cyccommute 

You probably don’t want a comfort bike. My observations of them is that they tend to have very high front ends which are not conducive to small peoples’ comfort. Your hands are just too high up to ride that way for very long.

I hate to say this but you might want to look at kid’s bikes because of your size. The Woom Original 6 might be the right size. I would definitely not go looking for vintage as the manufacturers really didn’t make bike smaller than 49cm pre1995 and even then they make very few small bikes up to today.

Some used bikes worth looking for small women are (in no particular order), 2006 Trek 1500 WSD, 650C wheel; 2012 Terry Symmetry, 650C wheel (can’t find any of them for sale); Terry symmetry with 24”/700C, front/rear; and Specialized Vita, XS, 700C wheel. My 5’ tall wife has owned (or owns) all of these.

There are some caveats, however. 650C tires are only available in very limited sized. You can find some 25mm wide ones but most are going to be 23mm wide which is a narrow, fairly harsh tire. The 24”/700C Terry is a great work around for getting the proper fit but there is the problem of having two different tires (and tube) sizes as well as an even more limited selection of tires for the 24” (ISO 520mm) rims. Small framed 700C bikes have some standover issues because of the higher head tube. These are all good bikes but be aware of the possible issues.

The vintage mountain bike route might be a good way to go as well. You have a wider selection of tires and a bit more of a selection of frames. DO NOT go with a 29er! Stick with 26”. Also don’t be fooled into thinking that because you ride a 43cm (17”) road bike that you can ride a 17” mountain bike. That is a bike that is designed for someone about 6” taller than you are (at a minimum). For mountain bikes, you need to subtract 3 to 4” from the road bike size to get the proper frame proportions and fit. That means a 13” mountain bike (which is also hard to find).

There is an advantage to going to a 26” wheel over a 650C as the wheel is smaller…559mm vs 571mm…which decreases the standover. A suspension fork will push up the front but you can replace suspension forks with rigid forks if you need to. Additionally, it is possible to limit the travel (and height) of some suspension forks.

Here are my wife’s bikes:

Trek 1500, 43cm, 650C tires


A 1998 Schwinn Home Grown, 13”



A 2000 Schwinn Home Grown since reconfigured with a rigid fork. This one is living in Tucson and my wife says it is much easier to ride on Tucson’s buckled streets than the Trek.



2012 Terry Symmetry, 650C wheels.

_IMG4975 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Specialized Vita (repainted) 700C wheels

DSCN1059 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

And the first bike that really “fit” here, a early 90s Terry Symmetry.

DSCN0573 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

milesfromhome

Reviving an old thread (that will recur as long as short folks want nice bikes!) to say that I recently pulled a 1988 Jubilee out of barn and it weighs, steel wheels, kickstand, and all, 29 pound on the nose. Think it is all original equipment except the saddle (replaced with something equally clunky at some point) and the foam on the bars replaced with tape. I love it, and feel very lucky to have found it! So comfy and nice to ride, and will most likely be my nice weather commuter.

I have had the old Trek WSD bike with the 650Cs mentioned above - it did fit perfectly but over the years it got harder and harder to find tires not made for time trials and the like, which were expensive special orders that could not survive city streets and were uncomfortable to boot. I'd buy a Brompton before I took back my old trek - small wheel folders can be a really good solution for the short commuter if you do not want to hunt for antique French steel.

cyccommute 

Although I hate responding to zombie threads, I’ll make an exception. Last year I picked up a Specialized Sirrus 2.0 in XXS for my wife. Initially the idea was because it has 700C tires but it was smaller than the Vita she previously had. Here’s what it looked like from the showroom.



I made changes because that is what I do. A carbon post, carbon bars, and better drivetrain lowered the weight.



Although she could stand over the bike, I had an epiphany that I could lower the bike even more by going to 26” wheels. It’s a disc brake bike so the wheel size doesn’t matter. I also lost the boat anchor front fork…it weighed 5 lbs and was made of steel…bringing the total weight down to around 22 lb.



One other modification I made was to put shortened cranks on the bike (helped with the lower height). I’ve been experimenting with short cranks on her bikes after I almost ruined her knees on our tandem. After reading something on how shorter cranks are better for stokers, I tried it and it seemed to work. I shortened 175mm cranks to 145mm. Not only was it a vast improvement over the 165mm cranks she had been using, she actually tried standing on a climb and found that she could do it! In more than 40 years of bicycle riding, my wife has never been able to stand up and climb, much less climb out of saddle comfortably. If you are tiny, go read what Bike Smith has to say and seriously consider shortened cranks.

noglider 

@cyccommute, that's interesting. My spouse can't stand either, and her form looks strange. I wonder if shorter cranks would help her. I might do some experiments.

RCMoeur 

152 mm cranks typically come stock on 24" wheel bicycles and aren't too hard to source. But in most cases, they're not top-of-the-line component quality.

cyccommute 

Here’s a post on how I shorten my wife’s cranks. Threading the cranks is the most difficult part for me as it’s hard to keep the tap straight. Discussion in that thread (heated at times), leads me to try again with using the drill press chuck to thread the crank without putting it under power.

Alternatively, I had BikeSmith shorten cranks for our tandem which I provided and it was only about $80 including shipping. He sells whole cranks for a reasonable price. Another alternative is da Vinci Designs Tandems. The link above is for a crank that has 3 holes in either 130/150/170mm or 120/140/160mm triple hole cranks. da Vinci is a Denver company and I’ve looked at their cranks. They are well made and an interesting concept.

And the pedal holes are straight.

noglider 

@cyccommute thank you! Unfortunately, there may not be much cycling left in my spouse's future, so experiments and investments don't make much sense for now.

Viich

145mm 24mm spindle cranks for direct mount chainrings available here:
(105, 125, 165 as well)

Kids Bike MTB Mountain Bike Crankset GXP Bicycle Crank

Smaug1

You should absolutely get a frame you an stand over without racking your crotch. You're spending real money here, and part of what you can expect for that is a bike that fits you properly.

I really like the vintage frame look (especially the fork) and color options of Surlys. I looked at the Straggler, but after researching a bit, the Midnight Special seems to be a better bike. (through axles mainly)

I wound up going with a Priority Apollo 11, (I wanted belt drive & internal geared hub) but I don't think they make it small enough for you and I also regret that I didn't get through axles. (as the rear brake always drags just a bit in one spot)

If you were closer, I'd offer you my Trek 1000 in size 43, but it's not worth the logistics.

A couple other things you may want to add to your list for a commuter is that it should easily take fenders and a rack. (the Surlys do)

Smaug1

Ah damn, I didn't notice this was a zombie thread. Did the OP even bother to respond?