Depends partly on her torso, and inseam length. My daughter is 13 and is at 5' (27 inch inseam), she can ride my wifes specialized 50cm and is just a little stretched out because of the compact frame (it has 700 wheels). I know some of the women specific frames start around 44 cm, but would probably have smaller wheels. I have a 48cm Orbea (I have a 26.5 inch inseam) with 700 that she fits on fine as well.



Don

A 5 ft. tall woman I know just purchased a Specialized Dolce. Seems like a very nice bike.

http://www.specialized.com/...odel.jsp?sid=05Dolce

I'm 5'3 and I love my Trek 2200 WSD. I ride the 48 cm frame with 650 wheels and clip-on aerobars. My next purchase will be a Cervelo, but I have had this bike for 3 years and it has been wonderful!

you can get short or reach adjustable levers.

My SO has a 48cm Cannondale road bike with 650c wheels. Set up with 105, she loves it.

my fiancee is 4'9" and is riding a 40CM (yes Forty) Slecialized R500 (or whatever number) WSD. She is very happy with it and everything is much more in reach for her.

We didn't see any with 700c wheels in the smaller sizes.

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-zakk

Death Squad Cycling Club
http://www.ridethedeath.com


"Why is that people will drop $2000 on race wheels and a few c-notes for an ugly tattoo and then balk at the race fee?" - Blackie

Have you checked out Terry bikes? http://www.terrybicycles.com

The Symmetry in particular is a pretty good value, it's known to handle well and the sizes span the short effective top tube length she'll likely need. You do have to carry two sizes of spare however...

My wife, also 5' on a good hair day, is very happy with her Softride Lite. It's sold with a tri set-up, but you could easily swap out for roadie set-up.

It's tough finding a quality bike for people in that range. it seems that most companies equate small bike with poor, inexperienced cyclist. They all come with low-grade components and I found the aesthetics atrocious. Just my humble opinion.

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Dan Hollingsworth

Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul." - Douglas MacArthur

Im 5'2 ... i tried most of the women specific bikes but the top tube was always too long ... i wound up buying a custom guru trilite and i love it!

Be careful estimating your wife's speed and riding style. I bought my 4' 11.75" wife a Trek WSD several years ago with the 650 wheels. I figured she would like it more pn the road than her MTB with slicks and on my easy days we could ride together. Long story short, the last two years her bike splits were better than mine. Definitely a good motivation for training harder.

The 650 wheeled WSD was definitely a much better fit than the 700's I saw. The top tube is still a little long. The person who did the fitting for her next bike says it is because the manufacturers really avoid any toe overlap for product liability reasons and this is the reason for the longer top tube. If you plan on riding fast and straight on roads instead of in slow tight circles in the parking lot no worries with toe overlap.

I also bought her the Shimano shifters several Christmas's ago which have a shim which moves the levers in closer. She has been quite happy with them. Her only problem was reaching the brake levers and this eliminated this. To my knowledge the shifter throw has never been a problem.

She is already picking out the color scheme for her next bike, a custom Guru Tri-lite, so like I said, be carefull making assumptions about her future riding style.

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Tim Anderson
"It's the nature of the internets that you get some dweeb who knows nothing about (insert topic here) pontificates about (topic), believing that his/her opinion is worth the same as opinions from those who actually knows what's going on." --Echappist

TREK WSD. I am almost 60 inches with running shoes and love the fit of my 43 Trek 2200. Bike was bought in 2000 as one of the first WSD models with 650's. I tried other WSD models, but knew the Trek was for me. I sat on the 45 and thought the fit was great until measurements revealed that I needed a 43. The bike was ordered and I have been happy every since. I still need a slightly shorter top tube so my next bike will be a custom Guru unless Trek wants to make me a customized bike.

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Lisa Walser-Anderson, ATC,CSCS

I second Skip's recommendation of a Terry Symmetry. Terry long ago came up with good solutions to the problems that other manufacturers apparently are not effectively addressing (judging from some of the other posts in this thread). For example, my Symmetry came with 10% shims for smaller reach to the brake levers. And rather than compromise fit with a longer top tube, Terry's smaller sizes eliminate toe overlap with a 24" front wheel.

I can personally vouch for the fact that these kinds of features can mean the difference between "being one with the bike" and being miserable. I recently raked my bike off my roof rack as I was driving into my garage. My Terry handlebars were destroyed. The guy at my LBS measured me and replaced the handlebars with some that should have worked fine. But they didn't. I couldn't comfortably reach the brake levers and they couldn't be adjusted any closer. On all 3 rides I did with those handlebars, my fingers got numb. By the end of the third ride, I couldn't make the fingers on my left hand move enough to shift gears, and a week later, I still don't have full grip strength in that hand.

Today my LBS guy replaced those horrible (but extremely pricey carbon) handlebars with Terry handlebars exactly like I had and explained to me what the difference was that caused the nerve compression. My eyes glazed over, but part of the explanation was my really short reach that Terry geometry accommodates perfectly. And I'm an average-size woman at 5'4".

Susan