GeorgePaul

Wow. What makes you think internal hubs make a bike sluggish?

jenniredsox

Great thanks again everyone! I am sure that the computer is really nifty and neato, I just do not want to spend the money on something like that right now. I am sure it is good for people that count calories and like to know how fast they are going or how long a trip is. Yeah I was noticing on Craigslist that people are selling bikes in my area for like 75 or 50 bucks and that sounds kinda fishy to me. I do not really know anyone here that knows a lot about bikes. My husband and I are new to the area and most of my friends that know bikes are back in Philly. I will just keep asking you guys tons of questions haha. As soon as I have a day off where I am free to look, I am going to call around to the different shops and ask them about the height thing. I saw a few stores online that are in my area and that seem to have some nice bikes for short women and they are in my price range so I might call them. I really like the Trek and Carmel bikes. They seem really nice and that they have good features.

I thought his avatar was Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgmont High? Haha I guess that I do not pay attention sorry.

Panthers007

Bikes for $50, $75...on CL isn't fishy at all.

Regards people knowing about bikes where you live, stick around here. You'll be close to professional in no time!

Timber_8

That's nice

chephy

Sigh... Your aunt should learn to ride a bike.

I'm 5'7" and not a single bike I own is small enough for me to touch the ground at all when I'm sitting on the saddle. This is absolutely irrelevant to proper sizing.

I hope you don't stay on your saddle when you stop and start. If you can just tippy-toe, it's simply unsafe. Also, your saddle is likely set too low.

chephy

The cost of extra materials is probably so small as to be insignificant. However, due to less demand for non-standard sized bikes, very small and very large bikes probably end up costing more to manufacturers and dealers. Also, extra engineering has to go into them, since standard parts and solutions would not always work on an extra-small or an extra-large frame. So, the subsidizing is, perhaps, the other way around.

That said, you guys have typically have way scarcer selection...

chephy

I understand that bikes can have different geometries. An obvious example in recently manufactured bikes is Electra Townie that's designed to have a very forward bottom bracket, or the bikes in your link. An extreme example is any recumbent.

That said, if you're unable to touch the ground when sitting on those bikes, then they are SO badly sized for you, that the inability to touch the ground is probably the last thing you're going to mention. You likely won't even be able to reach the handlebars. When someone's only reason for claiming the bike is too big is the inability to put feet on the ground from sitting position, this usually means the bike is actually a good size; the person just never learned how to start and stop it properly.

This particular example confirms it. The bike here is Trek 7000; it does not have a particularly forward BB. I'm not saying it fits the aunt in question perfectly - maybe it is indeed too big - but her reason for saying it's too big is simply not valid.