The cycle is a "Duchie shopper". The bike is to big for my wife. Is it possible to shorten it for her?
She is 5 ft (152 cm) tall. The bike has a 27 inch wheels. I want to shorten it by at least 2 inches (50 mm)
Can this be done?
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1When you write "shorten" do you mean front-to-back or top-to-bottom or both? If you would post a side view of the bike it would be a big help for us (I can't find any bike type named "Duchie shopper").– ArmandCommented Aug 22, 2021 at 19:18
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1Can you please add a clear photo of her bike, from the right hand side. Use edit to update your post.– Criggie ♦Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 4:35
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How long is the stem it came with? If it came with e.g. a 90mm stem you could go all the way down to 40 or 50mm or change to handlebars which are swept backwards.– MichaelCommented Aug 23, 2021 at 5:58
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1 Answer
2 inches or 50 mm means quite a large mismatch. However, if the frame has enough standover clearance it may not be game over.
Firstly, you'll want to move the saddle as much forwards as you can. This reduces the saddle-to-handlebar distance.
Secondly, you'll want to change the handlebar stem to as short stem as you can find. Common stem lengths are perhaps 9 cm, you could find as short as 6 cm stem, reducing 3 cm.
If you combine 3 cm stem length reduction with 2 cm saddle movement forwards, you may have something that barely works.
If this doesn't work then you probably need to change the handlebar to something that has more backsweep.
Still, I'd recommend next time selecting a frame of proper size instead of assuming you can fix the fit later.
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OP was given the bike, so the frame size wasn't a choice. However you're right, if this is too big then perhaps returning it is the right thing to do.– Criggie ♦Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 4:36
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2Don’t change the saddle fore/aft position to account for frame length (reach).– MichaelCommented Aug 23, 2021 at 5:56
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I disagree about not changing saddle fore/aft position to account for frame length. You can perfectly well do that. The "knee over pedal spindle" rule is just a myth: sheldonbrown.com/kops.html -- of course if the cyclist rides often standing in addition to riding seated, then you might want to select the stem length based on the standing position, and then place the saddle where the saddle-to-handlebar distance is suitable in the sitting position. However, if the cyclist mainly rides seated, it's perfectly well advisable to adjust saddle position for optimizing bike length.– juhistCommented Aug 23, 2021 at 15:36
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For example there are very many cyclists riding recumbent bikes. You don't see their knees over the pedal spindle! In fact, the pedaling angle is entirely different and still they manage to pedal their bike forwards.– juhistCommented Aug 23, 2021 at 15:39