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My wife is a short arse. She's 5ft on a good day.
I'd like to get her a MTB to come out on some rides with meand the kids on mainly flattish trails but occasionally to fod to ride verderers.
Max budget 650 quid, must be an air fork and not weigh anything crazy. New would be good but if you've seen any 2nd hand bargains then I'll take a look.
I've seen the boardman hard tail on Halfords but not keen on the colour. Seen go outdoors have some nice looking calibres but they are sold out.
If anyone can come up with some ideas I'd be grateful. Thanks.
I would have thought those bikes are too big and an extra small would be better. It's probably not the reach thats an issue but the standover height.
I was looking out for one of the early Boardman womens hard tails but they were like rocking horse poo.
Just so happened to have a mate getting rid of a few bikes. He was selling a BMC Fourstroke in XS and I bit his hand off. £300 for a £2k bike, and he even threw in a brand new reverb.
Worth looking out for second hand bargains, especially S and XS framed bikes as the market is small (pun not intended).
Where I can ride the BMC, its way too short on reach for someone used to a medium.
Just keep looking.
I have pm you OP
I was looking the other day for my lad and the trek Marlins look nice and some of the pinnacle bikes are small too, the trek small and the pinnacle xs would suit her height dunno what the forks are though. Seems mad how they can make them smaller with bigger wheels these days as years back I really struggled finding the mrs a xs 26 that was small enough now the xs trek 27.5 would be too small
We happen to be selling my girlfriend's small (15.5") 2017 Trek Superfly 7 due to her getting bitten by the bug badly and upgrading to a full sus trail bike. She's 5ft 4 and we've gone for a medium Kona Precept for her now as I always thought she looked cramped on the Trek, so I'd imagine despite what the size charts say it'd be more suited to a 5ft rider.
Bike spec is still on Evans: https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-superfly-7-2017-mountain-bike-EV286575
I'll pm you some more details in case you're interested!
This is the answer you are looking for.
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/new-bike-day-shrunken-version/
Mrs_oab's Giant was £700 iirc, and we sold her Trek Superfly for £650.
Have a look at Trek X Caliber and Roscoe. Neither are long, both come in 13.5” frame, and both have WSD builds if you need one too...
small (15.5″) 2017 Trek Superfly
Mrs_oab at 5' had a 13.5" / XS, I wouldn't want bigger for her.
I've found with shorter kids and a short woman that millimetres can make the difference between geometry that fits or not.
Mrs_oab spent years riding bikes that in hindsight were too big.
At 5'4" my girlfriend was definitely too cramped on the 15" Trek, she hasn't got unusual proportions or anything it was just too short for her. That's not just my opinion either, it's been backed up by a pro enduro racer and coach she had a few tips off too which is why her next bike was a medium and she's much happier on it. So much so I'm not sure I'd feel happy selling it to someone her height, I'd rather it went to someone 5' to 5'2".
I think if you're in any doubt or you fall between two sizes you should always opt for the larger option as long as you've got sufficient standover and can get a dropper post that'll fit! I think this is evidenced by the shift in geometry and sizing to longer reach frames with shorter stems by most manufacturers.
I could be talking out of my arse though this is just based on my/our experience, obviously there's no substitute for taking it for a test ride! Just don't make the assumption the manufacturers know what they're doing when it comes to sizing charts or you'll make the same mistake we did, a lot of the bigger bike brands seem to be behind the times when it comes to bike geo!
Mrs. Slow's MTB is a 13" Kona (26" wheels).
I would have thought you want 13 - 14 inch frame. Maybe a 15 inch if it comes up quite small although this will probably be too tall.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/st-540-mountain-bike-lacquered-alloy-275-id_8529702.html
Wife is 5'1" and has last years version of this, For the money I reckon you'll struggle to beat it.
Calibre at Go outdoors well worth a look too.