Manufacturer, Retailer, Survey and Consumer Feedback - Women's Cycling Products

In general, to all bike manufacturers, regarding the availability of women's bikes and products:

1.) Please don't condescend to women and assume we will "settle" for low end components and materials.

I was willing to spend up to $XXXX for a Record- or Chorus-equipped WSD bike with a double, and found only one manufacturer - Orbea - who offered it (unfortunately, their smallest frame was too big for me). I eventually did my own build, but my choices for a complete bike were almost non-existant. One well-known manufacturer claimed to be women-friendly, yet didn't even bother to make a WSD bike in CF. :rolleyes: We deserve better options.

2.) Make smaller road bikes with 700c wheels.

Looking for a sub-46cm frame with 700c wheels was an exasperating search. I ended up with an S-Works Ruby frame. Funny thing, I rode with four other small women (all strong riders) and three were also on a Ruby. There IS a market out there. Cervelo? Look? Time? Nope. If Specialized can do it, why can't anyone else?

3.) Stop making silly clothes for women.

Not all women like Pink... Or flowers... Or animal prints. Please make more bib shorts for women, too. And in XS sizes.



Thank you very much for your time. Thank you BF, for making this subforum.

I'm not sure who I should even refer this to. I've got friends at Trek and Giant, but I have to play devil's advocate and ask, how big would the market be?

For women who'd like something besides pink and powder blue? Enormous.

I'm in.

2.) Make smaller road bikes with 700c wheels.

Looking for a sub-46cm frame with 700c wheels was an exasperating search. I ended up with an S-Works Ruby frame. Funny thing, I rode with four other small women (all strong riders) and three were also on a Ruby. There IS a market out there. Cervelo? Look? Time? Nope. If Specialized can do it, why can't anyone else?

Making bikes smaller while maintaining the same wheel size brings up all kinds of geometry issues... If you shrink the frame too much without also shrinking the wheels, then the angles have to change to accommodate, and you end up with funky geometry. Yes, it can be done, but the results aren't necessarily what you want. Evidently the trade off is worth it to some people, if for no other reason than to ensure that tires, tubes and such are readily available.

On the other hand, I've known a few smaller riders who were more than happy to trade off the availability of spare tires/tubes at every turn for having a more comfortable fitting ride.

In general, to all bike manufacturers, regarding the availability of women's bikes and products:

1.) Please don't condescend to women and assume we will "settle" for low end components and materials.

I was willing to spend up to $XXXX for a Record- or Chorus-equipped WSD bike with a double, and found only one manufacturer - Orbea - who offered it (unfortunately, their smallest frame was too big for me). I eventually did my own build, but my choices for a complete bike were almost non-existant. One well-known manufacturer claimed to be women-friendly, yet didn't even bother to make a WSD bike in CF. :rolleyes: We deserve better options.

2.) Make smaller road bikes with 700c wheels.

Looking for a sub-46cm frame with 700c wheels was an exasperating search. I ended up with an S-Works Ruby frame. Funny thing, I rode with four other small women (all strong riders) and three were also on a Ruby. There IS a market out there. Cervelo? Look? Time? Nope. If Specialized can do it, why can't anyone else?

3.) Stop making silly clothes for women.

Not all women like Pink... Or flowers... Or animal prints. Please make more bib shorts for women, too. And in XS sizes.



Thank you very much for your time. Thank you BF, for making this subforum.

+1

Especially no pink! OR any baby pastel colors. I want my machine to destroy.

+1

Especially no pink! OR any baby pastel colors. I want my machine to destroy.

+1 All my bikes are shades of black. I passed up buying a more expensive Trek because it came it pink:mad:

Personally I don't mind PINK but what I would like to see are more women specific shoes for both road and mountain with more choices of colors. Not just red or black and red or blue. :) I love the fact that specialized has really move forward with women clothing and such. But get out there and ask the girls that are riding what we would like to see more of :)

Making bikes smaller while maintaining the same wheel size brings up all kinds of geometry issues... If you shrink the frame too much without also shrinking the wheels, then the angles have to change to accommodate, and you end up with funky geometry. Yes, it can be done, but the results aren't necessarily what you want. Evidently the trade off is worth it to some people, if for no other reason than to ensure that tires, tubes and such are readily available.

On the other hand, I've known a few smaller riders who were more than happy to trade off the availability of spare tires/tubes at every turn for having a more comfortable fitting ride.

Using 700c wheels on a small frame also causes toe overlap with the wheel which can be a really BAD thing.
Personally, I have always used 650 wheels, and have never had a problem.

My frame is a custom 48.

A friend of mine also has a custom 48 that she had built with 700c wheels. It looks like a circus bike!
;-)

It seems odd to me that people insist that small bikes with 700 wheels causes toe overlap.

I ride a 44cm and have NEVER had a problem. :rolleyes:

Well, I rode my friend's 48cm custom Calfee with 700c wheels and the overlap was TERRIBLE.

How tall are you anyway???
;-)

http://fujibikes.com/2008/bikes.asp?id=423#

Fuji makes a Dura-Ace equipped WSD bike, which comes in a 44cm and has 700c wheels. And it's mostly black (the "purple" looks more silverish to me)

I'd second that! Enough silly baby colors... and I too am not nuts about animal prints, though sometimes I see some nice jerseys out there for women. Found a cool De Marchi Women's Contour Plus Jersey in red and black, pretty slick. The stuff is out there, you just have to hunt.

My bike is black, I own a non-WSD Trek... being a pretty tall girl (5'11")... I might swap out some WSD handlebars at some point. So I have blue handle bar wrap so my bike's all black and electric blue. And I like to wear the same colors. I did get a helmet with and Asian print on it that had a little pink, but the Florida sun pretty much took care of that, and it faded off completely! :D

I am not yet sold on WSD being very helpful for me, being as tall as I am. I have a "regular" Trek and got fitted and life is good... training for my 1st century on it, have had it for a couple years now. However, I get how for the more petite ladies smaller sizes are a big help. But my question... do you all feel WSD really makes a difference as far as geometry issues? Am I not as comfortable on my current Trek because it's not WSD? (Although my LBS said the Trek WSD might not come tall enough for me). I am not a racer, but ride a lot and log fairly long rides, curious about everyone's opinion, especially other women who have ridden both regular and WSD bikes.
Kitty

Not all women are short and petite.

i took my girlfriend to buy a new bike and all we could find were light blue and pink bikes....it was rediculous and she didn't buy a lot of good bikes because the colors were so bad.

for shorter ladies, maybe 650b size wheels would work better with small frame sizes

from what i understand, only short ladies benefit from WSD stuff as it is shorter brake levers, narrower handlebars...if you are an average size lady, you may not need a WSD bike.....

manufacturers---please give ladies better color options than pink and light blue----enough of this already!

I know how hard it can be to find women's cycling apparel period... and even harder if you don't want it to be too "girly"! Check out the selection at Last Tango Bikes, you might find something you like. The first 3 jerseys are "girly", but the rest aren't, and we have more to post too... so check back! We also have women's bib tights! Search on Rhino Socks to see all the styles... they are awesome socks. All our Giordana clothing is 20-30% off the MSRP PLUS FREE SHIPPING!!

Almost forgot!!! Sella San Marrco Women's saddle (sorry gals but it's pink) and Tifosi Women's sunglasses!

i took my girlfriend to buy a new bike and all we could find were light blue and pink bikes....it was rediculous and she didn't buy a lot of good bikes because the colors were so bad.

for shorter ladies, maybe 650b size wheels would work better with small frame sizes

from what i understand, only short ladies benefit from WSD stuff as it is shorter brake levers, narrower handlebars...if you are an average size lady, you may not need a WSD bike.....

manufacturers---please give ladies better color options than pink and light blue----enough of this already!

Agreed.

from what i understand, only short ladies benefit from WSD stuff as it is shorter brake levers, narrower handlebars...if you are an average size lady, you may not need a WSD bike.....
Well, kinda. It's not so much height as proportions. If you're tall, but still have a short torso and long legs, a WSD bike might be the way to go. I'm also acquainted with plenty of taller women with small hands and narrower shoulders.

I'm a guy with a small head and none of the regluar guy helmets fit me at the shop so they suggested I get a womens helmet to get the snug feel. Helmet feels great and I want to be safe, but my color choices were pathetic; pastel pink, pastel blue, neon pink, a really light grey with flowers and a white, also with flowers. I grabbed the pastel blue one and plastered as much reflective tape on it I could find, but why aren't there nice bold colors, or a least a plain basic black/gray, out there for women, or at least some size variations for us small guys :(

Plus eleventy. :D

Funny thing, I actually did see a women's helmet that I liked the shape (sleek commuterish) and colour (pale blue and silver) of, but it only came in one size, and that was fairly small. I don't think I have an abnormally large head for a woman.

I tend to go with skate-style (bike-certified) helmets both for the colours and the fit.

I finally gave up on finding women's jerseys that (A) fit me - I'm at that border between misses and plus sizes, and (b) were not pink, baby blue, flowery, animally, cutesy.

I just buy men's XL jerseys off eBay now and cut the bottom elastic off. I like white, royal blue, yellow, celeste, red.

I'm sure the fact that so many women refuse to buy that girly gendered crap, means the manufacturers think the market for women's stuff is smaller than it is. Really, there are a lot of us ladies out there who get on that bike to suffer just as much as guys do, and we're not out there to play Barbies. I want to be taken seriously as a rider and I just don't see the pink and blue baby colors helping me out in that. Cause really, nothing says pushing yourself to the limit like pink flowers.

I'd like some woman-specific clothing that doesn't involve spandex or nylon! They have it for men. Why not women?

I'd like some woman-specific clothing that doesn't involve spandex or nylon! They have it for men. Why not women?

http://www.ibexwear.com/shop/index.php

some of my friends use this stuff, and love it.