Road Bikes for Short Girls: How to Choose the Right Manufacturer

Points for Petite Women When Choosing a Road Bike

What Happens When Petite Women Ride Standard-Size Road Bikes

Most road bikes are designed for men, with a target rider height around 170cm, and even the smallest sizes are often suitable for heights of about 160cm.

When women under 155cm ride these bikes, the following problems can occur:

1. Unable to straddle the top tube
2. The handlebars are too far away, causing body pain

Since petite women generally have shorter inseams, they may not be able to straddle the high top tube of a road bike, making it difficult or even impossible to get on the bike in the first place.

If you can’t straddle the top tube, you won’t be able to wait at stoplights while sitting on the bike, so you’ll have to get on and off the bike every time on narrow roads, which is dangerous when riding on the street.

Moreover, the frame geometry of a road bike affects not only the inseam but also the reach to the handlebars (top tube length). Riding a standard road bike with a long top tube forces you into a deep forward-leaning position, which can cause pain in the shoulders, back, and lower back.

With these issues, you may not be able to ride comfortably, risk falling over at stoplights, and the road bike you bought with high hopes could end up being a source of discomfort.

Women-Specific Road Bikes Are the Safest Choice

If you are a woman under 155cm and want to start riding a road bike, the safest choice is a women-specific road bike.

With women’s road bikes, you can find frame sizes as small as 390mm, suitable for heights from 145cm. Standard road bikes in S or M sizes are about 500mm (recommended for heights around 170–175cm), so the seat tube is about 10cm shorter and the standover height about 5cm lower.

In the image above, the GIANT CONTEND 2 and Liv AVAIL 2 are overlaid. The Liv (front) has a lower top tube (①) and the STI lever position is also a few centimeters closer (②).

Women-specific road bikes often feature crank lengths, saddle shapes, and handlebar widths designed for women, so overall, they can be more cost-effective than customizing a standard road bike to fit.

The downside is that color options are limited. Many women’s models tend to use colors like pink, so if you don’t like the available colors, your already limited choices become even narrower.

Frame Size and Recommended Height Are Not Everything

Even if you don’t find your preferred shape or color in women-specific road bikes, there’s no need to give up immediately. When choosing a road bike, finding one that fits your body size is the most important, but frame size and recommended height are not everything.

Frame size and geometry (the lengths of various frame parts) are references for road bike fitting, but if you don’t have your own fitting data, you choose frame size based on recommended height. At this time, petite women often give up because their height is not within the recommended height range.

While it’s true that smaller frame sizes are easier for petite women to ride, it doesn’t mean you “can’t ride at all” if the recommended height for the frame size is somewhat larger.

This is because, in road bikes, the distance from the ground to the bottom bracket (BB) basically does not change much. This is because if the BB position is too low, the pedal will hit the ground when pedaling.

As you can see in the image above (③), whether the frame size is large or small, the crank position is almost the same. Also, since the person’s leg length remains the same regardless of frame size, the “distance from BB to saddle = saddle height” is constant (④).

In other words, even if a petite woman chooses a frame slightly larger than the recommended height, lowering the saddle position means it is not impossible to pedal.

The “optimal distance from BB to saddle” is generally considered to be:

1. Place your foot on the pedal at the lowest position
2. Set the saddle height so that your knee is slightly bent

If the “distance from BB to saddle” when the saddle is lowered to the limit fits you, it may be difficult to straddle, but you can still ride a road bike with a larger frame size.

This may seem contradictory to what was said earlier, but if the frame you really want is just a little too big, before giving up based on frame size alone, try test riding it at a sports bike specialty store and consult the staff about whether it is barely rideable or if it can be customized and adjusted to optimize the position.

The staff at sports bike shops are all bike enthusiasts and will kindly teach you[1].

A manufacturer with a line of road bikes for petite women.

GIANT(Liv)

Giant, the No. 1 bicycle manufacturer in Taiwan, has a separate brand of sports bicycles for women called Liv. The frame is designed specifically for women, which is different from the men’s model, making the road bike easy to ride even for petite women.

Liv

The smallest size available from Liv is the XXS size, which has a seat post length of 395mm and a compatible height of 145-160cm, making it suitable for small women.

Liv also offers women’s saddles and cycle jerseys, so you can get all your women’s road bike needs from Liv alone.

The fact that Liv is manufactured by Giant, the world’s number one bicycle manufacturer, is also a good sign.

ANCHOR

Anchor, a sports bike brand of Bridgestone Cycle, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, a major tire manufacturer in Japan, has a line of road bikes for women.

For example, the model number is the same as that of the men’s model, but the frame is designed specifically for women, different from the men’s model, so it is “not just small.

WOMEN’S | ANCHOR

Anchor’s women’s road bikes are available in three sizes, 390mm, 420mm and 450mm, and are designed for women of a solid height range of 145cm to 169cm.

khodaa bloom

khodaa bloom, the sports bike brand of the Japanese bicycle manufacturer Hodaka, has a lineup of road bikes in the size of 350mm (suitable height: 135-150cm).

The wheel size is 24 inches, which is smaller than the 700C size for road bikes, so it’s more like a junior bike than a women’s bike, but it’s the perfect size for mini girls who are under 150cm tall.

STRAUSS 24

Other road bikes from khodaa-bloom are also available in sizes starting from 430mm (155-170cm), so women under 155cm can just barely ride them.

NESTO

NESTO is another sub-brand of the Japanese bicycle manufacturer Hodaka, and is a high quality, highly cosmetic brand.

Roadbike | NESTO

NESTO does not have a separate line of women’s road bikes (dedicated to women), but the frame size is 430mm and the lineup starts from 150cm in height, so even petite women under 155cm can ride, although the inseam is a little tight.

What’s great is that the FALAD, which is an entry-level model and can be purchased for less than $800, is also available in a frame size of 430mm (150-165cm), which makes it affordable for even small women to start riding a road bike.