Where to buy XS Road Bike?

MaryC

I'm looking to buy my first road bike. Unfortuntely, being 5ft 1 significantly reduces my choices! I have managed to get everything I want with Ribble's Sportive Bianco but the XS frame that I need is out of stock with no confirmed delivery date. Although this is the bike I really want, I'm not sure I want to miss the summer so I'm looking for alternatives. Ideally I'd like:

Carbon frame
700 wheels (not a given when looking at the small frames!)
Compact (most WSD bikes seem to have a triple)
Shimano 105 or equivalent

The Ribble is coming in at under £1,300 and I don't want to be pay much more than this. I know Ribble are excellent value so finding equivalent spec at equivalent price is going to be hard. I'm keeping my eye on eBay for second hand but again, not many small frames about.

I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions (or bike for sale!).

Thanks

suzyb

How about http://www.cube.eu/en/wls/axial-wls-gtc-pro/ Only thing is it isn't a compact.

giant_man

The major manufacturers eg Specialized, Giant etc. all do women specific sizing, in small and x small, depending on the geometries. Some examples spring to mind, depending on your budget of course. some of these have sram or campag but they're just examples, not saying you should buy from Rutland Cycling specifically.

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34156/Spe ... -Bike.html

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34619/Gia ... Bike-.html

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34612/Gia ... Bike-.html

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34614/Gia ... Bike-.html

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/39728/Sco ... -Bike.html

Crankbrother

My gf is 5'3" and had a 47cm Trek, they also do them in 43cm ... Both have 650 wheels though, but tbh the bike handled better than her 48cm Cannondale with 700 wheels ...

Conti do decent 650 tyres and tubes, just buy a supply with your bike and carry 2 tubes on each ride ...

Just make sure you buy a bike in proportion, 60mm stems and slammed seatpins are not gonna get you the most out of your ride ...

Good luck ... and let us know how you get on ...

MaryC

Thanks for your responses & suggestions. My original budget was £1,000 and that’s crept up to £1,300 so I don’t want to go any more than that. It looks like I can’t get the carbon frame + compact + 700c wheels +105 in my frame size for that budget (apart from Ribble). I guess I need to compromise on something or be patient and wait for the Ribble to come into stock.

Crankbrother – your comments about 650c wheels have made me think again about wheel size and possible toe overlap (with 700 on a small frame) and also the potential short stem, twitchy steering issue...

suzyb

I have 650c wheels on my bike but was looking at getting a new one with 700 because I have this stupid idea it will make me faster

But at the bike show last month I stood over the Cube I linked to above and, while the frame size felt right reach wise it did feel like it could be too tall.

*sigh* why did I have to be so short, life is so much more inconvient when you're not "average".

giant_man

well suzyb, you know what they say, 'good things come in little packages' and all that, eh?

ermintrude

You have pm

MaryC

*sigh* why did I have to be so short, life is so much more inconvient when you're not "average".

Yup, bike buying is especially difficult when you are so far removed from "average"!!

suzyb

The thing I find annoying is shops, at least around here either don't stock smaller sizes or they would need built up so I could check for size.

I've more or less decided on getting a Cube bike. But I'd like to check one out and see if it is still suitable size wise with the wheels being 700c vs my old ones 650. Being such a short @ss means the shops around here don't have my size in stock though.