UK brand Islabike has launched it’s latest range of bikes, which it says truly fit smaller adult riders.
Best know for producing some of the best kids bikes, the road going dropped bar Luath and off-road flat bar Creig are the brand’s newest editions of especially adapted bikes for grown-ups.
With stock bike setups often stacked against women and smaller adult cyclists, the adult versions of the Luath and Creig bikes have been especially designed to target riders between 4’11” and 5’9″ tall.
Scalled down bars and brake leavers make it easier to control the bike from the drops
(Image credit: Islabike)
Speaking at the time of the launch, Tim Goodall, Managing Director at Islabikes commented that the brand had “completely revisited what a bike for someone below 5’ 9” should be. And that’s a bike that has components that fit smaller riders”.
Although the bikes look exactly like just smaller regular road or mountain bikes, the brand says it has also shrunk the components too.
Areas such as handlebars and levers have all been scaled down to make it easier for someone with small hands to change gear, or reach the brakes from the drops.
It’s an occupational hazard for me personally, and something that can’t come soon enough.
“It’s a seemingly obvious expectation” agrees Goodall, “sadly, something many people can’t do – and that’s nuts!”
It’s not the first time that Islabikes has dabbled in adult bikes. The brand first expanded it’s range to include more mature riders in 2019 when it launched the Islabike’s Icons range , the worlds first bikes that were especially adapted to over 65’s.
The low weight, step through bikes came with light controls and very low gearing. The range was later followed up with the Islabike eJanis and eJimi range of electric bikes, which had a similar ethos.
The Islabike adult Luath can be fully accessorised for the road
(Image credit: Islabike)
Now the brand’s focus is on the general inclusion of most women and below average height men, which Islabike believe that, until now, have been poorly catered for.
There’s plenty of research to back up common issues faced by smaller adult cyclists; although addressing size rather than the sex of rider, does add questions around women’s specific geometry , suggesting that perhaps best women’s road bikes are better repurposed as ‘best small persons’ instead.
Gender debate aside, bikes specifically designed and constructed for smaller adults can only offer better choice in the long…