Originally Posted by
Velo Mule
1990"s Trek 830 with 26" wheels.
1990's Mountain bikes make great all around bikes. Change to drop handlebars and it is a "gravel" bike. Keep the straight bars for all around riding. Change to North Road type bars for a town bike with plenty of gears to haul groceries a stuff. Change to Crazy bars, Corner bars or butterfly bars and it works well as a touring bike.
With 26" wheels and about a 15' to 17" frame, this should fit her and it won't be some special order bike that you can't find.
Quoted for an upvote!
1990's MTBs are great all-arounders.
All of the major mfgrs built them, so they're easy to find. 26" wheels don't need any weird geometry to accomodate Small/XS 15-17" frames. They're simple, well made, and some of them were very-well spec'ed when new. TREK 800 series seem to be the most common, or their 4000 series (aluminum) frames. Cannondale XS 'CAAD-2' bikes, while not as common, are really nice, and suprisingly light weight, even by modern standards.
I also use these small-frame MTBs as base material for making adaptive bikes for special-needs teens like my son, because they're easy to find, easy to ride, and easy to modify.
UberIM A lot depends on your friend's location (proximity to bike shops) current fitness level, and, of course, budget. Someone mentioned the Surly Disk Trucker, which can be built 'nearly custom' but that's also a ~$2000 bike, off the rack.
People like to bag on Bikes Direct, but it's a good way to get a delivered straight to you, for a decent pride, particularly if you're in an 'underserved market' They seem to stock a lot of 15" frames, as well.
I'd also steer away from 20" or 24" bikes, unless she's the size of a 12-year-old.
Most shops won't carry a whole bunch of bikes in X-Small frames, but one advantage in the current situation, is that they're a lot less likely to have sold than the more common sizes.