After 30+ years using a heavy, 6 speed cassette, 24" wheeled Cannondale mountain bike my wife sayd "enough is enough" and wants to upgrade to something more modern. She is about 5'2" so needs something in the 48cm or less size range. She'd like to lose the front derailleur and go to a 1X system and has read that the the hoods/break levers of mechanical discs are sized more appropriately to her small hands. We're trying to budget sub $2000 for the bike.
I also suffer from a lack of height, as a poorly proportioned 5'5" person.
\nI'll guess her effective top tube might me maxing around 510?
\nI'm not going to go through prices, it depends on the specs or even if you get it on sale or whatever.
\nI also don't know her tire requirements
\n
\nSo I'll just list a bunch of bikes at ETT of 510 or less that I came across in my search (some might be cross bikes or just frame sets on this list).
\nVan Dessel - ADD
\nNiner - RLT
\nCannondale - Slate
\nGrava - The Gauger
\nMarin - Nicasio
\nVan Dessel - WTF
\nMoots - Baxter 29'er
\nVan Dessel - Full tilt boogie
\nBlue - Prosecco
\nSquid - Rattlecan
\nScott - Gravel Addict
\nEddy Merckx - Eeklo 70
\nRaleigh - RX
\nOtso - Warkin
\nNiner - BSB RDO
\nSalsa - Vaya
\nFoundry - Flyover
\nNorco - Search
\nRiddley - X-Trail
\nTurner - Cyclosys v1.0
\n22 Bicycles - Drifter
\n22 Bicycles - Broken Arrow
\nWiller-Treistina - Jareen
\nMarin - Gesalt
\nCannondale - CADDX/SuperX
\nGiant - Anyroad Cromax
\nSpecialized - Crux
\nSpecialized - Sequioa
That's a good list to work through. We'd been thinking the Raleigh RXW was a nice fit but Raleigh USA is out of 47s until June. I see them at Competitive Cyclist but they charge both shipping as well as tax so a couple of hundred dollars more than Raleigh Direct.
My wife is 5' 1" and I was looking for a bike for her two years ago. I settled on a Ridley X ride in size 41. The reason I went with the Ridley is that it had a high bottom bracket, and I wanted to put 650b wheels on the bike since 700c wheels kind of big for such a small frame and cause some issues. I got the bike at Competitive Cyclsit for $1200 with a Rival 22 build kit. So I swapped in 650b wheels I already had, I tossed the front derailleur, removed the front lever's shift mechanism and got a narrow wide ring for 1x use. With everything added up, its was about $2000 if you count the 650b wheels. SRAM mechanical levers are pretty small and work well for her. Of course she really liked the bike, so it has been upgraded to full Force 1 this year.
The XXS Ridley X-Ride looks really nice. Sadly there don't seem to be any in the country at this time. I wrote directly to Ridley to see if there might be one somewhere on this side of the pond.
