does size matter?
If I was a normal sized person maybe things would be different. But as it is - at 4'10" - I'm the size of the average 5th grade elementary student.
My goal this season is to be able to do up to 3' drops comfortably and ride up big step ups and to improve my technical riding in general. It would be nice to have a bike with big wheels and a bunch of travel to help me get there.
With all this talk of bigger forks with lots of travel to do bigger drops and 29ers and how well they roll over *everything* - I'm pretty much left out in the cold.
When I had a custom FS Seven built up...the folks from Seven told me the most travel they could fit in a bike that would fit me would be 80mm(3.1 inches). In addition - Blacksheep told me that they could only build a bike for me that was fitted for 80mm of travel. I have to assume Seven and Blacksheep know what they are talking about.
I also talked to Walt of WaltWorks and Blacksheep about a 29er for me - they both said "no way could they build a 29er that would fit me" Yes - there are women ~5' tall that ride them but I guess that 2" makes a difference and my inseam/other dimensions are below the limit for a 29er.
Interestingly enough - I found when I want to ride gears - I'm choosing the hardtail with a whopping 63mm(2.5 inches) of travel instead of the FS. Here's some pix of me dropping into the top part of Horsethief(i only rode 3/4 of it and stopped toward the bottom where the drops get really big). hee-hee - I was hugging the wall this time.
sigh....guess i have to make do with little wheels and just a little bit of travel....
My goal this season is to be able to do up to 3' drops comfortably and ride up big step ups and to improve my technical riding in general. It would be nice to have a bike with big wheels and a bunch of travel to help me get there.
With all this talk of bigger forks with lots of travel to do bigger drops and 29ers and how well they roll over *everything* - I'm pretty much left out in the cold.
When I had a custom FS Seven built up...the folks from Seven told me the most travel they could fit in a bike that would fit me would be 80mm(3.1 inches). In addition - Blacksheep told me that they could only build a bike for me that was fitted for 80mm of travel. I have to assume Seven and Blacksheep know what they are talking about.
I also talked to Walt of WaltWorks and Blacksheep about a 29er for me - they both said "no way could they build a 29er that would fit me" Yes - there are women ~5' tall that ride them but I guess that 2" makes a difference and my inseam/other dimensions are below the limit for a 29er.
Interestingly enough - I found when I want to ride gears - I'm choosing the hardtail with a whopping 63mm(2.5 inches) of travel instead of the FS. Here's some pix of me dropping into the top part of Horsethief(i only rode 3/4 of it and stopped toward the bottom where the drops get really big). hee-hee - I was hugging the wall this time.
sigh....guess i have to make do with little wheels and just a little bit of travel....
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