looking for road bike advice from short women

[EJS]

I'm 5' and looking for a new road bike. I had a 16" Terry Symmetry that I loved but we were hit by a car and she was totaled. Since Terry doesn't make the Symmetry anymore, I'm shopping around. I tried Terry's Isis but the riding position was too aggressive for my taste (so was the $2400 price). Has anyone as short as I am bought the XS Giant Avail? Since I'm used to the 24" front wheel the 700 seemed awfully big to me. What about the Scott Contessa? Do you have any other good ideas? I'm looking for something in the $1,000 to $1,500 range. Thanks.

[Biciclista]

Hi, welcome to TE! we have a bunch of gals here who are your size who will post here soon, be patient.

[NbyNW]

I don't have any experience with the bikes you mentioned, but you might want to consider something with 650c wheels. You can do a search and find a few good threads about wheel size/rider height, etc.

I'm 5'1" w/ a 27" inseam. My bike has 650c wheels and a 43cm seat tube.

The shop that made my bike has come up with a bike that is just over your price range, but may be worth considering: http://www.rodcycle.com/

For some reason I can't copy/paste a direct link to the bike, but if you click "Randonneur" on the side, the "Navigator" is the first one that pops up. They have a long-distance test ride program, if you are not in the area.

I think Cannondale might also make a small bike, but I'm not that familiar with their product line.

[NbyNW]

You may also want to look at the 47cm Trek 1500 that someone is selling here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...235#post430235

[Cataboo]

I'm 5'1 and ride 700c wheels without any problems. I don't have long legs & have a longer torso I guess - 540 mm reach is fine for me, so I don't get WSD's.

If you need a short top tube, you might be better off with 650 wheels.

[MartianDestiny]

I'm 4'11" and have the XS Giant OCR3w (08 version of the Avail). Very nice bike, especially for the money. I've been very happy with it. I'd recommend getting the 1 or 2 version with true road gearing (mine is a triple with an 8 speed cassette and is set up closer to a mtn bike) otherwise I'd buy it again.

I've also test rode the Scott (carbon men's version, very little difference) and was very impressed. It came in second place in my bike search (I ended up getting a Wilier Izoard).

I have absolutely no problems with 700c wheels so long as the bike manufacturer was smart about toe overlap (and I've only test ridden one that wasn't). I have no intentions of dropping down, but if you are used to smaller wheels you may be happier with 650b's.

It seems most mainstream manufacturers are only offering 650b's on the XXS bikes (Giant for instance) that may be a hair too small for you depending on your build (I could ride one, but I'm somewhat long torso'd and like the more stretched feeling the XS generally gives me (plus I like my 700c's)).

Orbea I believe starts 650b bikes a size larger than most do now, so you might want to look into them. (Incidentally this is the brand I had toe overlap issues on, but I was also riding the 700c bike that was technically a size too big for me; I suspect it is not an issue on the 650b bike.)

Ride everything you can get your hands on and have fun. Test riding is one of my favorite parts

[tctrek]

You may also want to look at the 47cm Trek 1500 that someone is selling here:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...235#post430235

I'm 5' and ride a 47 cm Trek 2.3 WSD and it fits great.

[hvaclu]

Im 4'11" and I just bought the Giant Avail Alliance a couple weeks back. I absolutely love it and it fits me perfect. I cant get over how comfortable it is compared to what I was riding before. I have almost 175 miles on it and no complaints.