Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Sparky56
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by Sparky56 »

to follow up on above conversation with my personal reviews of a couple of the bikes mentioned here.

1) Frog 78 — my son has this bike he is 5 ft tall, 11yrs old— he’s cycled up Mt Ventoux on it and we have also been bikepacking off road on it. Super versatile. HOWEVER - this is our 4th frog bike and it seems like their quality has deteriorated over the years. Cheaper components than previously & it was really badly set up (by Frog, we ordered it direct). Anyway it now works well for him..

2) Reilly Gradient - I’ve got this bike - absolutely awesome bike and first class customer service. Trainsharp will let you have testrides of this and others.

3) My daughter (who is 5’2”) has a Genesis CDA 10 in size small. It works for her (although not for the chap in the bike shop who is the same height but different proportions). theres also an XS. shes happy with the bike.
rjb
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by rjb »

Specialised make Women Specific Bikes in a range of sizes to fit them.
Worth a look. :wink:
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
rualexander
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by rualexander »

rjb wrote: 10 Mar 2023, 9:02am Specialised make Women Specific Bikes in a range of sizes to fit them.
Worth a look. :wink:
Not any more they don't
They just make various sizes of all their bikes.
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pjclinch
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by pjclinch »

rualexander wrote: 10 Mar 2023, 11:21am
rjb wrote: 10 Mar 2023, 9:02am Specialised make Women Specific Bikes in a range of sizes to fit them.
Worth a look. :wink:
Not any more they don't
They just make various sizes of all their bikes.
Perhaps worth noting that this (for once!) isn't everyday sexism in action, but the discovery that a lot of the "women specific" stuff was based on false assumptions, e.g. that the typical man at height x and the typical woman at height x would tend to conform to different proportions, such as the woman more likely having longer legs and shorter arms, but that turned out not to be the case.
While it's certainly true that some women will have proportionately shorter reach, so will some men and average proportions are such that if "women specific" frames assume shorter reach at the same height then lots of women with longer reaches would be poorly served.

And so, as noted above, the game these days is just to make sure more smaller frames are available and surf the market to choose for individual preference with regard tube lengths, geometry, stem angles/length etc. etc.

Where there are dedicated women's bikes these days it tends to be frame sizes ranging smaller and with stuff like a WSD saddle, where there obviously are differences between Mr. & Ms. Average, but if you're happy to shop for your own seat then as long as the frame fits there's not much in it.

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Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
rivers
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by rivers »

I ride a 46cm Orro Terra C (XS ). I'm 5'2". Might be worth look
spoovy
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New touring / gravelly bike for short lady

Post by spoovy »

I've just bought a Decathlon Riverside 900 Touring with the intention of doing some multi-day trips around the UK and mainland Europe. It seems to suit the pretty unspecific nature of our plans, on road, off road, some hills. Pretty versatile basically.
The problem now is what to buy my wife. She'll need something similar in terms of capabilities though with less load carrying requirement. She's particularly short though, at 151cm (4' 11") with 69cm inside leg (27"). She also doesn't want to buy new if she can help it ("thrifty" too :D ).
I'm looking on ebay but nothing much is coming up in her size, it seems most manufacturers don't cater for her size in frame or wheels (most things seem to be 700c now but not sure if you can even build a 700c wheeled bike in her size). I'm not familiar with this type of bike though myself, being an ex-roadie, so maybe I'm missing things.

Does anyone have any recommendations on makes/models to look out for? I'm thinking we'll likely end up at our local builder to get something semi-custom built, sized up correctly etc, but thought I'd ask here first. Ta.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by MrsHJ »

I get a bit grumpy at men posting wish lists for their wives bikekit but at one point islabikes was good for small sized adults- you’ll need to check if they still are. It will be a single sram ring I think- the beinn.
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Pinhead
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by Pinhead »

Consider building to order

Go to a shop and get measured for a frame and appropriate parts and get them to build it
AUTISTIC and proud
rualexander
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by rualexander »

Pinhead wrote: 9 Jul 2023, 7:45pm Consider building to order

Go to a shop and get measured for a frame and appropriate parts and get them to build it
Very few gravel bike frames available as frame only or frame and forks.
Nearholmer
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by Nearholmer »

The Spa Rove frame-set has an XS size, which I think might fit a person of height and leg-length as described, and they offer it built-up in several formats.
spoovy
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by spoovy »

MrsHJ wrote: 9 Jul 2023, 7:06pm I get a bit grumpy at men posting wish lists for their wives bikekit but at one point islabikes was good for small sized adults- you’ll need to check if they still are. It will be a single sram ring I think- the beinn.
Whats to be grumpy about? 🤔
Thanks for the recommendation though that looks promising.

Liv also looks promising, never heard of this brand before.
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531colin
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by 531colin »

Nearholmer wrote: 9 Jul 2023, 10:04pm The Spa Rove frame-set has an XS size, which I think might fit a person of height and leg-length as described, and they offer it built-up in several formats.
ImageJeannie 001 by 531colin, on Flickr

This is my "tiny bike tester" .....(she always said she was 5 feet tall, and who was I to argue?)
...on the smallest Spa Wayfarer....this would be the original (long) style.

Go to Spa and test ride the bikes.....phone up to check they have testers available in the appropriate sizes.
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pjclinch
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by pjclinch »

MrsHJ wrote: 9 Jul 2023, 7:06pm I get a bit grumpy at men posting wish lists for their wives bikekit but at one point islabikes was good for small sized adults- you’ll need to check if they still are. It will be a single sram ring I think- the beinn.
I would guess it might be the Luath for this one. The Beinn is their general purpose hybrid, and there's no reason it won't go off-road, but if you want something aimed particularly at touring/gravel the Luath is more specifically that: https://www.islabikes.co.uk/products/luath

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
Valbrona
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Re: Any gravel bike suggestions for a petite woman?

Post by Valbrona »

The biggest manufacturers tend to provide a greater range of sizes, eg. Cannondale, Trek, Specialized.
I should coco.
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