What road bike has shortest top tube?

[GeoCam]

I am 5' tall and would love (someday) to find "the" bike that fits perfectly. The bike I am riding now has a standover of 28", so I would guess my inseam is about 28.5 or 29. I am obviously short in the torso and I have VERY short arms. Even when I buy "petite" clothing, the sleeves are too long.

I know there are some women on here who know a lot about small bikes, and I would like to know what bike has the shortest top tube that you have found?

Of course I know I could have one custom made, but spending that kind of money on a bike is not in my foreseeable future. I'd like to narrow my search down to available (or even prior year) models that seem to have the best chance of fitting, and then work on locating bikes I can actually try out.

[Zen]

Have you tried any bikes at all yet?

[Triskeliongirl]

I think terrys have the shortest top tubes, especially if you consider that they also have the slackest seat tubes, so they definitely have the shortest reach. I even think Gerogena is running a sale on the symetry http://www.terrybicycles.com/detail.html?item_no=3019 which I did notice is available in a 17.5" which I would guess to be your size. I also think if you order it from terry directly, they will ship it to your bike shop and have a 30 day return policy (although you may be obliged for the shipping charges, talk to them about this if you are interested). Also ask their advice on sizing. It even comes in a 16".

[GeoCam]

I have tried the well known makes, such as:
Trek 1000 43cm
Dolce 44 cm
OCR 1W XXS

Triskeliongirl, thanks for the link to the Terry bikes. That top tube is shorter than all the ones I have tried. My current bike is styled like a Terry, but is a 1985 Fuji 450 SE. It has a 24" front wheel and 700c rear. My top tube is a little longer than the Terry, so my bike must have a steeper seat tube. I have wanted to try a Terry for a long time, but I can't spend that much right now. :( They do have listings on the site for used bikes that are often great buys, but so far none have been close enough to me that I could try it out. I'm always checking for new ads, though! And I was also interested in discovering whether there might somewhere be a bike with two 650c wheels and this short of a top tube. Don't know if it's out there, but that's why I asked.

[Eden]

There is a new Bianchi, the DB Elle, out there with an extremely short effective TT - even shorter than my Ruby, which at the time was the smallest one I could find. I'm also 5' nothing, I ride a Ruby and I've put an 80cm stem on it. I race so odd wheel bikes, like the Terry, are not an option for me.

[LBTC]

Eden, what size Ruby do you ride?

I'm in the market, too. Locally I can test ride an Opus Crescendo, but it's a small and likely to be too large. I can try a different model of Opus in a 43cm, but it's not the bike I'm going to buy...

We're still thinking about the Ruby. We found $1K difference between a local shop and a shop in California.... Wow.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Eden]

I ride a 44cm - if you feel comfortable, talk to your local shop - I found out where I bought mine that he had a little book from Specialized, it listed the msrp, the "sale price", and a 3rd price, which was the lowest price Specialized would allow them to offer.... (yes he gave me the best one :D )

[Bluetree]

There is a new Bianchi, the DB Elle, out there with an extremely short effective TT - even shorter than my Ruby, which at the time was the smallest one I could find. I'm also 5' nothing, I ride a Ruby and I've put an 80cm stem on it. I race so odd wheel bikes, like the Terry, are not an option for me.

+1

My 44cm Ruby has a sub <50 TT and I need the 700c race wheels as well. The Ruby was the only stock frame I could find with those specs. I'm 5-1 and use a 90mm stem.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I realize this is likely outside of your price range and so I hope you don't mind I mention it, but I thought I'd post it in case there are other short riders reading this thread and looking for a road bike with very short top tube too. Luna Cycles has a very small pre-built steel road bike for sale right now that is ready to go:
http://www.lunacycles.com/36cmPrebuilt.html
It's top tube is only 46.5 cm. It's a honey, waiting for *someone* out there to ride it!

[GeoCam]

OMG, Lisa, I have SEEN that bike already and drooled over it! Margo even lives in Nederland, CO, a little town I am very familiar with as my brother and his family have lived there for 20+ years. My brother just passed away in March (52 yo - melanoma). He was a cyclist and only 5'2". I would like to know what he rode, but will save that question for a later time. I do wonder if my sister in law knows Margo - it's a pretty small place. I do know for sure that the next time I go to Nederland, I will visit Margo just to see her bikes and what she does. Oh, man, that is a sweet bike!!!

[Kathi]

Look for a bike with the longest head tube as well as short tt. I'm 5'1" and my arms are short too and stock frames have ht's that are too short. The problem can be solved with spacers and stems with rise but the problem with needing a longer HT is getting the correct standover height.

With custom you can end the search for the perfect fitting bike. Handling is better and you chose your components.

My suggestion is to spend your money on a custom frame, put the components from you old bike on it then as you can afford it improve your components.

The best fitting bike I found was a Serotta Fierte.

Look for a fitter or builder that understands small riders. Your tt length can be perfect but if your short arm issue is missed you can still end up with problems. If you do buy a stock frame do not let anyone cut the steerer tube until you have your fit dialed in.

[GeoCam]

Kathi,

Thanks for the tip about head tubes. I hope I don't sound stupid, but I hadn't properly considered this aspect of bike fit. It only makes sense that raising the bars is another way to bring them closer, and I have been perhaps too focused on making sure they were horizontally closer. Does this mean that for someone with really short arms the bars will likely be higher than the saddle? It seems most bikes have the bars about even with the saddle or even lower. I'm going to start paying more attention to this!

[Kathi]

Don't apologize, I didn't know this until I had a bike fitting. The person who built my Aegis and the fitters of my other bikes didn't consider it either.

Heres pics of my two bikes the first is the Aegis. It's a long story but here's how it ended up for my short arms. The HT length is 8.4 cm.

The second is my custom bike. It does have spacers and is designed for me to go higher or lower depending on what is comfortable for me.

Compare the differences between the ht's. I think the Serotta Ht is something like 14 cm. The Serotta has a 1 degree slope but it doesn't look like it.

Also consider your shoulder width. Orginally I had a 38 cm handlebar on my Aegis. When I was fitted for my Serotta I found out I needed a 34 cm handlebar! Only one company makes handlebars that small but having the correct fitting handlebars helped too.

Trek Pilot's have a longer ht but wasn't long enough for me.

[Kathi]

Pics of both bikes.

[GeoCam]

Kathi,

Your bikes are gorgeous!

[Eden]

hmmmmm - I'd say it depends on how you want to ride, that you would want to start putting the handlebars up higher to achieve a little bit less length.
If you are looking for a more comfortable, relaxed style of riding - like touring then that might be a good route to consider.
If you want to race then you would want to try to preserve some of the drop.
It can be tough on small bikes in the first place to get much drop, just because the size of the wheels dictates how low you can go (unlike designs for big people who do have a lot of head tube to work with - most of my bikes the down tube and top tube meet or nearly meet at the head tube.... - even on the ones that have 650's)

Heck I've even got that same Salsa stem on one of my bikes, but put on the other way around, angled down, to achieve a bit less height for the bars, but I looked at my bikes last night and all of them do have some handlebar to saddle drop.

Another thing to think about, depending on your core strength and flexibility, somewhat lower may actually be more comfortable (if you are inflexible in the low back and hamstrings it can be the exact opposite - getting down low can be quite a pain). On an old bike I had was a bit too large, a bike shop tried to make it fit me by putting on a very long stem (it was a quill stem, so this had the same effect as have a long steerer on an more modern bike) It had a good effect on my knees and legs, but the more upright position put a lot of extra stress on my butt and lower back, which preferred to be somewhat more laid out. I can be fine on a very upright bike (like a comfort bike/cruiser), but the inbetween position was bothersome to me.

[Kathi]

Thanks GeoCam,

Your issue as I read it is finding a bike where you can get a neutral position. Both of these bikes put me in that neutral position. Once you've gotten the neutral position you can go up or down depending on what feels comfortable.

However, most stock frames don't have a high enough ht tube to allow a person with short arms to be in a neutral postion. Both of my bikes have spacers. On my custom frame I needed a much longer ht to achieve a neutral position but it wasn't possible because the standover would be too high, thus the spacers.

On the Aegis before adding the spacers and the stem I was way to low. My handlebars had to be raised 4 cm before I could get to a neutral position. It had nothing to do with the tt length but all to do with the ht.

Headtubes are only so long and there is a max you can raise your handlebars.
My Aegis has a CF steerer tube so only 3 cm of spacers can be put on it. So I needed a stem with 1cm rise to give me the 4cm of rise. Note that the Serotta doesn't have the stem with the rise because the ht was designed longer.

This is what I mean by neutral position. This is what I look like on my Serotta. I wish I had a picture of me on the Aegis before I made the changes.
There's a big difference.