How does Trek specify WSD?
 

I am looking at some used Trek mountain bikes and ran into a 2001 6700. Looks like a pretty nice bike but while researching it I realize there is also a WSD version that seems to have the same paint. The bike for sale has this same paint:
https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/valu...product/35727/

But I've seen images that are supposed to be the WSD version that seem to have the same paint. So does Trek put it on the frame somewhere? Really don't want to accidently buy a WSD bike.

WSD basically means a slightly shorter top tube for a given frame size since women tend to have shorter torso and longer legs for a given height than men. The levers may be a shorter reach for smaller hands. Don't sweat the label, if it fits, ride it.

My wife has a 4900 WSD I bought as a gift for her. The WSD has smaller brake levers with less reach for smaller hands. The seat is wider and shorter the typical shape for women then. The frame sizes available were smaller. I have not looked at the geometry tables but think the top tubes may be shorter. The theory was women had shorter torsos then men. It’s a good bike. My shorter friends ask if they they buy it. It’s my wife’s Girl Bike as she calls it. It maybe gets ridden 20 miles a year. She’s into horses. Anyway it’s is all original down to the tires and tubes. If I sold it she would be pissed.

. I think they had a small WSD sticker on them, but you never know if it'll still be there 20 years later.

Catalog reference:

http://www.vintage-trek.com/Trek-Fis...d/2001trek.pdf

Looks like in 2001 the WSD in Med had a slacker HTA and steeper STA. About 2cm shorter top tube and Approx 5cm more standover.

Just an FYI: there was a long and contentious thread a few years ago concerning the idea that women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men. Someone finally linked to a page where Georgena Terry, probably the most experienced designer of women's bikes in the world, noted that the idea that women have longer legs than men is inaccurate: on average, in addition to being shorter than men, women tend to have proportionally shorter legs.

As I recall, Terry says that the need for specific bike designs for women stems, first, from the fact that standard bike frames designed around 27" and 700c wheels generally require some compromises to accommodate shorter riders, and, second, from the differences in the distribution of muscle mass between the two sexes.

You should check if the women's M is the men's S, because that is a thing that sometimes happens.

Trek is funny. On their FX bikes for a long time the stepthrough frames, which you might think of as women's, had the same geo as the men's, but the WSD diamond frames were different

I looked all over my wife’s 4900. Did not see any WSD stickers. It still has the warning sticker on the down tube.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...837298891.jpeg

It was probably on the size sticker, which would've been on the seat tube, unless they didn't actually note it anywhere.

Typically they were on the top of the top tube at the steerer tube, or at the top of the seat tube near where the size sticker was. Usually they were noted on the frame and not on the size sticker.

Looks like that's a regular 2001 4900. The WSD seems to have been black.

Nope it is a WSD. Short wide seat and controls are for small hands. No disc brake mount on the rear. Funny the 2001 Trek Catalogue shows the special disc 4900 frame was red silver the same color but with a red fork. The standard and WSD had black frames. Trek is not known to be consistent with paint. I had a older road bike that the frame color was from a higher end bike.

While it is tough to judge purely by color scheme alone, that is not a 2001 WSD Trek 4900. All you have to do is go to the 2001 catalog. They also have the tech manual out there that gives all the geometry and a write-up on the WSD.

My wife has a 2001 Trek 8000. I was trying to remember if it was WSD or not. The WSD 8000 comes in 14", 16" and 18". The standard 8000 is 15.5", 17.5", 19.5" and 21.5". Hers is a 15.5".

The WSD 4900 comes in 14", 16", and 18". The standard 4900 comes in 13", 16.5", 18", 19.5", 21" and 22.5". For 18" sizes the tech manual will give the top tube length for each.

For Trek, at least 2001 mtb, size is based on the center of the BB to the top of the seat tube; the top tube is not a part of the measurement.

John

Thought the same after I posted. Geometry matches WSD. Color is supposed to be disc brakes.

The non-disc non-WSD came in Red/Mirror Silver also, as noted on page 57 of the catalog.

WSD = Marketing Fluff

Triple checked the frame. The top tube is 21 inches and the frame is 16 inches so WSD. The non WSD had a 22 inch top tube and 16.5 inch frame. It may have been marketing and that is why my wife wanted it. If it had been black she would have passed it up. So must be a limited run and worth a billion dollars. If I sold it she would kill me. :lol: