Women’s Bike Size Chart by Height and Bike Type

What size bike should a woman get?

Start with your height, then check your inseam. On Liv’s current road, gravel, mountain and hybrid bikes, a woman 5’2″ to 5’4″ (157-163 cm) fits an XS or S, and a woman 5’6″ to 5’8″ (168-173 cm) fits a Medium. Confirm the size against the frame’s standover height before you buy. A women’s frame matters most under 5’2″, where unisex ranges start to run out: Giant’s Contend road bike starts at 157 cm.

The charts below come from Liv, Giant’s women’s brand, because Liv publishes a rider-height range and full geometry for every size of every model. Where a unisex bike fits differently, the tables show Giant’s matching model next to it.

Women’s bike size chart by height and bike type

Find your height, then read across to the bike you want. Each cell lists the sizes whose published range includes the middle of that height band. A slash means two sizes do, and the inseam table in the next section picks between them. A note in brackets marks a range that starts or ends inside the band.

Each cell follows the rider-height ranges Liv and Giant publish for the Avail 3, Devote Advanced 2, Tempt 2, Alight 3 and Contend 3 (listed in Sources). Liv’s sizes overlap by 3-5 cm, so a 160 cm rider shows up in both the XS and S range of every Liv model. The road column adds the Avail’s seat tube length for readers used to centimeter frame sizes. The Liv XS mountain bike rolls on 27.5 in wheels; Liv sells the S with 27.5 or 29 in wheels and switches to 29 in from there up.

These letters are Liv’s and Giant’s. Other brands put the same letter on different riders: Juliana’s Small starts at 154 cm and Giant’s Contend Small at 165 cm. Read your size here, then open the chart for the exact bike you plan to buy.

The average American woman stands 63.5 in (5’3.5″, 161 cm), according to CDC body-measurement data for adults 20 and older. That height lands in the XS/S overlap on every Liv model and near the bottom of Giant’s unisex XS road range (157-169 cm). If you are shorter than average, a brand that sizes down to 148-153 cm puts you in the middle of a size range instead of at its bottom edge.

If you shop a unisex brand or stand over 6′, the main bike size chart covers every height from 4’11” to 6’7″ in each bike type’s own units, with the inseam formulas for road and mountain frames.

Check the size with your inseam and the standover height

Height puts you in a row of the chart, and your inseam picks the size. Liv’s own athlete list shows why: Isabella Naughton and Kaysee Armstrong both stand 5’6″ (167.6 cm), and their inseams differ by 5.1 cm (83.8 vs 78.7 cm). Leonie Picton is 170 cm tall with a 95 cm inseam, and she rides a Medium on one Liv trail bike and a Large on another. Crystal Anthony, at 162.2 cm with a 73.6 cm inseam, rides an XS cyclocross bike and a Small on road and mountain bikes.

Measure your inseam with a hardcover book pulled up between your legs (the main size chart walks through it), then find the size you clear in this table. Cannondale’s road sizing guide asks for 1-2 in (2.5-5 cm) between you and the top tube. The table uses 2.5 cm for road, gravel and hybrid bikes and 5 cm for the mountain bike, where you hop off in a hurry.

Each cell gives Liv’s listed standover height, then the shortest book-method inseam that clears it by the margin above. Liv lists two standover figures for each Devote size, a few millimeters apart; the table uses the higher one. Your inseam should match or beat the number in the cell.

Read the mountain column with care. The Tempt’s standover rises 28 mm from XS to M, while reach grows 51 mm (381 to 432 mm), so above the XS, reach decides the size more than standover does. At the bottom of a range the margin gets thin: a woman near 150 cm on the Tempt XS needs a 73 cm inseam for the full 5 cm, and many riders that height measure less. If that’s you, pick the lowest standover you can find in your size and stand over the bike in a shop before you buy. If you sit between two sizes on a trail bike, the mountain bike size chart explains how to pick by reach.

Skip the standover test on a step-through frame. Set the saddle height and check the reach to the bars instead.

Women’s road bike size chart: why the centimeters look small

If an older chart told you a 5’6″ woman needs a 53-55 cm road frame, a modern Liv Medium will look wrong at first. The Avail 3 Medium has a 50 cm seat tube and Liv sizes it for riders 165-174 cm. Its seat tube runs 43 cm on the XS, 46.5 on the S, 50 on the M and 53.5 on the L.

Those centimeter labels date from level top tubes. Giant and Liv slope the top tube, which shortens the seat tube without moving the handlebars. Compare reach and stack (handlebar height) between brands, and treat the seat tube length as a number that tells you little.

Do you need a women’s bike?

Usually not for fit alone. Size-for-size, Liv’s women’s road and mountain frames sit within a few millimeters of Giant’s unisex frames, and the bigger differences are touch points: saddle, bar width, brake reach and stem. Hybrids are the exception, with a noticeably more upright women’s fit. Our guide to women’s vs men’s bikes compares the specs part by part and gives a decision list. Use the charts on this page to pick the size either way.

Brands that make women’s frames

Liv builds its adult bikes for women and publishes a rider-height range for each size of each model, starting at 148-153 cm. The tables above use its numbers.

Juliana has announced that Juliana-branded bikes will no longer be produced, so its sizing matters mainly on the used market. It grew out of the Juliana model that Santa Cruz Bicycles launched in 1999 as a women’s mountain bike, and became a standalone sister brand in 2013. Its Furtado trail bike lists the smallest size range in this guide: X-Small for 142-154 cm (4’8″-5’1″), Small for 154-165 cm and Medium for 165-175 cm. Juliana’s Medium covers almost the same riders as Liv’s mountain bike Medium (164-175 cm), and both start about 4-5 cm below Giant’s unisex Talon Medium (169-179 cm). The Furtado is a full-suspension bike and the Talon a hardtail, so read that as a check on size labels, not on frame geometry. The Furtado page also points owners to the Santa Cruz owner’s manual, so before you pay for the name, compare its geometry chart with the matching Santa Cruz model.

Unisex brands also reach down to short riders. Cannondale says its road models fit riders from 5′ (152 cm), and Giant’s Talon mountain bike starts at 155 cm. For a rider over 5’2″, a unisex road or mountain bike in the right size matches the Liv frames above within 1-4 mm of reach. Standover is the exception: the Contend M stands 30 mm taller than the Avail M (774 vs 744 mm), which matters if your inseam runs short.

Types of bikes for women, and how each one is sized

What are the different bike sizes?

Bikes come in three size systems. Road bikes use centimeters or letters, mountain and hybrid bikes use letters or inches of seat tube, and kids’ bikes and cruisers go by wheel diameter.

Choosing between gravel and hybrid for a first bike: if you will ride dirt paths or want drop bars, pick gravel. If you want flat bars and an upright view of traffic, pick a hybrid. The gravel bike size chart covers gravel sizing in more depth.

Can a woman ride a 26-inch or 29-inch bike?

Yes. “26-inch” and “29-inch” name the wheel diameter, not the frame size. Liv and Giant both offer 29 in wheels on their hardtail mountain bikes from size S, which Liv sizes for riders from 158 cm (5’2″). Below that, both brands switch to 27.5 in wheels on the XS. The smaller wheel brings the bars down: the Tempt XS has 548 mm of stack against 593 mm on the 29 in S.

A 26-inch wheel now shows up on cruisers, comfort bikes and older mountain bikes. A 5-foot woman can ride one if she clears the top tube with her shoes on and the saddle drops low enough for her tiptoes to reach the ground. Skip a 29er under 5’2″ unless the brand lists that frame for your height.

What size bike for a 5-foot or 5’2″ woman?

At 5’0″ (152-153 cm), you fit Liv’s XS on gravel, mountain and hybrid bikes and sit at the bottom of the Avail road XS (from 153 cm). Giant’s unisex Contend XS starts at 157 cm. Liv’s Avail spec list also names an XXS, but Liv publishes no height range for it, so ask a dealer to measure you on one or look at another brand’s XXS. Pick a mountain bike on 27.5 in wheels.

At 5’2″ (157-158 cm), you fit an XS on every Liv model, and the S range starts at 158 cm. The Giant Contend and Talon XS both fit too. Pick the XS if your inseam is under about 74 cm (29 in), from the standover table above.

What size bike for a 5’4″, 5’7″ or 5’10” woman?

At 5’4″ (163 cm), you are a Liv S road bike, an XS or S on Liv’s other models, or a Giant XS road bike. At 5’7″ (170 cm), you are a Liv M, a Giant S road bike, or an S or M Talon. At 5’10” (178 cm), you are a Liv L, near the top of Liv’s range, a Giant Contend M or M/L, or a Talon M or L. Over 6’0″ (183 cm), move to unisex sizes.

After you buy: set the saddle first

A frame in the right size still rides wrong with the saddle in the wrong place. Start with the bike saddle height calculator, then adjust on the bike. If you raise the saddle past the minimum insertion mark on the seatpost, the frame is too small. If you hit the bars with your knees when you stand, or have to lock your elbows to reach the hoods, try the other size in your overlap.

Sources

• Liv Cycling. Avail 3 (2025) sizing and geometry. Rider height by size, seat tube, stack, reach, standover, bar width, crank length, saddle.
• Liv Cycling. Devote Advanced 2 (2025) sizing and geometry.
• Liv Cycling. Tempt 2 (2025) sizing and geometry. Wheel size by frame size.
• Liv Cycling. Alight 3 (2024) sizing and geometry.
• Liv Cycling. Thrive 2 (2025) sizing.
• Liv Cycling. Liv Bike Fit and Size Guide. Athlete height, inseam and bike size.
• Giant Bicycles. Contend 3 (2025), Talon 2 (2025) and Escape 3 (2024) sizing and geometry.
• Juliana Bicycles. Furtado. Rider height and reach by size, owner’s manual reference.
• Juliana Bicycles. Home page. Brand history: Santa Cruz’s 1999 Juliana model, standalone sister brand from 2013.
• Cannondale. What Size Road Bike Do I Need? Standover clearance of 1-2 in; road sizes from 5′ (152 cm).
• CDC National Center for Health Statistics. FastStats: Body Measurements. Mean height of US women 20 and older, August 2021 to August 2023.