Originally Posted by
stuman74
Hi all...I took my wife to look at some bikes this past weekend. She actually liked the 7.2 FX, but liked the men's bike in 17.5 frame more than the WSD version (I think mainly because the liked the black color). Is there any reason that she should not consider the standard/men's version? If it seemed comfortable for her and sized ok, I'd figure it should be fine. Thanks!
The WSD frames are claimed to be made for women's shorter torsos and/or arms (the distance from the seatpost to the handlebar is reduced, so they don't have to reach out in front as far to get to the handlebars), but I haven't heard yet of women who found the regular (I say regular rather than men's, because they're actually very unisex) versions of the same models problematic. In fact, it seems that many women do indeed prefer the fit and feel of the regular designs over the WSD versions.
As for the steeper slope to the top tube, I have the 15" frame (I'm a 5'7" guy with a 28" inseam, so even the 15" is a bit snug in my boy bits when I stand over it), and the top tube slopes quite dramatically as a result, looking much closer to the WSD you posted than to the regular version. So, the slope of the top tube isn't nearly as much of an indication of its intended gender as the distance from the seatpost to the handlebars.
I hope this helps.
