep it, whereas a low end bike such as a Downtube has limited appeal. That's not to say Downtubes are no good, in fact they offer excellent bang for buck.

I am suggesting a Downtube and not a Dahon as Dahons have sloping forward steering risers and may actually be too big. But I most strongly suggest a BF since they are built to your required size, the only folding bike manufacturer who do so.

Huh... I thought I replied to this, but my reply's not showing up. Oh well.

I'm looking for something in the general price range of the Montague Paratrooper or lower, so Bike Friday is indeed a bit over budget. I'll consider it, but I'd have to wait a lot longer to save up for it and be bikeless in the meantime :(

Also, I'm not sure how I would fare on less-than-full-sized wheels; I've never had them before and while I understand they're not necessarily slower or bumpier or anything, I imagine that it's a different experience. Do you think it's a big deal to make the switch to smaller wheels?

I think I'll continue to do look around before committing to the Bike Friday. Thanks for the recommendation though!

Small wheels are much more fun to ride - trust me. Big-wheelers are no better except for serious mountain biking. Smallwheelers have long seatposts which will be yet another advantage for you specifically. I would suggest you go to a dealer for a test ride.

For the sort of riding you do, a smallwheeler will do perfectly. And have a read of the sticky thread on this.

It depends a lot on what you mean by medium difficult trail riding. For riding over roots, rocks, etc, I don't think you want smaller than 26" wheels (which isn't terribly easily fly with, but possible of course). If you mean (relatively) steep crushed limestone, I think you can do OK with 20" wheels.

Can you give us an upper price and more details about what type of riding you want to do?

Cheers,
Charles

Consider the Dahon Matrix. These are available at www.thorusa.com. See: http://www.thorusa.com/dahon/current/matrix.htm
See http://dahonbikes.com/mainnav/dahon-store-finder.html for an authorized Dahon dealer near you. But if they can't get you one, ThorUSA is highly-recommended.

For true mountain bike trails, larger tires are almost always better. Also, FWIW, I don't think you will find any mountain bike that you can take as a carry-on on flights.

Send the cookies to Thor. :)

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

I like my Bike Friday, Pocket Llama.. choose what you wish.

they do a near-custom range of sizes .. Length of frame's tube..
+ interchangeable masts for seat and bars..

I should also point out, as a fellow short person, that the primary fit difficulty I have is not with the standover height but with the reach - i.e., how far forward I have to bend to hold the handlebars while sitting on the seat. Because reach is partially a function of wheel size, you may find that it's easier to find a bike that fits you if you get one with 20" wheels.

But you can improve the reach by raising the handlebars or bringing them closer to you, so that's not dispositive; my old Hard Rock hardtail with a 14.5" frame (I think) fit me perfectly.

As stated above, there's no mountain bike you can take as a carry-on, given that the size limits are usually something like 22x14x9 (and compare this to a normal mountain bike's wheel size of 26"). Do you mean as checked baggage?

(Some people have successfully carried Bromptons as checked baggage or at least gate checked them, but given their measurements are something like 23x21x10, there is a certain amount of personal charisma that plays a role, too, I think.)

I would choose a Dahon Jetstream (not bad), Bike Friday Pocket Llama or Airnimal White (or Black) Rhino (they would be top of my list).

Hello! Sorry I haven't been monitoring this thread as I should have; it's been a busy couple of weeks.

First off, thanks a ton for all your recommendations! I haven't made a decision yet but I'm doing comparison shopping online, taking your advice into account. Sadly, none of the bike shops in our area carry folding bikes, otherwise I would be going out and scootin' around to figure out what works best for me.

My husband's Montague Paratrooper arrived and wow, it is a sexy bike. He's loving it and it's definitely well equipped for rougher mountain biking than we plan on doing. It's definitely a fantastic value for the price (which was around $700) so I think that I'll set my own price limit around there, now that I know it's possible to find a good quality folding bike in that range. That cuts out the Bike Fridays and Airnimals, unfortunately.

Buuuut it's way too tall for me! I reach the handlebars just fine (maybe I have monkey-arms or something?) And I can get up into the seat when it's lowered as much as possible, but my feet barely touch the pedals! And it's very hard to pedal with just the tips of my toes :(

I would get the Paratrooper for myself too, if it were available in my size, but the smallest they make in the model is a 20" frame. I think I need a 16", though I could maaaaybe swing a 18".

Taking all this into account, I'm thinking about the Dahon Matrix, the Montague X50 (which is not as hardcore as the Paratrooper but probably would suit my needs well, and it comes in smaller sizes) and the Tern Joe D24. Any thoughts?

See that a bigger tire Fits.. 20" wheel ? 1.75" width

Th e Matrix is as awesome deal, heavely marked down from its original price, disc brakes and all ....

of course there is NO way to carry it on the plane ( unless you own the plane ) And like every 26 inch bike will only fit in a big airporter which is too large to fit regulation size for checked baggage ..But I never have been charged extra ... just saying ...

A legal case like the mini airporter will fit 20 inch wheelers but need to dissamble both wheels and and and .. no big deal at all ..but again just sayin

Best Thor

The Tern Joe D24 has a rigid fork. You might not like that for trail riding. BTW, why do you want a folding bike?

Try putting some 20 inch bmx aggressive treaded tires for off roading.

The Paratrooper would work well.... I had one drop shipped to me in San Diego whe I was working out there in 09 for a few months. I rode it all over the trails out there. Only changed the tires and seat ..... had a blast. Get the 18" .... I had a 20" and have a 30"inseam and always thought it was to big for me

i had never heard of the paratrooper. i just checked out their website and oh wow does it look neat! i'm kind of tempted..!

The Paratrooper is great! I'd definitely get it for myself, if they made it in my size. The 20" is the smallest size they make in that model and it's at least four inches too tall for me. :(

As for why I want a folding bike- I live in a city, and as of now I don't have a car. I want a bike that I can bring on public transit (the buses here have bike racks on the front, but they're often full, so I don't want to have to rely on that.) And, when we do have a car, it'll be nice to just be able to put the bikes in the trunk rather than getting a bike rack.

Hi,

You can get 24" wheeled single fold mountain bikes. Towards the budget
end of the market and would need some mechanical and maintenance skills
to keep running sweetly, and being budget unlikely to be particularly light.

Stiill a good fit is paramount more than anything else, and decent junior
/ teenage bikes do exist for the smaller person if you look hard enough.

Forget 20" off road is my basic opinion, especially fully folding.

rgds, sreten.

single fold and small will generally fit in the rear of a car.

To completely fold a Montague, you need to remove the front wheel and strap it to the bike or carry it separately. They're pretty big and bulky and not intended for multi-mode commuting in a city. For multi-mode commuting, you'd be far better off with a folding bike with 20" wheels or (for an even smaller fold) 16" wheels.

+1 on the Dahon Matrix. If you could live with the bigger fold, it is very stable and will not feel like a folding bike. The handle bar stem can be adjusted to move up and down forward or backward to accommodate different sized people. My fiance ( who is only 5ft ) finds the sized small version comfortable albeit with the seatpost moved almost all the way down. I sold mine because it was just a hassle to fold and fit on the back of my SUV (it will go in easier if the stem is adjusted downward). I replaced my matrix with a tern eclipse s11i which I like because of the smaller fold ( 24inch wheels). But if the fold size is not important, the ride of the matrix is superior than that of the tern. Steering would also be very very superior compared to folders with smaller wheels.

I compared the matrix with the dahon cadenza ( rigid fork ) and I find the ride on the matrix much better because of the front shocks