Finding a new bike for my wife, who is all of about 5’, is a frustrating task. She currently rides a Principia 48cm which is just too big for her. I know companies like Cannondale, Trek and Specialized make a 44 cm frame, but they seem to be ignoring the more high-end frame market and sticking to the more entry level frames. We’re not looking to break the bank, but when we replace her bike we want to UPgrade it, so it won’t be an issue again for some time, you know like at least 6 months or so
A friend of ours has an Aegis Swift in 44cm, very nice, full carbon. I just spied an Orbea DAMA at B & L today and it was B-E-A-U-tiful. Are there any other companies that are making quality small frame bikes in the $2000-$3000 range? If we could get carbon fibre or at least CF stays that would be great! Anybody have the Orbea Dama or know someone who has it? Thanks, I look forward to seeing what the forum comes up with.
A 4’11" woman we know had an Giant OCR-1 small that was just too big for her. She’s had a heck of a time trying to find a small bike. As far as I know, she’s still looking. A lot of companies make so called women specific bikes but the smallest frames seem to be 46/47/48. Very few make 44 it seems. You’ll have to do some serious research to find out what’s out there. A custom frame with 650c wheels may be the way to go.
My Wife is also under 5’. Last year we had her fitted for a new bike (haven’t bought yet), but the results of the fitting were that even the Trek WSD she was riding had too long of a top tube length. This is most likely due to the toe overlap issue and our litigious society. After talking to the LBS and asking this same question here, we decided a custom frame was a good approach. Our LBS recommended Guru’s custom service, and also Yaqui and Cramerotti can do a custom small frame for little extra expense. Just hopes this helps.
I can relate to this issue as I am 5’1", but I am fortunate in that my torso is longer than most women my height. I ride the 48 cm Cervelo Soloist and have just acquired a 44 cm Calfee (purchased used so not sure what the official size is). Both bikes have 700c wheels so I do have toe overlap issues. I have also had a 650c 48cm bike which pretty much solves the toe overlap issues.
Calfee makes custom carbon fiber bikes in small sizes. I have seen petite women riding Seven (custom titanium) as well as Serotta (custom steel). You should be able to get a Calfee or Serotta in that price range. For Seven, your probably looking at a little more money.
Hollidan, My wife went through the same frustration trying to find a small bike, she is 5’ as well. She did find a cannondale R-400 40cm with tiagra,that was perfect for an entry level.I believe that size is also avalible in other higher models from cannondale. Lou’s in Seminole,Fl has a extra small TT bike with 24" wheels that might be worth a phone call, I can’t remember the name of the manuf. but its Italian I think. The hottest one we saw is the griffon that John Cobb has at bicycle sports, It belongs to one of his guy’s wife but she let’s them demo it. It is sweet, real high end. Hope this helps!
In that price range, given the fact that you are having a tough time finding a high end frame in a hard to fit size I would have to mention a custom built Yaqui by Ves Mandaric. http://www.yaquiusa.com/
I think custom would be the way to go for a couple of reasons. One of which is the better ride quality a custom built bike MAY offer by using lighter and thinner tubeset material; material which would not be appropriate to use on larger frames.
If your wife is as light as she is small, a custom builder might be willing to build a bike that wouldn’t hold up to a 200 pound man. I’m guessing that almost all non-custom bike manufacturers have their smallest frames built with the same tubing set from which their large frames are made…mainly they just use shorter tubes. Shorter tubes are stiffer than longer ones, so the end result can be a very stiff bike. Big, strong tubing sets that are made to withstand the forces of a big, strong rider, can make a small frame made with the same tubing ride with the feeling of sitting on a rock.
I really don’t know if many manufacturers take this into consideration in their smaller bikes…it seems like it would cost too much to test and destroy every different size frame. I have a suspicion that Cervelo may be an exception here, but, I really don’t know. My guess (and, yes, this is all conjecture on my part, I don’t really know how all bike manufacturers test their bikes) is they take a sample somewhere in their “medium” size and flail it until it breaks, in order to make sure that line of bike frames hold up to a certain standard.
Even if a manufacturer did test their different sized frames for durability, and even if a manufacturer did scale down the stiffness of the tubesets for their smaller bikes, the smaller bike is still made to stand up to that 200+ pounder that could be buying it. The bike would still be way overbuilt for a 100 lb. female.
While you probably are riding a frame that is built to withstand the demands of someone that is many times heavier and stronger than you, (and appropriately so, for safety reasons), you wouldn’t want to ride a frame any more heavy and rigid than it has to be in order to meet your riding requirements. If she is small and delicate, a small, delicate bike…made by someone that knows what they are doing…will be a delite for her to ride in comparison to a mass-produced “normal” tubeset that results in an overbuilt frame.
My wife is also 4’11" I found a Fuji Ace SE in 43cm with 650 wheels, it had a low end group (Sora) but was easily upgraded. Fairly reasonable in cost and it fits her very nice. Gave her a set of HED3’s for Christmas.
The Orbea DAMA only comes in a 49cm frame size, They make the bikes all the way down to a 46cm, but not in womens sizes. Also they size their bikes center to center, not center to top so they fit much bigger than they are labeled. Her current bike would be smaller than a 49cm Orbea Dama bike.
Felt makes their AC1 in a 47cm (44cm center to top). It has a steep 75+ degree seat angle and is under a grand with a Reynolds fork and carbon seatpost. The kit could be your call, but a mix of Veloce/Centuar/Chrous could have the bike set up for $2300ish.
check out jamesframes.com also. He’s built several custom supersmall bikes for friends of mine, all the way down to a 40cm 'cross bike. He can also build very aero TT/Tri machines as he has access to the tubing the Olympic GT Superbikes were made from.
I would agree with your statement about the tubesets IF the tubing used is only single-butted. Most manufacturers HAVE to use size-specific tubing to a degree (in round tubes, anyway), as the butts of the tubing can be lost while cutting down the tubes. Usually, there is three or four stock sizes of tubes, each with different butt lengths. Check the specs of any tube manufacturer on the internet and you can see this. Most bike manufacturers do not want the intended frame properties to change with each size of frame.
If you cut down some types of triple butted tubes intended for a 56-60cm frame, you may have a tube intended for a sub-5’ tall rider weighing under 120lbs and it ends up either double or single-butted with thin enough walls to not punish a lightweight rider. Use a tube intended for smaller size and cut it down, then you have an entirely different story with tube thickness. Even within one tubing line, there can be enough tube specs to fill an entire phone book. This is where finding a good custom builder with experience fitting small riders is key.
How do I know so much about this subject? I could not join my husband until I got a custom built frame. I am 5’ 2" tall and hard to fit on a bike. He loves bikes so much that I even learned the technical aspects, whether I wanted to or not.
When I was at B & L yesterday they told me the DAMA was a 44cm. I thought it was suspicious when I checked the Orbea website and did not see 44 listed as a frame size.
Thanks for all the great info. Looks like we have lots of research and shopping to do. I also got an email from Softride, so we will likely check them out as well. Will keep the forum posted as to how the search ends up.
G Cottrell wrote: Even within one tubing line, there can be enough tube specs to fill an entire phone book. This is where finding a good custom builder with experience fitting small riders is key.
Exactly my point. Even if a mass manufacturer uses different tubing specs for different sized bikes, when you get to either extreme…either very large or very small, I think you’ll be better served by a custom frame, simply because it’s too hard and expensive for mass manufacturers to pay that much attention to the details on a frame size of which they’ll sell precious few. On the other hand, a experienced custom builder’s reputation rides on each and every example they put under a rider. If you are at one or the other extreme in frame size, I think it’s appropriate to consider custom made.
Hi, I recently purchased a Merlin Extra Light frame and fork off of, do I dare say, EBAY! The frame and fork are in excellent condition, however the bike was advertised as a 48 and it’s actually a 45, so needless to say I will be selling it. If you have any interest, send me an e-mail!! kestrelkerri@hotmail.com
The frame and fork are in excellent condition, however the bike was advertised as a 48 and it’s actually a 45, so needless to say I will be selling it. 
If you have any interest, send me an e-mail!! 