Quote Originally Posted by amyp View Post
Ooohhhh I'm not that young! I probably look like a 15 year old though haha. has anyone (ages 20+) ever competed with the redline conquest 24 with adults?
Around here the smaller women seem to be on 26er mountain bikes, but mostly because the few small women in the area are also die-hard mountain bikers. If I were small and and wanting to do CX, but not mtn. biking I don't think I'd look at a mountain bike. Even though the Conquest 24 or Kona Jake 24 are heavy bikes, they are still going to be lighter than a comparable mountain bike, most likely. We have a really small Cannondale F5 mountain bike that is positively tank-like (that was my previous mountain bike...we got a good deal on it and I rode it around for a year to see if I even wanted a nicer, better-fitting bike). My son rides around on that, some, but MUCH prefers his CX bike, even on some singletrack. I think because the Redline is a nicer, lighter-weight bike and it's less cumbersome for him on uphills.

A friend of ours' sister is really petite and is considering buying our son's Conquest 24 when he outgrows it. She is in her 30s and wants a CX bike.

Something else to consider might be a Ridley in their 41cm size. I've not looked seriously at Ridleys, since they jump from 41 to 47. I need something midway between those sizes. A friend of ours has a 41 and she's smaller than I. Her road bike is a 44. I think she might be around 5'1-2".