eofelis 

The steel Novara Randonee used to be offered in very small sizes with 26" wheels.
A few years ago I picked up a NOS 13.5" frame at a REI garage sale for $15.

I built it up for my commuter bike with flat bars and front/rear racks. <glances across the office to where it's parked, waiting for the afternoon ride home>. It's an awesome bike! I've coveted this little frame so much that I have kept a constant watch on ebay for another one. A couple of years ago I did see a complete bike like this on ebay in an even smaller size. A month ago another frame just like mine came up on ebay so I bought it to build a back-up commuter (never mind that my LHT and my Sport are also back-up commuters) with drop bars and road slicks.

I wish there were more small steel touring frames like the old Randonee. The standover is very low, they are relatively lightweight (lighter than LHT) and ride great.

djb

another company to consider--Terry bikes. My wife is 5'1" and we are considering a Terry bike. Women specific before WS became popular. Depending on frame sizes, there are 700-700 (front/rear) , 650-650s and even 24inch front-700 rear for the really small frames, so that toe overlap and seat post angles are not a problem.

I know that Terry makes a custom tourer, but as with all customs, its going to be at least 3K, if not 4K.
Terry does make ready made smaller sized bikes too (roadbikes, hybrids) but not the "tourer".

Id suggest taking a peek at her website.

Booger1

Custom bikes gets you bragging rights and a lighter wallet.If you actually know what you want,get a custom.

If you buy something from Terry,prepair your mailbox for the onslot of mail......it took 2 years for it to stop.

djb

its now emails, specials on clothing all the time, but it doesnt bother me, its just marketing. One "delete" and its gone. I still like the overall attitude of her company, sizing bikes for smaller riders and attention to detail like shimming the brake levers for smaller hands etc. Stuff like that and a frame that fits you properly makes all the difference, as we all know.

NoReg

bike friday is a not-really-custom option that might suit you. Simply by adjusting the boom length, along with the adjustable seat and handle bar heights, gives custom fit results. So with one adjustment the frames are "custom". The small wheel size is ideal for smaller riders, and the folding feature has numerous uses.

As far as what you get going custom is concerned:


- Fit - The bike fits your build and objectives with geometry, and tubing choice. You can get a 100 pound + difference in weight for the person of say 5'8". This can only be properly met with custom frames. The same is true of designing for specific uses. There are many different touring types, but few real options in face of a mass market.

- No Monday bikes all week long. The typical custom bike is built to a much higher standard of alignment, machining, joinery. Most bikes these days are welded and the quality of welds one sees in even well known brands is not always up to a certification level. To my way of thinking far lower relative apparent quality than one finds/found with mass produced lugged bikes.

- Parts. People often talk about esoteric tubing and such, and that is part of it. Quality parts like CNC machined drops rather than cast, CNC machined BBs. Binders are really important, at least at my weight. There are many small parts, and all of these can be optimized. At the highest level this is time consuming work. Most of the parts will retain by binding between the head of the screw and the surface of the insert. Most times the threaded inserts will not be properly sized, and the bearing will not be even. This puts strain on the parts. Also some parts like rack bolts are undersized, having been designed for fenders. Then there are fancy parts, like specialized set-ups for rohloff, or S&S. These parts can be built in with appropriate tubing and placement of butts, rather than just being scabbed on.

- You get the expertise of the builder. This ought to be major, but in some respects may not be. For one, there are not as many builders building for the touring market as there once were, at least proportionally. That is to say people whose principle interested is touring building only touring bikes, or mainly touring bikes. As a result many of those who do are not high volume or particularly experienced builders. And then the other side of it, is that people are just as likely to be influenced by opinions on the internet as they are to listen to real experts these days. That's a good thing, loosing a few experts but gaining thousands of opinions is a good trade. The internet teaches that the experts may have previously had the podium but in many respects nobody is listening. Often the expert gets his reputation from doing something noteworthy that has very little application in the real world, like climbing Everest and being an expert on sleeping bags.

- outfitting the bike for the specific work it will undertake. BOs for waterbottles, racks, cabling, spokes, pumps, oil, brakes, fenders, etc...

Ultimately the whole bike should be piece by piece assessed and configured for it's intended purpose. Every single piece of it should/could be different from what you can get from a mass marketer. I think the difference proposition is huge, the value proposition is a whole other mater.

garagegirl

If I were you I would look at Rodriguez. Not exactly custom, but a much larger selection of sizes than most manufacturers.
Or I would try a Terry like djb suggestes. I have an extremely short torso for my height, and Terrys fit me perfectly. Don't be afraid of the 2 different wheel sizes on the older Terrys- I wouldn't bother with carrying spare tires unless I was really out in the hinterlands. And the new Terrys no longer have 2 dif wheels.
FYI surlys tend to fit people with short torsos terribly. The LHT has a shorter top tube than most, but you'll still have to leave your steer tube pretty tall.

Sixty Fiver

We usually build for the very big and tall and build bikes that can handle the beating a larger rider with a bunch of gear can dish out but every once in a while we get an order for something at the other end of the scale.

Normally proportioned folks can usually do very well buying off the peg and Surly has done well to offer the LHT in such a great range of sizes... just finished setting one up for a tour today and I have to say these are nice bikes.

On the other end...

We built up a beautiful lugged 531 touring frame on 26 inch wheels and the rear hub is tandem spaced to make for a 0 dish 9 speed set up and the rear rack is integrated into the frame.

It is probably the lightest full on touring bike I have ever handled... frame is 48 cm.

Sixty Fiver

A bike Friday is an excellent option for a smaller rider as are Terry bicycles... a few larger companies made some rather excellent xs frames but these are pretty rare.

My little sister is five foot 2 with very short legs and I found her a 45 cm Centurion running on 650c wheels and have sourced a few other custom frames from other local builders in this size range for very small riders.

This is one of the inspirations behind building frames... I seem to have met or know a lot of people who struggle to find an off the peg bike that will fit them.

One customer stopped by the shop today and he spent years trying to find a road frame to fit him... he has a 40 inch inseam and is six foot ten and we found a 68 cm Nishiki that could still be taller.

djb

interesting tidbits there buck65

RJM

I have a Novara Safari (aluminum framed) and a Rivendell Atlantis, 26" wheels & built by Waterford I believe, so I can give you a little comparison between the two. I am not a tall guy, so the 26" wheels are much better for me than the 700s on my other touring bike (a Jamis Aurora). The Safari is a tough bike, works fine, is comfy enough, I would have no problem riding this bike for expedition touring on some grand adventure. When loaded it is a little dead feeling, sluggish in steering and is a heavy machine. I am not sold on disk brakes, but they seem to work fine on the Safari. The Atlantis rides better in most every way, loaded or not. It is more comfortable and gives more stable feedback. The bike doesn't feel sluggish at all, probably weighs less than the Novara but I never really weighed them. I prefer the canti brakes. To top it off, the bike is very good looking. Of course, the Atlantis is much more expensive than the Novara, but I like it much more. The Atlantis isn't a custom bike, but I couldn't imagine wanting anything else in a touring bike.

markf

Based on your username and stated measurements I'm going to assume that you are female and post accordingly; my apologies if I'm wrong.

1.To my knowledge, you are the second female on this forum to grumble about the fit of a stock Rivendell frame; there's a distinct possibility that Rivendell bases their stock frame geometries a little too heavily on the proportions of adult males. I say this as someone who is very happy with his Rivendell touring frame.

2. Female and male humans are proportioned differently (leg/torso ratio, flexibility, stance/Q-factor and probably a few other variables), so a female specific frame designed by a female makes a fair bit of sense. Terry and Luna are two names that I know, there might be others.

3. Your height is unusual enough that a custom frame might be a good idea.

4. 26" wheels would make a lot of sense for a person your size, whether you go custom or get a stock, female-specific frame. It would be easier for the frame builder to build a small frame with the optimum geometry if the wheels were in proportion with the rest of the bike. A good friend of mine who is 5'4" tall rides a Litespeed with custom geometry and 700C wheels; quite frankly the head tube looks more like an oversize frame lug than a frame tube. Looking at that bike I don't see how the frame could be re-designed to fit a smaller person while keeping the wheel size the same. 650B wheels might work for you, but 26" wheels would make buying tires a lot easier.

Sixty Fiver

With better tyres available for 26 inch wheels and wider overall availability these make excellent sense... you might not find 650b or 650c tyres to be that common in some locales.

We build a lot of touring bikes on 26 inch wheels for normal sized adults and I like my non custom 26 inch wheeled expedition bike a great deal... it gives up nearly nothing to a 700c wheel and has many advantages in that it is stronger, rides better, and I have more options for tyre width with my frame.

MilitantPotato

Rodriguez has stock frame sizes that'd likely fit you. A bit more than a mass produced frame, but for me, it was worth every penny (and I don't have a lot of those.)

Their customer service is amazing too.
https://www.rodcycle.com/

tarwheel 

Here are some photos of my new Salsa Casseroll. The design is perfect for commuting and light touring. It has room for tires as large as 38 mm with fenders, canti brakes, 3 water bottle attachments, mounts for front and rear fenders and racks. Frame and fork costs only $540 including a front rack and seat post collar. I will be using my Casseroll for commuting and light touring, so I left off the front rack for now to keep the weight down.

bullwinkle

Check out Mercian Cycles in England - I love mine. Check out Bob Jackson Cycles too, also in England.

fietsbob

2nd the Terry bike, according to website, she has Waterford as the contract builder currently .

Seems Ian Hibbel [rip] was not a tall guy, saw a profile pic of him on his bike , looked stretched out
But after a million miles , it was his style .. ready to pounce.. ?

bradtx

ninamaxine, A custom made frame will at least give you the confidence that it'll fit.

65er, Some nice features on that pictured bike, nice design.

Brad

Sixty Fiver

Thanks... we are looking at setting it up with 650b wheels to give it a little more pedal clearance which means we will probably use those wheels for a light tandem as they are spaced 145 mm and strong enough for two medium sized people.

Might even use them on my tandem as I have yet to build a set of wheels for that.

NoReg

"ninamaxine, A custom made frame will at least give you the confidence that it'll fit."

I think that is true if you have the fit worked out, but can't find it with a stock bike. Most builders can follow the numbers. But if you are depending on getting fit by a framebuilder that is a more dubious process. I think it is a bit like multiple marriages. Should the first union not work out, one can overreact in the wrong direction. Third time is the charm. There are a number of reasons why a framebuilder may not get it right. Sure they are knowledgeable enough, but it doesn't always work out.

Hangtownmatt

Tarwheel, I'm not an expert, but my assumption looking at the Casseroll geometry it that it has a longer than average effective top tube length. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not think this bike fits the requirements of this thread.

Shifty

Another vote for the Co-Motion Nor'wester Tour. It's a great bike that will also serve as a all around road bike.

Sixty Fiver

Building frames for women offers new challenges as women typically have longer legs relative to their torso and a shorter reach so top tube dimensions are critical... a sloping top tube design can address this quite well if standard 700c wheels are used but most of us luddites do not like the looks of them.

Stock bikes often fail to take this into account and Terry did a wonderful job in applying sound design principles to her bikes and also worked for Raleigh to help them develop women specific bikes and may have just licensed her designs to them early on in her career.

I have fitted thousands of people to bicycles with good success and besides taking measurements will also ride with people to observe their particular riding style and bio mechanics and adjust from that information as well.

A cm here and a degree there can make a world of difference and is not as big a deal to people who ride around the block but if you are laying down the miles it becomes more critical that the fit is spot on.

I am always watching people ride and all too often see that people have their bikes set up wrong... my tolerance for a less than perfect set up is 0 as with a fragged back my positioning has to be pretty perfect for every ride.

garagegirl

Since the OP is on the small side, the Casseroll probably will be a very bad fit for her. I think she would have much better luck with the Salsa Vaya.

The Casseroll's not a necessarily a bad fit for the long legged though.

The Casseroll geometry is a bit long, but it's not as extreme as say Surly. The TT is sloping and (most important) it has a very tall headtube. I have very long legs for my height- 5'6.5" 32.5" inseam, and thanks to the tall headtube the Casseroll works okay for me. I did have to have the shop leave the steer tube long.

Actually, I've had 2 Casserolls- a 51 (effective 54) which I sold and replaced with a 49 (effective 52) I was afraid the 49 would feel too small, but it's been great- not too much bar to saddle drop, and I only have 4.5 cm's of spacers with the stock stem, which for me is pretty good. Ideally I would like a slacker seat tube, but I can get a still get a good fit with a long railed saddle (i.e. not a brooks)
Fortunately for me, I bought both sizes on clearance, so I didn't loose much money. If I were paying msrp, I'd rather just spend more and get a Rodriguez or Terry, and be assured it will fit right from the start.

A (54) Vaya pretty much fits me perfectly out of the box, would probably be a much better choice for the OP.

garagegirl

Sloping top tubes are wonderful; the best thing since sliced bread, penicillin, and indoor plumbing, and I really wish you luddites would get on board and stop oppressing us long legged folk

fietsbob

.. as long as you can find a long enough seat post... that wont bend under your weight.