[rudyr]

Hi,
I'm trying to find a bike for my wife; she's a hair under 5'3. We recently rented a Trek Marlin 6 in size S to try out on our vacation, she made it work (she knows how to mount a bike cowbow style) but it seemed slightly too big for her. Most of the size charts I've looked up say that XS/~13.5in. frames are generally suited for riders 5'0"-5'3". Obviously fit will vary by brand and bike, but using that as a general guideline for now.

So, I'm trying to locate a hardtail with a women's specific geometry in size XS. Ideally a 1x setup for simplicity but a 2x would be fine as well; 27.5" wheels. So far I've come across the following, but really open to suggestions because I'm not sure what other brands might have some options better suited for women in her size:

Marin Wildcat Trail 5
http://www.marinbikes.com/us/bikes/description/2017-wildcat-trail-5

Trek Cali SL
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/...n-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/cali-womens/cali-sl-womens/p/2043603-2017/

Giant/Liv Temp 2
https://www.liv-cycling.com/us/tempt-2

I had to rule out the Raleigh Ziva Comp and Expert because they're all sold out. Diamond Back's Rely Trail is REALLY tempting at $995, but it's a 27.5+ tire and a 120mm travel isn't really the type of riding she's going to be doing (single track / fire road type of trails).

Any other suggestions I should consider?

 

[mahgnillig]

I'm 5'2.5" and have found most XS frames to be too small for me recently, but I've also been looking for a fairly long travel trail bike so my idea of comfortable might be completely different than your wife's. Don't get hung up on the women's specific thing... most manufacturers use a unisex frame and put a women's saddle and thinner grips on it. Liv is the only mainstream manufacturer I can think of that actually has a different frame geometry to the unisex version. It's the reach that really matters.

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[stripes]

Hi,
I'm trying to find a bike for my wife; she's a hair under 5'3. We recently rented a Trek Marlin 6 in size S to try out on our vacation, she made it work (she knows how to mount a bike cowbow style) but it seemed slightly too big for her. Most of the size charts I've looked up say that XS/~13.5in. frames are generally suited for riders 5'0"-5'3". Obviously fit will vary by brand and bike, but using that as a general guideline for now.

So, I'm trying to locate a hardtail with a women's specific geometry in size XS. Ideally a 1x setup for simplicity but a 2x would be fine as well; 27.5" wheels. So far I've come across the following, but really open to suggestions because I'm not sure what other brands might have some options better suited for women in her size:

Marin Wildcat Trail 5
http://www.marinbikes.com/us/bikes/description/2017-wildcat-trail-5

Trek Cali SL
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/...n-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/cali-womens/cali-sl-womens/p/2043603-2017/

Giant/Liv Temp 2
https://www.liv-cycling.com/us/tempt-2

I had to rule out the Raleigh Ziva Comp and Expert because they're all sold out. Diamond Back's Rely Trail is REALLY tempting at $995, but it's a 27.5+ tire and a 120mm travel isn't really the type of riding she's going to be doing (single track / fire road type of trails).

Any other suggestions I should consider?

Yes look at small manufacturers as well like Ventana, Rock Lobster, etc. For hardtails you're more likely to end up with something you'll be happy with.

For some others to include, take a look at Ibis Tranny 29er, Pivot, and Norco.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from women's specific if you can. Less bang for your buck (except maybe Liv).

At 5'4", I ride an XS by today's long reach because I like to be fairly upright. Most of my bikes have a fair short reach but for me I find the value I'm looking for is a 21.8 effective top tube (or something around that) for bikes I'm going to pedal or a reach around 380mm for ones I'm not (DJ, DH).

 

[rudyr]

Thanks, good to learn that there isn't much benefit to women's specific frames; obviously opens up a lot in terms of options.

 

[mahgnillig]

The benefit is definitely minimal, but it's going to depend on the rider. Liv used female riders exclusively when coming up with their frame geometries, and as a result their frames are slightly different from the men's Giant bikes. Canyon designed their new women's road bikes with different geometry from the men's and also lightened up the frame a little, because women generally weigh less for their height than men. To a female roadie this is definitely a benefit as less weight is always better. Some manufacturers also tune their shocks differently on their women's models in order to make them more plush for lighter riders (I know Canyon does this, pretty sure Liv and Juliana do as well). But, like the saddle, grips and bar width, this can be changed to suit the rider after purchasing.

Way back when I first started mountain biking the (few) women's specific designs usually cost more and had lesser parts on them when compared to a similar bike in the men's line-up. That's less true today as most manufacturers have realised that trying to fob a woman off with Deore instead of XT just because they painted the bike pink is a stupid move on their part. Funnily enough I was having this same conversation with a bike shop owner a couple of weeks ago, and he said he'd had a lot of men complaining that the Juliana bikes come in much better colours than Santa Cruz! I've test ridden quite a few women's bikes over the last couple of months and the only one that really sucked was a low end Ghost (to be fair, the men's version that my hubby rode was also awful). As long as you're making a sure that the bike doesn't have a crappier parts spec for the price than the comparable unisex model then there's nothing wrong with buying a WSD model.

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[Lucy Juice]

Yes, it definitely depends on the rider/body type over women's specific geometry.

I'm 5'3" and have an XS Niner Air9 carbon. Love that bike.

I ride a 15.5" in Trek, and those come in 27.5 wheels for the Procal/Xcal.