Suggestions for a 4'11 height beginner lady friend

[gifted child]

Good day. Any suggestions for a road bike build for a 4'11 lady friend who's a beginner. Budget is $3,000 to $3,500


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[gifted child]

I can't think of what frameset to start with... Should we go custom Ti?


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[Valbrona]

Cannondale Women's Synapse available in carbon or metal versions comes up pretty small. I noticed the other day that Prolite do a decent quality al frame for 650c wheels - but it still had quite a long reach.

[gifted child]

It would be much better if wheels could still be 700c and not 650c ...


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[cyclenutnz]

Big compromise on handling to go with a 700C for someone that height
Plan on Cobb or Rotor cranks to get 155mm or shorter
Smallest lady I've fitted is 4'10 so we did custom Ti. 145mm cranks for better pedalling also allow low BB (65mm) to keep standover low. And really short front centre to ensure the frame isn't too long (472 TT).
It is a bit of a pain finding nice 650 forks now, but it's definitely worth the hassle of 650 to make sure she enjoys cycling from the beginning.

[hasbeen]

i lean towards 650c at that height.

[Greg66]

Emma Pooley is 5'2" and used to ride a 48cm Cervelo Soloist/S2. You could start there.

I managed to get my daughter on the same frame when she was 5' dead. It is easier if she is long body/short legs instead of short body/long legs.

Also worth looking at things like short cranks, a sub-compact crankset (48/34), big cassette, narrowest bars you can find and try out a few shifters to see if one in particular suits her hand size

[spdntrxi]

My wife is 5 foot.. Was on a 44 spesh ruby for awhile.. Which seemed small... Now on a madone 6 47.. Likes it better

[thp]

5' Lady Friend. Best fit we could find was the Orbea's with 650c. Returned the XXS ruby with 700c because of toe clearance.

[spdntrxi]

^ that is a good point... toe overlap for a beginner kinda can wreck confidence, especially if they are going with clip in's. I personally hate toe overlap, but nearly every bike I have owned has a little.... maybe if I used 165mm cranks I'd be ok.

[octav]

Good topic
My girlfriend is 5ft 3(160cm) and I am looking for a roadbike also for her.
Should I go with a Specialized Ruby 48cm(52top tube) or a Cube WLS 47cm(515mm top tube) ?
Head tube is 130mm for Specialized and 140mm for Cube
Should I go with a slightly smaller one, let's say Specialized 44cm ? I see that @spdntrxi recommends a bigger one than 44 for 5ft ; so for 5ft 3" it should be better with a 48?

[LouisN]

I don't know if you have Norco bikes available in the Philippines,

BUt this is a nice bike for a beginner, same type as the Synapse, Ruby, etc... size 45.5 should be fine for a 4'11" girl : http://www.norco.com/bikes/road/enduran ... bon-forma/


Louis

[RussellS]

My slightly taller mother uses a Trek with 650C wheels. Its 15-20 years old. Not sure if Trek makes such a bike anymore. Consider 650C or 26" wheels for someone under 5 feet tall. There are plenty of road tires made in 650C and 26" size.

[octav]

For 160cm would you go for a Scott Speedster XXS (50.5 top tube ; 47 seattube to top) or XS ( 51.5 top tube ; 49 seattube to top) or a Cube Axial 47cm (51.5 top tube; 47 seattube to top)
For the Scott; the Head tube is 120mm ; for the Cube it's 140mm.

[djconnel]

Cervelo feature low-reach frames. Key thing is to not get tricked into assuming low effective top tube = low reach. A lot of companies go super-steep on the seat tube which just means you run your seat further back on the rails and the bars aren't any closer. Another good option is the Trek Domain which isn't that much taller than the Cervelo at that size. I'm not sure about the Trek women's frames.



For low stack Argon is about as good as it gets but the reach is likely too long: