Women Specific Frames

oilcanharry

Hi All, Can anyone give advice (from experience preferably) regarding bike frames for women? My wife is looking at getting a road bike and I am wondering due to torso differences should she go for a Women Specific Design frame of would a smaller frame gents bike do the trick?

I know it will probably be a case of try it out to see, but I would appreciate any advice please?

biomed32

oilcanharry wrote: »

Hi All, Can anyone give advice (from experience preferably) regarding bike frames for women? My wife is looking at getting a road bike and I am wondering due to torso differences should she go for a Women Specific Design frame of would a smaller frame gents bike do the trick?

I know it will probably be a case of try it out to see, but I would appreciate any advice please?

i wouldnt bother with a ladies configuration for a road bike, i am a woman myself and ride a gents configuration frame (54") and have no problems, there is as far as i can see a wider cheaper selection in gents frames and bikes then that of ladies frames so in the end you get more for your money
hope it helps

jayotala

Best advise is get her to try one out, nothing better than taking something for a test spin to know for sure. I bought my girlfriend a Lapierre Tecnic womens MTB - size 40 http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=232&idproduct=30796

and she felt more comfortable on mine, same bike but gents version - size 46.

She didn't take her's for a spin before I bought it, she sat on it in the shop and thought it would be ok, don't know if its a size issue or because the shape of the bike is slightly different. Either way a quick spin would have answered that before I bought it. For now she's stuck with it.

oilcanharry

Thanks biomed 32 and jayotala. I ride a 54cm so I might adjust the 54cm for her and see how she feels on it. We can gauge it from there. As stated, there will be more choice for better value in a gents design.

paddyduc

Lapierre audacio 400 aluminium frame or sensium 100 carbon frame come in woman specific sizes.Women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men.

www.chaindrivencycles.com

MadHatter

As paddyduc says, women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men of similar height.

You can generally get away with mens bikes, but some of the women specific features you tend to find are:

- narrower handlebars (handlebar width usually corresponds to shoulder width)
- women specific saddles as women have wider sit bones
- short reach brake levers to facilitate smaller hands
- smaller frame sizes for small women

Women specific bikes do appear to be more expensive vis-a-vis men's equivalents, probably because they don't sell as many. However, if you bought a mens bike and then needed to replace stuff for a better fit, say saddle and brake levers, you'd probably end of spending more at the end of the day.

So it really depends on the individual e.g. a petit woman with small hands would definitely benefit from womens specific, a taller/broader than average women would be fine on a mens bike.

FWIW, Mrs MadHatter has a Felt ZW3 womens bike and is very happy with it.