Shorter women often have the worst problems finding a bike that fits. A frame with an appropriate seat tube length can leave riders unable to reach the bars. Being overstretched on a bike is obvious: your back, arms and shoulders all hurt from the constant stress. When your arms and upper body form an angle of more than 90 degrees, then your muscles, rather than bones, do the work of holding you up.

One approach often duplicated is to mate a 24 inch front wheel with a 27 inch rear wheel. This allows the top tube to be about two inches shorter than on other bikes with 27 inch wheels.