Small bikes that aren't horrible compromises

It sure does!

Yeah, my CG at 370mm reach is probably as small as I would want to go again with a 700c wheel. My Traffic had less (360-something) and the toeverlap was atrocious until I threw a 65mm rake soma fork on there, at which point it became acceptable.

Very very poorly. Seriously, it never looks cool.

I got a custom frame bag for my Surly, doesn’t fit much. I use a handlebar bag and then strap things everywhere else I can, including the fork, and a buttrocket. I have about 6 inches of clearance, which works, but just barely.

For reference, I’m 5’2. This is why I usually end up using my surly and a basket.

Racks and panniers + rando bag for touring. I don’t MTB, so haven’t really thought about bike packing setups (or whatever you want to call it). My wife has looked at frame bags, then looked at her bike and said, “I just don’t think that would work.” 26 oz. water bottles barely fit in the seat tube bottle cage on one of her bikes. The upside is that her clothing and camping gear pack smaller than mine does.

Subscribed.

This is something we’re going to try and tackle in 2019.

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I’m 5’6 riding a medium HG. I’m directly in the center of the small and medium. Running a 60mm stem and fist full of post gets me 90% of the way there but would probably the small if I were to do it again.

A bottle cage barely fits on the seat tube of Ash’s bike. Forget about getting a bottle on there. The triangle is so needlessly small that I have trouble getting the damn thing on my trunk rack because the arms of the rack hardly fit through the triangle!

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If you need any user testing, HMU.

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Woah. Yeah, I see what you mean with the Salsa’s sloping TT and tiny triangle.

Sometimes the arm of a car rack has to go through the rear triangle, holding the bike from the back side of the seat tube-seat stay junction.

Hypothetically I would be looking for 3-5 folks 5’5” or under to bro deal prototypes too. The bike would likely be more of an XS Hunter Gatherer than anything else. But with 26x2.3 and 650bx38-42 taken into consideration.

Once wiggle bike project is in production I’ll turn more attention towards it.

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Very adventure-oriented woman in Seattle named Monica would probably be a good person to get some input from. She’s done the tour divide (among many other radnesses) and has had semi-custom bikes before. I’ll direct her towards this thread!

Monica would be a great tester, as would your boy right here.

this looks amazing

I can’t wait for my son to break his arm riding this.

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Also maybe interested. Actually, an XS wiggle bike would make my wife very happy. She’s been making noises about a disc brake fendered rain bike. Something like 650b x 25-38mm, road geo (possibly low-trail).

I would love to try a prototinybiek but also recognize that you might get better value for your brodeals by getting those bikes to people who are better/more srs riders than me.

I’m like ~5’6" and end up on the small end of stock sizes but ya run into issues with STA being too steep.

I had a custom bike drafted that strikes a good balance ATMO between well fitting and well riding. Also requested a second draft made that sacrifices stand over height for creating the largest possible inside triangle, for bottles and frame bag, while still keeping my contact points in the right spot. Came out as a nice “french fit” looking bike.

French fit is the best looking fit atmo.

This is always where I am. I have the small v2 prototype CG set up with 650x47, but would like to at least demo ride an XS HG to compare.

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