2wheeled

My friends wife is looking for a FS probably in the range of $800-1500. Her and her hubby have no trouble finding bikes that she likes (he rides a Kona stinky) but can not seem to find any in her size that accommodates her stand over height, she has about a 24" inseam. She can ride several small bikes but that stand over height issue is a problem.

Any ideas?

a2psyklnut

This month's issue of Mountain Bike Action has four women's specific bikes from a Cannondale F400 up to a Titus. The Specialized is about $1200 and got a pretty good write up.

Since he has a Kona, I saw an ad that Kona also is selling a WSD called the ? Lisa or something. Same magazine, few pages further back.

jonbth

My wife is in the same boat. The only bike she is comfortable riding is the Terry Susan B. It's a steel hybrid bike with a 24 inch standover height. Her inseam is a few inches longer though. I wasn't able to find any suspension bikes with less than 26 inches standover.

2wheeled

Thanks for the tip. She really wants a FS but I think she's going to have a tough time. Any suggestions are appreciated.

MudSplattered

Santa Cruz Juliana

Too Rass Goat

The Kona's aren't really women's specific. The Lisa DS is just a Kikapu frame with lighter shocks, smaller grips etc. The 14" Lisa DS frame has an insane standover of 29". Kikapu's are tall. My wife has a similar problem, although not as bad. 5'-2", so a 13" Jamis Dakar Sport fits her with a 27" standover. She liked the Lisa DS, but the 29" standover just wasn't cutting it.

achc

like MudSplattered said, Santa Cruz Juliana...its good...its basically a superlight design for women. its also the smallest FS I can think of to fit women....or get a Y type frame i.e ellsworth ISIS but it isn't really WSD. Trek have some WSD design for HT but not sure bout FS

tnscoop

We just went through this process. My 5 ft. tall wife's inseam is a little over 27 inches and ideally we would have put her on a bike with a sub 25 inch standover. I just threw my list of bikes away, but think I can replicate most of the models we considered. We looked at both hardtails and full suspension. She ended up on a Santa Cruz Juliana. We put 1.95 tires on it to give her a little more space. She has just enough standover to make this bike work. I don't expect she will ride the Juliana hard, but getting her this bike had some unexpected benefits. The bike is light and she can comfortably maneuver and climb with it AND carry it. Putting a small person on a heavy bike is likely to create a more negative experience. Probably the perfect solution was to hunt around for a Racer X xxsmall used, but that might have taken some time.

Another issue to consider is a woman with a short inseam may have a longer torso. That's my wife. She felt cramped on the top tube of a couple of the bikes. In one instance the bike was simply too small in the top tube even if you made seat and stem adjustments.

Sub-25 inch standover:

- Specialized Rockhopper. We considered a women's comp setup. Still heavy but it fit.
- Titus Racer X. Comes in an xxsmall frame and is full suspension. Cost eliminated this option.
- Fuji had a hardtail - I forget the model - that had a sub-25 inch standover. Heavy.
- Entry level Trek and Gary Fisher hardtails have sub-25 standover but these bikes are crap.
- Scott Jr. Racer. This is a well speced kids bike. Standover was great but the toptube was simply too short. 24 inch wheels.

Sub-27 inch standover:

- Santa Cruz Juliana was the only FS I recall besides the Titus.
- Jamis Exile. A steel hardtail. Very sweet bike with standover of about 26.
- Midlevel Trek and Gary Fisher models are below 27 inches.

Unimpressive standover for smallest bike in women's design:

- Cannondale F400 was over 28 inches. What gives.
- Scott Contessa. The company doesn't publish standovers and was downright obstinate about providing one. We eventually found one at a shop to try and it didn't work.
- REI offerings. All too big

Other:

- Rocky Mountain Blizzard or Hammer. Also steel hardtails but weren't quite as good as Jamis on paper. Recently saw one on eBay claiming a 26in. standover.

tnscoop

Forgot to mention the Rush, another full suspension. I don't remember where the standover is but it didn't work.