bicycles for small light people

[dameunmate]

My girl is 27 but she's Korean so she's only about 5'2" and weighs 110 lb (50 kg). Obviously a frame for someone this size and strength need not be so strong or heavy or bulky. Are there any really lightweight bikes out there made for small light people?

My old lightweight Raleigh racer weighs 10kg but I weigh 90 kg - so the equivalent for her would be a bike weighing 5.5 kg.

I bought her a nice Giant comfort hybrid for Christmas and taught her to ride a bike. She's a quick learner and we've already been around southern Italy and the Yorkshire dales together. But the bike weighs nearly 15 kg! It's XS only 16" frame, so it fits her height but it seems like the tubing is just as fat and strong as the large models. And all the components are the same as the large models ie. made for large american women. She can't even get her fingers round the brake levers!

Any help/experience would be much appreciated.

 

[Crackle]

What about a good child/teen bike, like www.Islabikes.co.uk They're built to smaller dimensions, reasonable components and good road bikes. Downsides, frame finish seems to mark and not so good off-road beyond simple fire road type trails.

 

[summerdays]

What about a good child/teen bike, like www.Islabikes.co.uk They're built to smaller dimensions, reasonable components and good road bikes. Downsides, frame finish seems to mark and not so good off-road beyond simple fire road type trails.

+ 1 on the Islabikes ... and you could cover the frame in helicopter tape to stop it marking which is what I did with my child's bike.

 

[battered]

At 5'2 and 50kg she's small, but just small adult, not child size. I'd stay in the adult camp.

You won't find a bike at 6kg, if you could we'd all have them! The snag is that gears etc weigh the same regardless of frame size, and welds are welds. That said you could save some weight by fitting thinner tyres and possibly wheels. Rotating weight is critical, so lower that. There will be a price in comfort, thin tyres spring less but as she's light it will be OK.

WRT brakes, if she has small hands you can adjust the reach of the levers by adjusting the little allen screws.

The only easy way to get a lighter bike is to (cough) spend more money. (cough). Sorry.

 

[punkypossum]

There was an article in "Cycle" I think recently, about a small women that ended up with an Isla bike road bike - iirc she talked it through with Isla and they did some minor modifications. She was very happy with it. Also, I believe they have added new colour schemes and done something to the paint finish so it's less likely to mark.

 

[ChristinaJL]

I'm a similar weight to your girlfriend, but 5' 6". I have an aluminium specialized dolce elite road bike and have no problem with the weight. Also have a dawes karakum touring bike at 14.5kg and again, no worries even on hills cos it has good gearing.