Query for short (around 5 ft?) road riders

[Kathi]

Jo,

There's so much more to bike fit than standover height, tt length and crankarm length. Your best bet is to find a good bike fitter and listen to their advice. I don't know where your are located but Serotta lists their shops and often the names of their fitters. One option is to pay for a fitting. If you buy a bike from the shop, depending on the cost of the bike you buy, the fitting could be free. Even if you don't go custom a good fitter should be able to recommend the appriopriate bike for you.

Aegis bicycles make small carbon frames. They make the Swift down to a 44cm on 650c wheels and the Victory in smaller sizes with 700c wheels. Aegis got a grant to develop the Victory in small sizes to fit women.

As far as crankarms shorter than 165's they are very difficult to get.
Shimano offers 165's Campy does not. There is a French company Speciality TA thats offers shorter cranks but that adds to the cost of your bike. I have a 28" inseam and use 165's. My ortho was against me going longer as that would aggravate my knees.

I love Campy components because they are very comfortable for my small hands. However, I do have problems reaching the brake levers from the drops. Campy levers cannot be shimmed. I was able to solve that problem with Modolo Venus handlebars. They are designed to bring the hand closer to the brake lever from the drops.

I'm on my 4th road bike in 10 years. Fit has been the issue. I finally gave up, my 4th bike is a custom frame. In retrospect, I wish I had put the money that I spent trying to get the other bikes comfortable into a custom frame.

I used to be a firm believer in wsd bikes but not any more. Everyone is different. Many of the theories on womens bike fit came from an Air Force study that made generalizations that turned out to be untrue. Everyone is different. So you need to find a fitter that know how to fit you.

Take me for example, I always thought I was the longer leg short torso person. Well, it turns out I have short legs, femur, and and average torso. I also have short arms and narrow shoulders. Well, my bikes had been built with handlebars to wide and headtube to short for me, seatposts with setbacks or seattube angles to far back. I would read everything I could on bike fit and try to make adjustments. I went to my LBS and asked them to figure out what was wrong and they thought everything was fine. What we were missing was the short femur and short arm issue. It wasn't until I started working with a trained bike fitter that we found out what was wrong.

Last year I bought a custom frame and I couldn't be happier. Yes, initally I was worried that I wouldn't like the bike, I couldn't find one in my size to ride. However, after I ordered it my fears subsided. I realized I had full trust in my fitter and the company.

Because I spent a lot of money on my bike I specked it with 650c wheels, they are tried and true on small frames and I didn't want to put the company in the position of "experimenting" because I insisted and then not being happy with the results.

The bike is beautifully proportioned, fits like a glove and handles perfectly.

I don't have any experience with small frames with 700c wheels so I can't debate the pros and cons.

You've gotten a lot of good advice here. Find out what your fitting needs are, A stock frame may be fine, and remember a bike can feel good in the parking lot but horrible after 10-20 miles on it.