If you've ever eyed up the Islabikes range with envy - or perhaps even had a go at riding one - you're in luck. The Shropshire based company that revo ...
By stwhannah
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackmag.com/2023/03/islabikes-launches-bikes-for-smaller-adults/
I like the idea of 5’9 being a small adult - isn’t it the median height for a man in the UK?
Is it just me or do they look really cheap?
I think these bikes look great, proportions etc look so well thought out.
isn’t it the median height for a man in the UK?
It is. 4'11" to 5'9" is the range they're designed for - pretty much 5th to 95th percentile height range for women. 5'3" to 5'4" is average for women. It's like saying 'here's bikes that fit women well but aren't pitched at women because WSD isn't relevant in frame design and men won't buy a women's bike'.
At Evans we used to sell loads of smaller men's Pinnacle hybrids to women but very rarely if ever V-V. Shorter men (<10%ile) would not buy a women's bike even if the actual geometry worked fine (usually better) and the saddle could be swapped out. We went unisex in the end, just a wider size range per model, but only after the big brand marketing on WSD died off.
Womens bikes used to have the better colour options. Well, apart from those Lapierres with the curly flowers painted on.
Shorter men (<10%ile) would not buy a women’s bike even if the actual geometry worked fine (usually better) and the saddle could be swapped out.
Club mate of mine from years back (who was 5'6" according to him, more like 5'2", and very slight with it, probably weighed under 50 kilos) absolutely point blank refused to get the ladies version of his bike. Even though every component selection and all the tweaks they'd done to shock and fork would have suited him down to the ground. There wasn't even anything that identified it as a womans bike that couldn't be swapped in 10 minutes (grips, saddle).
Except, only the womens version of the bike came in that particular shade of paint, so people would know, apparently.
So, he bought the mans version of the bike. And spent a couple of years hating it and hundreds of pounds trying to get it to work for him. Cranks, forks, shock, bars and so on. He even jumped on the bar bandwagon and bought some 800mm bars "to transform the handling". They got used for about two weeks then sold on at a massive loss.
Last i saw he's got into road cycling, and is now riding a larger frame size than i do (I'm some 6-8" taller than him).
He's also now working for a quite successful bike shop. Has been for 7 or 8 years.
They have their own in-house fitting studio.
Is it just me or do they look really cheap?
Look a bit On-one to me...
So yes, cheap....
I appreciate that I'm not the target market, but 11-40T, 8 speed and 1x just looks like a horrible combination.
I like the idea of 5’9 being a small adult
Yep, I'm 5'9" and ride 'Large' frames (56cm seat tube equiv), so rather odd definition of 'small people'.
Maybe they mean 'small for the Netherlands'?
