How is she going to ride in the kitchen?

hell hook up an extra long chain to the chain bosses.

haha

You must be buying spacers in bulk. That is truly crazy.

I have one thing to add- Terry saddle.

Ha, I bought two pieces of aluminum tubing and painted them. It was way more cost effective than buying a zillion spacers. Notice the red harlequin diamonds (http://bit.ly/1rR0uC) on the first bike? Home grown....

Yes, it's a PIA trying to fit myself on frames meant for all those stumpy legged, orangutan armed men. I have a whole spare parts bin full of various stems and spacers.

I think the pix are too lame to show it but that's a Terry Butterfly on the first bike. I have a love/hate relationship with it, but it's definitely better than any skinny saddle.

The things we do to ride....

wow

did u get ur girl friend a bike yet?

no i cant decide what to do...im worried about the sizing

get her a hybrid


edit : one of the sportish kinds

buy a 50cm, you won't regret it!

I know what you're saying. When you want a road/track frame with a horizontal tt, it's a tough call, especially when it's a surprise and they can't go and testride anything first.

I've been going through that, as I've been gathering parts for a ss build for my gf, who's also about 5'3". She's ridden an old Shogun ss conversion a few times, that my friend built with a coaster brake wheelset, and seemed to enjoy that.

Besides the sizing issue, trying to figure out what gearing to go with is also somewhat confusing. What are the girls in here or your gf's running or planning to run? I'm debating 46x20 or 46x22.

if she's that height and you insist on not having her try out a bike, i'd say anything from 48cm-50cm is your best bet, nothing bigger. as for gearing, i don't know, how flat is it where you live? to answer Triple8Sol's question, i run 46x16

My wife's single speed is 48cm with a gear ratio of 46/16 and she finds it to be perfect for the mildly hilly area we live in.

This thread has gone on too long. Buy the girl a bike already!

Why are there 3 rear stays?

If you can get a bike with a fork that's not been cut it'll give you way more/easier fit options. I've bought several prebuilt bikes with uncut forks; it takes some badgering, but it's possible.

Also, I originally wrote BikeCalc because I was building my first fixie and I feared I would have to walk up every hill. It might shed some light on the gearing question.

yeah i think i might just get the moto track in 49cm in minkblue. throw one of the freewheels i already have lying around (maybe a 16t) and put the rear brake on that it comes with. i figure that would look nice(she really would like the color) its decal free and it cheap. that way if she doesnt get that into it i don't kill myself on the money spent.

This was an awesome post. As a guy with long legs and arms, I can pretty much relate.

Skmetz: why the high handlebars? If we're talking about long armed riders, couldn't they be lower?

Would Surlys be a bad fit for women since they're known as long in the top tube?

BTW: after a lot of searching I found the longest setback seatpost that's not $200 here:
http://www.velo-orange.com/vogrcrusepol.html

Most frames are designed around the dimensions of a typical guy. Women generally are longer legged and shorter armed than men. (Egad, I hope I didn't say longer armed in another post. Shorter, shorter, that's what I meant).

When I buy a frame that's tall enough, the reach is too long and the handle bars are too low; it's a literal pain in the neck. Since my arms won't reach, I have to bring the handlebars closer by bringing them up and in.

I know some women are different, but every women I know who rides a guys frame has a very short stem and has her handlebars set up level with her seat. Otherwise the bikes don't fit, they gather dust in the garage.

So, yup, I avoid Surlys. I wanted very much to buy a Surly frame for my fixie build but the geometry made it impossible. And when I look at the pix of the Kilo Stripper the cash register in my head starts ka-chinging (fork is cut too short, gearing is too big, saddle is too skinny, cranks are probably too long, stem is loo long, geez, I'll have to buy enough parts to make a whole new bike).

Thanks for the tip on the setback seatpost. I'm always looking for silver. There's one at Performance in the same price range, but it only comes in black.

@andmaic - Hmm, I see that I said I was long armed (but not like the law) in a previous post. I meant long armed relative to most women; I'd have to be characterized as short armed relative to any guy.

It just means that I can coerce some men's frames to fit me, which is an option that some women just don't have.

so hard to decide

Hey, I know I'm all 'everything is so important', but here's the bottom line.

As long as she can stand over the bike, reach will be the thing you'll need to adjust.

Its easy to make the reach longer (longer stem) or lower (fewer spacers).

Its hard to shorten reach beyond a certain point (can't run a negative stem length) or raise beyond a certain point (fork height is the limit, unless you're willing to use one of these ugly things, not that I have an opinion).

So, err on the side of getting the smallest frame. It will not be too tall. You can always adjust the reach out.

Get it. Ride together. Tweak the fit as needed. Make her love riding with you. Once she's hooked, everything else can follow.

yeah thanks a lot so you think the 49cm moto track would be alright then

Just built this up for my GF.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2690/...2a794ff1_b.jpg

I think so, but I wish I knew the geometry. Do you know the effective top tube length?

[QUOTE=mr_macgee;10019792]Just built this up for my GF.

That is beautiful and I'll bet it's a perfect fit.

Very, very nice. I kinda want it.