Old 10-27-21, 11:44 PM
  #18  
mschwett 
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Originally Posted by Russ Roth

Not a road bike and certainly not a gravel but here's my 4'7" daughter on a 47cm 700c wheeled track bike, so yes you can. I also have her on a 44cm felt with 650c wheels. Suggestions I have
skip anything 650c, the size just doesn't exist any more and never did for wider tires. Never found a 650c gravel or cross bike and no one makes a decent tire in this size any more.
At her height, anything in the 46-49cm range should do fine, just check that top tube, you want something with a 50-51cm top tube.
The cranks will be wrong, at nearly 5' getting away with a 165 crank will be ok but still long for what it should be, most bikes still will have longer. Especially on smaller bikes the shorter length prevents toe overlap. Kids also don't like seats at their proper height, while a shorter crank does mean that the seat should be a touch higher still for proper leg extension, it becomes less important as the leg will still bend less when the crank is at the top of the pedal stroke helping the kid to be more comfortable. Also realize if the kid heads to a race with you, roll out becomes an issue. With kids a 1x10 or 11 is more reasonable and bmx cranks are plentiful. Figure out what chainring with an 11t cog is needed for proper rollout and put a wide range cassette on there.
Handlebars, unless you find an womens specific bike will also probably be too wide, even a 36cm can be a touch wide for a young girl, don't go wider than 38cm plan to change this.
Microshift are easier for kids to change, my daughter's bike has advent X on it and she can shift it fine. Again, 1x is better. Kids are really not the best at shifting and need constant reminding to do so, front chainrings just compound the problem at this age though at 11 and a half my daughter is starting to get the hang of it after a couple years of use.
Saddle, after every other ride as your kid how it is for the first dozen rides. Kids are terrible at telling you what's good or bad about their bike and will suffer on an uncomfortable saddle until they decide its not worth riding the bike.
that’s awesome. she looks pretty comfortable on the bike, 700c and all! we won’t be racing and I don’t mind her spinning out, totally agree on 2x though. I’m always reminding her to shift with her current bike when she falls way behind on a hill I know she can do. I don’t mind changing bars and cranks and chainring and cassette if the geometry is right and the components are decent. thanks for the advice!
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