what mtb for a beginner who is short?

[amyp]

during a test ride.

[Irulan]

during a test ride.

It looks like you have very little standover room. Ideally you should have a couple of inches of clearance.

[TigerMom]

As a 5ft1in woman with short legs, the good news is that there really are not many bikes to choose from because of our size....thus you will have limited options and have to pick from a few instead of a ton of choices.

That said, I am thinking hard about switching from my full suspension to a hard tail. I still have not yet had a chance to ride a hardtail 650B yet.

Why am I thinking of switching from a full suspension to a hard tail? Because I want to climb better. I hate going downhill fast. Since I usually am not jumping over things and not sitting much going downhill anyways, maybe a hardtail would be better for me overall.

Ride the bikes over curbs and bumps and up hills and see what your body favors the most.

As to "damaging" the bike as a newbie...these are mountain bikes. They are made more durable. As a clumsy newbie, so far, my bikes have not broken yet.

Plus, a lot of us are upgrading as soon as we buy a bike due to bike lust. So, I would just get the best bike that fits in your budget. The more expensive bikes are more enjoyable because they are lighter and shift better which means more fun to ride.

[amyp]

I've been told a 650b would be too big for me. I had ok clearance. It was up higher because of the travel? I don't know a lot of mtb lingo. I guess I should have rode it up the curb too and get a feel for it but it was only in the parkig lot

[indysteel]

@TigerMom, have you thought about just upgrading the wheels and/or going with tubeless instead of getting a brand new bike? You might get more weight savings (if that's what you're aiming for) going that route than you would get with a HT. I'm sure there are exceptions, but a lot of the HTs on the market that fit small riders are lower end and heavy.

[TigerMom]

My bike shop calculated the weight savings of getting a new wheelset with tubeless wheels would cost me about $1000 for a 1 pound weight savings.

My current full suspension, size small, Santa Cruz Juliana weighs about 27.5 pounds with pedals.

As to the hardtails, I am thinking about going with a Chinese brand called Triace that has a 14inch Carbon Hardtail 650B's with XT that weight less than 21pounds for about $2000 if I buy a DEMO bike. I have still yet to test it out yet. I am just in the thinking phase, worrying about poor quality/carbon cracking, warranty etc because I have never heard of this brand before.

[indysteel]

It looks like Triace is owned by some arm of Wal-mart as it's out of Bentonville, AR. For me, that would give me great pause. Quality aside, I just don't like a lot if their employment practices.