EddNog

Hey, good people!

My wife is a gigantic 5' 1.5" tall, but I would really like to surprise her later this year with her first MTB. I just got a Scott Scale 7220 Plus and am absolutely loving the grip and plushness of the 27.5Plus size tires, and would like to get her similar. As her first MTB, I would prefer she build up skills on a hardtail rather than going full boing, but the selection seems kind of narrow for 27.5Plus hardtails in general. The only one I've found that I think she can fit is the Specialized Ruze Comp 6Fattie in Small. I know my bike is too big because I have the Small and it's a ballhugger for my 5'5.75" self as-is. I looked at the geo on the Cannondale Beast of the East 3, and it has a slightly lower standover, but really not by much and I think the rest of the bike might actually be slightly bigger than even mine (much more sloped top-tube). I've seen some full-squish Plus bikes that get small enough in terms of standover as well, but that's definitely going to blow the budget out.

Any ideas?

-Ed

Darth Lefty 

The usual BikeForums collective advice on these matters is to let her pick.

It's difficult to design small frames between such big wheels. 29er or 27+ tire are about the same diameter, then put the tire clearance, suspension travel, fork crown, head tube on top of that.

EddNog

How does one pull that off as a surprise, though? Gift cert to the LBS?

-Ed

AnthonyG

I'm the same height as your wife and I ride small wheeled custom bikes to get a good fit. I was riding a 24" wheeled MTN bike for a while to get a decent fit. 26" MTN bikes would be borderline. 27.5"? Don't go there as they are just TOO big.

And yes, let her choose.

Anthony

oldbobcat

For serious trail riding, hardtail or full suspension, major brands have been abandoning the 26" wheel in favor of 27.5 for smaller riders and some sort of option between 27.5 and 29 for medium to tall riders. Trek, for one, has put a lot of work into making 27.5 work for smaller riders and has dropped 26 for everything except their entry level Skye, 820, and 3000-series bikes. If other brands like Specialized and Scott aren't quite as committed to big wheels, I'm sure they're putting the same kind of work into giving the option.

If it's any assurance, the diameter of 27.5 is a lot closer to 26 than 29.

I say, do some research on reach and stand-over height of different 27.5 bikes and jump right up.

MnHPVA Guy

Make sure that whatever you get her has a threaded BB, unless she's strong enough to get by with a single ring. Someone her height will suffer on hills with 170mm cranks. AFAIK the only shortenable cranks compatible with press fit BBs are the single ring Shimano Zee.

Recommended reading;
Crank Length, Leg Length and Power
Short Women / Short Crank Feedback

I've helped about 2,000 people with short cranks, and the most common comment I get is better climbing.

One of my favorite stories is about a family in the mountains or Wyoming. Mom was 5'2" but refused to even consider short cranks. Then dad replaced the 152s on their 8 y/o twin daughters bikes with 125s. Suddenly the girls were dropping mom on the climbs. Next day she had dad put the discarded 152s on her bikes.

BTW I sure hope your idea of a "Surprise" is "Dear, I'm going to take you shopping for an MTB today." Definitely not "Dear, look at the MTB I just chose without your input." This advice is from someone who has been happily riding with the same woman for half a century.

Mark Stonich
https://bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks

fietsbob

Geometry compromises are made to make big wheel bikes for small people ..

Maybe something with 24" wheels will fit better ?

Georgina Terry has long been a specialist in women's bikes (though the site seems heavy on clothing Now.. )

Darth Lefty 

There are now two Terry companies, one is Georgina Terry the framebuilder and one is the clothes and saddle company she sold off.

fietsbob

Waterford is one of the companies she uses to get frames built, the steel ones ..

Darth Lefty 

It's also difficult to find a bike store that stocks what you're looking for! They often only have one model per size or something like that and expect you to order based on liking the fit of one and features of another.

Standover is the crucial thing, if you can get that then a lot of other things can be adjusted.

FBinNY 

Given her height, I don't understand why you're pushing for 27.5 when the more common 26" mtb's smaller diameter will most likely offer more and better fitting options.

EddNog

All goes back to my original request--looking to get her PLUS size tires, so tires that are 2.8-3" in width. If I'm not mistaken, 27.5Plus is the smallest that works (obviously impossible to fit her on a 29Plus bike). I think there may be a small selection of options from Surly of, "26Plus," bikes (26" with 2.8-3" wide tires), so I will take a look at that, but generally speaking the only luck I've had so far in Plus width is the one from Spesh.

If I wasn't yearning for that width contact patch, I wouldn't come bothering you guys.

-Ed

fietsbob

Felt also sells a Fat Bike with 24" wheels , 4" wide tires .. Cruncher 24 - Felt Bicycles

AnthonyG

I understand your request. When your dealing with buying a new bike there are nearly always compromises to be made. What many of us are trying to say is that Good Fit is a criteria that trumps just about everything else and that large diameter wheels fatally compromise the fit for small riders. The one criteria you are searching for does not make for a better bike than one that fits your wife better.

When it comes to road bikes I acknowledge that 650c wheels have a harsher ride than 700c wheels yet the compromises needed to fit 700c wheels to small bikes means that a properly designed bike with 650c wheels is still FAR more comfortable to ride than a compromised design with 700c wheels. .

There used to be specialist 24" wheels and tires for downhill racers. I don't know if they are still on the market. Anyway you look at it you need to let your wife into the selection process.

Anthony

oldbobcat

27.5+ is such a new market that I didn't even know Specialized and Cannondale had WSD bikes in this category. I'm familiar with Trek's new Stache 29+, but that was last fall and Trek hasn't come out with a WSD or kids' version yet. A lot of brands are just catching o to the fat bike category. You're in bleeding edge territory here.

The standover of your Small 720 plus is 780 mm. The standover of a Small Ruze is 676 mm. You're more familiar with your wife's leg length than I am, so I have to leave it at that.

Darth Lefty 

Specialized also has 24+ bikes called Riprock for the youth market. Might be too small... the only size is 11" which is a size smaller than the smallest adult size.

AnthonyG

That's quite an impressive bike,

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bi...xpert24/115915

Unlike the typical child's bike fare the top spec expert model is a very well specified bike. You should get your wife to at least ride one of these and try it out. I'm the same height as your wife and if I rode MTN bikes I would be all over one of these. Your wife would no doubt be riding with quite a bit of seatpost exposed buy WAY better than anything else your going to find.

Anthony