Timely article Andrew. We recently bought a used bike for my 5'3" wife. Her most important requirement was adequate standover clearance, and most bikes didn't have this. We ended up with size small Comencal Meta 27.5 and she is happy with the fit. Unfortunately the rocker pivot goes through the seat tube, and really limits dropper post insertion. A short travel post isn't necessarily the answer since we would have to raise it enough for the pedalling position that she couldn't get it low enough when dropped. We spent a long time looking at dropper dimensions, and the optimal solution is a 120mm travel v2 one up which we may need to shim down 10mm. I'd love to see her on a longer travel post but it just won't work. Sure makes me appreciate my Knolly, which easily takes a 180mm dropper in a size small frame.
May 2, 2022, 10:54 a.m. - Skooks
Timely article Andrew. We recently bought a used bike for my 5'3" wife. Her most important requirement was adequate standover clearance, and most bikes didn't have this. We ended up with size small Comencal Meta 27.5 and she is happy with the fit. Unfortunately the rocker pivot goes through the seat tube, and really limits dropper post insertion. A short travel post isn't necessarily the answer since we would have to raise it enough for the pedalling position that she couldn't get it low enough when dropped. We spent a long time looking at dropper dimensions, and the optimal solution is a 120mm travel v2 one up which we may need to shim down 10mm. I'd love to see her on a longer travel post but it just won't work. Sure makes me appreciate my Knolly, which easily takes a 180mm dropper in a size small frame.