Wanted: 46cm frame for small woman

Hey,

I need to build a bike for my lovely lass. She's fairly tiny (5foot 1) and a 46cm racer conversion would be ideal.

Can anyone help? My alternative is too spend too much money at BLB on an overpriced frame. I haven't found much over the months.

If anyone has a bike frame for sale, please pm me.

Thanks!

Ever thought about a small size archie wilkinson speedway frame?

They are well small and great value. If shes going to run freewheel id get the 26 1 3/8 wheelset too. They are great & come in lots of colours.

basically imagine this with drop handlebars, shorter cranks, raked fork, higher saddle & slick tyres

http://www.archie-wilkinson.co.uk/bikes.html

what about this:

Fresh paint - pearlescent white and plain powder blue (a bit darker in real world), chrome's all good, beautifully made and very light at 1.48kg (frame only), 47cm/52cm, £165. More pics here:
http://retrodicorsa.cc/Retro_di_Corsa/Frames/Pages/Gion_Italia.html

Someone selling a lovely frame on the CTC forum, vertical dropouts but its a lovely lovely frame :) http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=17220&highlight=argos

I've got a Jeff Bruce frame, fillet brazed Columbus Nemo tubeset but its probably a little too big, 49cm seat tube and 52cm top tube again with semi vertical dropouts though.

It feels smaller than its dimensions though as its built **VERY **tightly.

Hi Retro, nice bike. where are you based?
Hi Jones - thanks for the link. I figure it'll be a little big and she's into older frames. Also its an old listing...
DFP - thanks as well. Not sure about those bikes but i will investigate.

Jones - that's a good bike for the money! I think it is a little big though :-( She has tiny legs!

Whats your maximum budget?

What type of rider is she? [ordinary commuter / aggressive speed merchant / ]

Is she likely to want to upgrade her bike as time goes by?

Are you searching for a single-speed bike for her (sorry if that seems a silly question)?

Do you prefer to build up a bike from the frame, or is an OTP ok?

Would she prefer a more comfy ride (steel) or would a stiff aluminium frame be ok too?

This may help Off The Peg Bikes, but if not, keep asking, as lots of people on here have many different experiences to share.

hey GA2G, did i do the classic 'not giving any details' thing? soz!

OTP is a no no pretty much, I want to build her something a little special. Singlespeed, classy, small budget! I am really only interested in a frame right now because i have some spare wheels, brakes, saddles etc.

TBH I was hoping for a £50 70-80's racer to convert. I bought my first frame for £45 and it's a beautiful, hand made, lugged italian number.

I think realistically £80-£100 for a sound frame that's the right size with a bit of cleaning to do, bit more if the bike has a good paint job and is in good repair.

Problem is finding something in her size...

Kam, im in exactly the same boat. Trying to get something nice for the misses, but only really need a frame, hard to find decent ones, or infact any, that are the right size.

Hey Jones,

I might be interested in the Bruce frame. Could you possibly measure the BB height for me?

Also, are you certain those dropouts are semi-vertical? They look fully vertical.

Thanks

It's a bitch ain't it! Lost out on a couple of teenage track frames a while back, would've been perfect. Happy hunting!

It took me an age to find a frame small enough for my gf that would also be a light enough build that she could get it up and down the stairs easily. In the end i got a Dolan Kadet (i think that's what it was called) frame which is basically a kids track frame that takes 700 wheels. It's about a 44 I think. I've only got one pic of it and it's not too good but i'll attach it so you can get an idea of size. It's perfect as its small, light and it looked pretty good when i finally got it built. I got it reduced to 90 quid or something, on their site, for frame only. Whole bike build was probably about 200 with lots of cheap used bits on it.

The other alternetive is the small fuji track with the 650 wheels on it. My lbs has on at the mo reduced to 230 quid or something. It's in the older colours but it's not a bad bike and 650 tyres aren't that much of an issue. The shop is herne hill cycles if you wanted to check it out.

All that's useless if you are after a retro steed though. I did see a few lil uns when i was looking but they seem to be pretty rare.

B.

1 Attachment

that little Dolan is well cute!

The other alternetive is the small fuji track with the 650 wheels on it. My lbs has on at the mo reduced to 230 quid or something. It's in the older colours but it's not a bad bike and 650 tyres aren't that much of an issue. The shop is herne hill cycles if you wanted to check it out.
B.

I'm new to the forum... but very grateful for all the members and info on here! Thanks to B's post I headed over Herne Hill Cyles today and bought this very same 43cm Fuji Track for 230 quid. Apparently the UK distributor no longer imports the 650 size, so I had been considering getting one sent over from the US in order to get a bike small enough for me, but obviously this was much better for my budget.

Apart from the Dutch bikes I rode in Holland, this is my first fixed-gear so I'm looking forward to a winter of fun riding on the road-- with the hopes of racing my geared bikes better in the spring.

Now I just need to put a brake on it...

I got it reduced to 90 quid or something, on their site, for frame only

Whose site? Can't see it on the Italian Solutions site...

I am also having the same problems would like an off the peg fixed (first fixed bike) so don't want to spend too much B love the dolan :)

BLB have nice 47cm track frame and fork bb and hs for £265 i think, will only take 650 wheels.
Check it......

Wanted: small woman. Not yours though!

I saw all of these..and I also have been looking for my single speed bike. I am a small girl as well (5 feet). I've been trying to buy a small bike for ages but still can't. Where can I buy my bike???

http://www.velodromeshop.org.uk/index.php?p=product&id=217

Maybe something like this? Small frames are rare but do come around - my gf has two lovely bikes

Thanx kam, I saw that site, fuji is nice but unfortunately it's a little bit out of budget oops..I can just spend less than 250. so sad..!!

plus, does anyone know the name of cafe near London field that I can bring my cycle to fix and also enjoy coffee?? maybe location is between Bethnal Green station (it was off Regent canal) and London Field.

It's called Lock 7