Female specific FS - 140mm plus travel

Fiend

Hi I'm a bit stuck so thought I'd ask here.

My GF is looking to replace her beloved female specific Spesh Stumpy (120mm travel) with something with a bit more bounce as she's started riding more advanced stuff and visiting the alps to ride.
However it seems to be pretty hard to find anything female specific with much more travel than this.
She's 5"4 and has a fairly short upper body hence they female specific bikes being much better fit reach wise. She also doesn't seem to like the Orange Five Diva which is one of the few longer travel ones I could find.
She tried a small mens Giant Reign on a day trip and it was still far too long and I get the feeling this would be the case for most small mens bikes.

Anybody have any idea's?

Thanks.

poppit

SC Blut LT's have short top tubes, not cheap though.

Anonymous

Get her to try out a few non female specific bikes as well. Some manufacturers naturally have shorter top tubes than others, she may yet find a perfect fit.

Fiend

Thanks guys,

She's tried a diminutive friends SC Hekler and like it but SC are out of the budget unfortunately unless it's second hand and she's not keen on that.

I've convinced her to try a few mens bikes but she liked her old one so much that she's pretty sold on the female specific thing.

allthegearnoidea

lady zesty??
but some small frame mens/unisex bikes might fit better??

Fiend

Yeah the Zesty is looking like a pretty good option.

She was after something more like a Spicy so we may have to hunt down a bike like that with a shorter top tube. She likes the look of the Spesh Enduro too but I have one and know that the front end on them is pretty long.

Anonymous

If you're after something a bit more hardcore, and if you can find one, check out Marin's Attack Trail / Wolf ridge too. They have a pretty short cockpit.

allthegearnoidea

i seem to remember in mbr they tested two marin's one mens one lady's, same price, and design etc. (am sure they were the attack trails/??) but the lady version was Very much under specc'd for the same cost as the male version!!!

Anonymous

There is no women's specific Atttack trail AFAIK.

The Rookie

May be worth spending some timegoing through manufacturers geometry data to look for short(er) cockpit bikes, recently one of the Mags did an article (may have been MBR) on female specific and most their riders rode mens bikes which they had tweaked to make more female friendly, like you they found that past a certain price point female specific failed to work as it 'should'

Of course there is always the option of a slightly shorter stem and/or bars with a little more sweep to shorten an already 'not long' cockpit to get a bike to fit as she wants and about a 1/2" can be gained by pushing the saddle forward.

Simon

cavegiant

My wife wanted something similar and we scored with the find.

They might be a bit tough to find now, but if you can hunt down a mongoose teocali womens you will have a fast stable bike, that is tolerant of mistakes and pedals well.

The only problem is they were last made in '08.

Pauls cycles had a few last month, but they have been sold.

It is worth looking for this bike, very pretty too.

lostboysaint

Norco have got some Darcy designed bikes haven't they? Worth a chat with the importer or a look at bringing one in?


EDIT: A quick Google reveals this 160mm version http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/forma/vixa/



and this 120mm version. http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/forma/phena/

allthegearnoidea

inwhich case, could have been the vision?? (quick look at the 09/10 bikes!)
either way, for the same cost or slightly more for the women specific it had a significantly lesser spec level!!

Eranu

Cube do a womans Stereo, seems to have a shorter top tube than the mens version.

http://www.cube.eu/wls/wls-hpa/stereo-wls/

andyrm

Fiend wrote:

Hi I'm a bit stuck so thought I'd ask here.

My GF is looking to replace her beloved female specific Spesh Stumpy (120mm travel) with something with a bit more bounce as she's started riding more advanced stuff and visiting the alps to ride.
However it seems to be pretty hard to find anything female specific with much more travel than this.
She's 5"4 and has a fairly short upper body hence they female specific bikes being much better fit reach wise. She also doesn't seem to like the Orange Five Diva which is one of the few longer travel ones I could find.
She tried a small mens Giant Reign on a day trip and it was still far too long and I get the feeling this would be the case for most small mens bikes.

Anybody have any idea's?

Thanks.

Get her to check out the new Bionicon range. While they don't do a specific "woman's" model, they tend to size fairly short in the top tube and the variable reach/rise stem is great for tailoring fit accurately,

CHeck out www.bionicon.com and then email Roger Seal, the UK Sales & Marketing Manager on roger.seal@bionicon.com to sort out a demo ride - he's a super helpful guy.