My better half needs a new full-sus trail bike, with the emphasis on having fun on the downhills and not really bothered about how long it takes to get uphill, as long as the bike isn’t too heavy.

We’ve browsed through a few shops and found that the main issue is standover height. At 5’5″ she will probably need a medium frame, but her inside leg is relatively short and some of more obvious choices have top tubes that are too high to be comfortable e.g. Trance, Reign, Stumpjumper.

She’s sat on a Spec Safire Medium and that works well, but I was hoping to find a second-hand bike and they aren’t too many around at the moment. Any feedback on the Safire would be good to hear, as would any other recommendations for bikes with low top tubes? Cheers.

If you’re willing to get a custom build then an XS Titus Motolite would do the job.

Afraid I can’t offer any wisdom but the Safire looks like a lovely bike! If she goes for it I’d be keen to hear her thoughts. Sorry I can’t actually be of any help!

I’m 5’3″, have a Rocky Mountain Instinct (think it is the Element now) size 15″. It has really good stand over, but the top tube is a bit on the short size. They do women’s specific bike too, though at 5’5″ she might not need that. Not sure if this is any help at all.

At 5′ 4″ I’ve had no problems with my Santa cruz Juliana.
Have you a decent budget?

Just get out there and demo as many as possible.

If you’re willing to get a custom build then an XS Titus Motolite would do the job.

Yup.

Fat Tread Bikes have an ex-demo XS frame going for £300 (bargain) and an ex-demo Small full-build for £1700 (also a bargain).

Give them a call – they’re very helpful.

Blazing Saddles in Hebden Bridge have an ex demo Safire in med for sale.

Give em a call, not sure what the price is but it looks in good nick.

I’m also about 5’5” and ride a small Scott Contessa FX 15 2008. The top tube is bent conveniently and is a great bike to ride! Its the womens version of the Scott Genius which gets really good reviews.

If she’s 5’5″ would think that with a bit of tweaking she could probably get away with a small frame rather than a medium which might be the easier option.

I have a womens medium stumpjumper and have heaps of room for stand over (I’m 5’4″). The Safire is basically the womens model of the stumpjumper now and I think the top tube height is fairly similar so may be worth looking at older womens stumpjumpers if you want to get something second hand, mine is a 2007 model. The top tube is much lower than the small Cannondale Rize I was riding last week.

Burts – it sounds as though your partner has relatively short legs and therefore a ‘longer than ususal for a woman’ torso. In which case you might find that a unisex / blokes bike might be better as women specific bikes are designed to accomodate relatively long legs and shorter torsos.

You might want to consider a ‘unisex’ Orange full sus in a 14″ frame, as that would give you a low standover but a longer toptube than the women specific Orange Diva.

An xs titus is very unlikely to fit – I ride one and I’m only 5 foot!

Get her the safire, get the girly pink one, get her the matching girly pink helmet too.

There was a safire frame for sale on the classifieds a while ago. Suggest you do a search – might still be for sale

smurf

Sue_W:

it sounds as though your partner has relatively short legs and therefore a ‘longer than ususal for a woman’ torso. In which case you might find that a unisex / blokes bike might be better as women specific bikes are designed to accomodate relatively long legs and shorter torsos.

Correct, she’s tried small frames before and in general they’re too short in the top tube (even with long stems etc). Her previous bike was a 17″ Giant XTC hardtail, which was a good fit and the top-tube sloped down steeply to give good standover. Unfortunately that got nicked last week. :o(

Thanks all for the suggestions. Orange Diva Long looks good in measurement, but my wife is errrm… not keen on the boxy swingarm. ;o) I’ll follow up on the Safire and get her to try some Stumpjumpers again. Thanks.

Or what about the Norco Vixa
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gallery/article/norco-performance-bikes-2009-17630?img=5&pn=norco-performance-bikes-2009&mlc=news%2Farticle
But I don’t know if you can actually get hold of them in UK, but I’d like one.

Burt I have got a Rocky Mountain Element for sale. Its a 16 inch bike, its light, its beautiful and its cheap.
I will take £500 for the whole bike. I am 5′ 6″ and its perfect for me.

Let me know?

Matt

Another vote for the Speccy Stumpjumper or Myka FSR, just sold a small one to a 5’2″ woman…loads of stand over and a nice spec and looks (always important!)

SSP

I don’t know whether I’m breaking forum rules, but I have two 2008 Saphires in stock, and therefore cheap. Give me a ring tomorrow on 01273 697617 if you want a chat.

Adam

Matt, sorry, we’re in Vancouver at the moment.

Splat – Nice idea, Norco’s are easy to find here but I think that a freeride bike would be overkill for most of her riding. It’d be fun for a few days at Whistler though!

Cube AMS Pro WLS? Loads of standover height and my missus adores it.