# SS for women



## kms254 (Mar 22, 2007)

Ok this is a question for you women. My girlfriend currently commutes to classes( about 1 mile) on a specialized mountain bike. Next year she is moving over near me about 2 miles from campus if you go the easy way. I have noticed and she has also told me that she never shifts gears on her mountain bike. She just stays in 3x3 which i think is 42x24 I have yet to count it. I recently found a bike down near new Orleans that looked to be a Katrina victim. It looked like it would fit her. She is 4' 11" It needs work but I can get it stripped and powder coated pink(the color she wants) for about 100 bucks. 









I know its not much to look at but it will be shouldn't be to hard to clean up.
Get these wheels
Wheels



Since she does not use the gears on her mountain bike, I think for ease of use i would just make this road bike is single speed. I plan on having her ride over to my apartment and go up my hill with her current settings to make sure she can get up it. 



My question is that if she can get up it ok with her current gearing easily how much do you think i could jump up her gearing, where it would still be usable? What things do I need to look out for in a bike for a women? I know this bike will need a new seat as well do you have any recommendations? The drop bar's are currently the same size as mine would it be more comfortable for her to get something narrower? For someone as small as she is what would be a good size? Her mountain bike has WSD stuff on it that she might not notice helps but makes it fit better. Do they have stuff like that for road bikes? should i use smaller cranks like 160mm for her? 

Do you have any other suggestions?

kevin


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

I think you are worrying way too much about a 2 mile ride. 

Buy the bike, fix it up, give it to her. It doesn't seem that she rides enough to really think of it as anything but a way to get from here to there and doing that is no big deal.

If she likes you she will like that you did something nice for her that took a bit of effort.

If she doesn't no amount of effort and research on your part is gonna help.


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## kms254 (Mar 22, 2007)

Well my hopes are that she will start ridining more then just her commute. She will be living "downtown" haha so she could ride to almost every thing.(i do) and also for her to be comfortable enough on the bike that she will start going on short rides with me. We all ready go on rides with her old bike but i know she really wants a road bike to ride with me.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

I think you should fix it up, get it running and do whatever modifications need to be done after she's given you feedback. For cranks I would go with 165's. 

She's riding around in her 42x24 gear? Seems awfully low...


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## kms254 (Mar 22, 2007)

i thought 42x24 was low as well, That is why I kinda want to up the gearing, but not so much that she can't ride it.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

It's hard to tell the size from the picture but if that bike has 27" or 700c wheels, the reach might be too long for a 4'11" person.. I'd measure the reach of her MTN bike before you go to the expense of powdercoat. 

I agree with the others that 42 x 24 is too small of a gear. 42 x 20 or 18 would be easy enough to pedal and she won't be spinning like crazy


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

Why not just get her a new wheelset? Put a single cog hub on the back, slick tires on it, use the existing RD for tensioning and you're good to go. If she doesn't actually hit the trails on it, you can keep slicks on it all the time, no need to convert to SS at all.

The bike in that picture looks like a piece of junk. With the condition the wheels and cranks are in, I have no doubt the frame is about to rust through as well...

Silas


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## kms254 (Mar 22, 2007)

Thanks for all your inputs. She sat on the bike back when it had the old nasty seat on it and it seemed to fit her size wise pretty well. It is about the same size as her mountain bike. It has 27" wheels on it right now. The wheel set that i am looking at are 700c



SilasCL
I would have thought the exact same thing as well. But after pulling the BB out and pulling off the other parts the frame shows no sign of rust. The BB looked to be in pretty good shape. and once you take every thing off its not to heavy.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

Going from 27" to 700c is going to require long reach brakes. The $$$ start adding up..If you are looking to buy new wheels anyway, check into 27" single speed and not 700c. It will save you the cost of new brake calipers

I like the idea of rescuing old frame and converting them to fixies or single speeds. I'm not sure this is the frame to do it to.. Woman's mixte bikes are a dime a dozen and are usually quite cheap. I'd suggest finding a complete good condition bike at the thrift store or goodwill for $25 and using it as a basis of this project.


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## kms254 (Mar 22, 2007)

I have an old cracked 700c wheel i test fit on there with the brakes on the bike, and i can move the pads down and they will reach. I did the same thing on my old fixed bike. Around here (middle of mississippi) finding decent bikes is not as easy as what you would think. Your either going to find junk. Or expensive stuff.


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