Racing 795 Member Forum

Wanted . New/old small ladies Mountain Bike for petite 5ft wife . Front suspension .good brakes and gears .frame condition not a problem or even if it needs repairs . Needs to be light weight too . Only for the Fire roads for starters . If anyone could even recommend a brand or shop either would be great . Thanks .

Your problem is size

Trying to get anything half decent for a 5 footer on the second hand market will be next to impossible. Even new you are restricted as you wont want anything bigger than a 14" frame. And lightweight: unless you're prepared to spend well over a grand you wont get lightweight

So you have two choices:
1: buy a small frame and then a cheap 2nd hand donor bike and swap the components. On a quick look around it's difficult enough to get a 14" frame. Here's some on ebay that woud be perfect, but 14" is out of stock
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MTB-frame-alu ... 3cc6140a82

2: Buy a new bike - this one on crc is as good a deal as you'll get in a small size, with a reasonable spec. The 35cm would be spot on for a 5 footer
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/e ... -prod83491

Whatever you do, don;t fall into the trap of buying a bike that is too big for her. here's a reasonable size guide:

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/v ... ?idpage=40

Cheers for the info David . I.l take that all on board .Thanks for taking the time to do that research for me .