Hi, building a bike for my short significant other, who is about ~5'1''(156cm) tall. One of her main complaints about road bikes is that she can't stand over them when she comes to a stop. Are there any sloping top tube carbon frames out there that might help with this? Thanks
I'll also comment that it depends on how much slope she needs/wants. Most gravel bikes add a modest amount of slope so there is a bit more seatpost exposed for seat compliance. From a standover point of view. 2cm shorter seat tube would only equate to about 1cm shorter standover.
Personally for me, my factor was more niche as I am running dropper seatpost of more technical singletrack. What I realized is I'm normally size 51/52 on the seattube, I need a bike with 47cm max seattube, but 45cm would have been better.
If the degree of slope on most carbon gravel frames isn't enough, what about building a hardtail 29er (or 27.5/650B) frame with a rigid fork and a set of wood chippers or similar?
You could also check out my bikes. The Noble GX5 in 48cm fits 5'0"-5'3" and has a slightly sloping geometry. In addition to this we run size specific BB drop. Because you run shorter cranks on smaller bikes you can drop the BB and still maintain proper pedal clearance. The lower BB helps to increase standover height.
Forward geometry also helps to avoid toe overlap with the front wheel. We meet the CPSC toe overlap clearance requirements on the 48cm, so the bike doesn't have toe overlap.
