Whats the best road bike for a woman?? upto £2300

warrior4life

And do pro women tend to go for womens specific or the normal men's fit.
I was looking at the Giant avail tcr 1 (womens specific) or the Mens version TCR advanced of a similar price

Barrie_G

try them both and see which one fits / feels best.

MrWhitfield

A womens specific bike will probably be more suited, due to it being made with womens geometry in mind.

What size would you be looking to get?

Have you taken a look at Felt's range of womens road bikes or perhaps Scotts range, although the Giant Avail 1 is a high spec for the money.

Squillinossett

It depends, I took Mrs Squill to All Terrain cycles in Bradford to try a few bikes out. Looked at WSD, chap said to try a few mens bikes, she tried the Mens Orbea Enol in 54, and fit like a glove, much better fit then the WSD.

So I guess it depends on what shape/size you are. She is not overly tall, about 5 foot 7, athletic build with longish limbs.

Just try a few and find a helpful shop!

Ands

warrior4life wrote:

And do pro women tend to go for womens specific or the normal men's fit.
I was looking at the Giant avail tcr 1 (womens specific) or the Mens version TCR advanced of a similar price

Lucky lady

I don't have a women's specific frame, but a few women's bits on there - Bontrager WSD saddle, RXL pedals and some Short & Shallow bars. Only got the pedals because they are white, and not because they were women's. Saddles, however - have tried a few men's ones and never got comfy.

jibberjim

MrWhitfield wrote:

A womens specific bike will probably be more suited, due to it being made with womens geometry in mind.

But there are no differences between a woman and a man.

Women tend to be shorter, but that's why bikes come in different sizes, a short man, and a short woman could need the same bike.

The ratio of legs to body are often different, but the variation within women are as great as the variation within men, and despite what you hear, for the northern european that most of us are, it's men who have longer legs in most studies - although it also appears to be generational, so it'll depend on your age.

It may well be that the bike that fits the OP is a "WSD", but there's no particular reason why it should be. OP - get the bike that fits, forget the designation.

jibberjim

warrior4life wrote:

And do pro women tend to go for womens specific or the normal men's fit.

Pro women go for whatever their sponsor bikes provide that fits them best. The biggest two womens team ride Cervelo - very [url=http://www.cervelo.com/viewkb.aspx?id=00692#3particular[/url] about not making womens specific bikes, and Scott who do, except none of the pro women are shown in pictures riding bikes that match the white/pink paint jobs of them. But I can't say for sertain that they don't.

Get a bike that fits, forget the designation.

hopper1

jibberjim wrote:

But there are no differences between a woman and a man.

Women tend to be shorter, but that's why bikes come in different sizes, a short man, and a short woman could need the same bike.

The ratio of legs to body are often different, but the variation within women are as great as the variation within men, and despite what you hear, for the northern european that most of us are, it's men who have longer legs in most studies - although it also appears to be generational, so it'll depend on your age.

It may well be that the bike that fits the OP is a "WSD", but there's no particular reason why it should be. OP - get the bike that fits, forget the designation.

Errrrm... Beg to differ, mate... :shock:

Oh, you're referring to geometry... :oops:

Ok, I'm off...

Escargot

LOL @ hopper1

But I beg to differ about women being different to men (very slightly). Of course there is a wide range of male/female shapes (and some overlap) but generally women have smaller hands, more narrow shoulders and shorter torsos. WSD bikes are supposed to have shorter top tubes, narrow width bars and smaller levers to fit the *average* woman more.

To be honest though (hence my slight disagreement) I found geometry differences very marginal so ended up buying the wife a man's bike in the end. The other plus point of buying a man's bike was that the spec was much better as WSD bikes tend to be more expensive.

Re the WSD bike though I wasn't aware that Boardman built bikes for women. If not then Nicole Cooke must have either ridden a man's frame and then had it fitted to her.

Joycie

Boardman definitely don't dpecific bike... well not in their Halfords range anyway!

Women's road bikes in Halfords are non existent, regardless of the quality.

Monty Dog

I think what everyones trying to say is it's the one tht fits your best. You may find that some mens' models are a good fit, but in order to get more comfy, consider getting a womens' specific saddle and handlebars e.g. from the likes of Terry. A decent shop will provide a bike fit and help you with your selection.

Joycie

Well I'm just back from a bike fitting so really quite interesting...

Long legs (saddle height of 730mm), short back (top tube of 530mm) and narrow shoulders (380mm handle bars) so I was advised that I could go for one of the (what they call) unisex bikes and they would change the bars and seat when it arrived to be more women's specific.

I've always been fairly much set on a womens specific bike but can now see that as long as the frame fits (and the other bits can be adjusted) that it really isn't too relevant.

Just as an aside, apart from the dimensions measured above is there anything else I should specifically be looking out for dimension wise? There's lots of measurements on the printouts but I'm not really sure if any others are relevant when selecting the bike frame, more for set-up?

warrior4life

Thanks for the help... I think we'll be going with whatever fits with a womans specific saddle...Just waiting for the insurance money to come through now..

Ands

Wish I had shorter reach levers on my bike. I wouldn't say my hands are particularly tiny(tried on some Gore gloves at the weekend and I was L in a ladies or M in a men's) but I hardly ever ride on the drops because the reach to my levers is so poor.

What do other women use on their road bikes? I've tried moving the position of the levers, changing angle of the bars etc. Currently got 105 levers (9spd).

rake

some levers have reach adjusment screws for small hands.

alfablue

Ands wrote:

Wish I had shorter reach levers on my bike. I wouldn't say my hands are particularly tiny(tried on some Gore gloves at the weekend and I was L in a ladies or M in a men's) but I hardly ever ride on the drops because the reach to my levers is so poor.

What do other women use on their road bikes? I've tried moving the position of the levers, changing angle of the bars etc. Currently got 105 levers (9spd).

Shimano levers (others than those that have buiilt-in reach adjustments, such as Sora I believe) come with shims to adjust reach (you get these if you buy the levers on their own, but they probably aren't supplied or disappear somewhere between bike factory/distributor/shop on fully built bikes). You can however, buy Specialized Slim Shims, or even do a diy solution (they are just rubber wedges that have adhesive on one side and stick to the underneath of the shifter housing, above the lever).


You can get them for 15 or 20mm adjustment. They drastically improved my g/f's confidence to brake on the drops whilst descending - she too has large "lady hands".

Ands

I don't think mine have otherwise my husband would have found them by now! Mine are quite old (7-8 yrs). I know there are some shorter reach levers available but AFAIK, they are 10spd??

alfablue

Ands wrote:

I don't think mine have otherwise my husband would have found them by now! Mine are quite old (7-8 yrs). I know there are some shorter reach levers available but AFAIK, they are 10spd??

The adjustment is just a screw hole in the top of the hoods (where the crook of your thumb goes) - most shifters don't have them, but get the shims - only £4 and problem solved

My g/f has Sora - I eventually found the adjustment for her, then she wanted an upgrade, found some Ultegra 9 speed for £30, then got the shims, perfect !

alfablue

The Shimano ST R600 is a 9 speed adjustable reach lever - costs £189 though :shock:

£4 versus £189, er . . hmm, dunno

(the R700 is the 10 speed version).

Ands

Brilliant thank you. Husband did build the bike up for me so wasn't purchased as a complete bike - was a long time ago so poss didn't come with wedges when he bought the groupset. WIll give some a try - for £4 got nothing to lose!

Escargot

Joycie wrote:

Boardman definitely don't dpecific bike... well not in their Halfords range anyway!

Women's road bikes in Halfords are non existent, regardless of the quality.

That's shocking in this day and age :?

But then I realised just how sad the cycling scene is for women when I started out earlier in the year. I thought my LBS was taking the mick when I was buying the wife a pair of shoes and they were making a big noise about a pair of Shimano WSD's.............until I realised that up till recently women have had to wear mens shoes :? :roll:

The same thing goes with clothing, which is very scant (literally!) in this country. When I was out in Germany the womens sections were equal in size to the mens, which was fantastic as I could then get the wife a really cool pressie.

Joycie wrote:

Well I'm just back from a bike fitting so really quite interesting...

Long legs (saddle height of 730mm), short back (top tube of 530mm) and narrow shoulders (380mm handle bars) so I was advised that I could go for one of the (what they call) unisex bikes and they would change the bars and seat when it arrived to be more women's specific.

I've always been fairly much set on a womens specific bike but can now see that as long as the frame fits (and the other bits can be adjusted) that it really isn't too relevant.

Just as an aside, apart from the dimensions measured above is there anything else I should specifically be looking out for dimension wise? There's lots of measurements on the printouts but I'm not really sure if any others are relevant when selecting the bike frame, more for set-up?

IME I think you've already listed the most important dimensions. If the top tube is say 10mm too long then you could pretty much sort this out by fitting a 10mm shorter stem so it then boils down to whether the bike feels any more unweildy than a slightly smaller one. If you can't get an exact frame size then just ride a range of sizes slightly above/below and go from there. My preference would be to go slightly smaller and extend out from there (if you're talking about 10mm) but yours may be different. Just make sure when it comes to the front end that you're 100% with the bars/levers as you need to be comfortable on the hoods/using the brakes. The saddle speaks for itself.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Less about the long legs please. It was hard enough concentrating this far

Ands

Escargot wrote:

[
But then I realised just how sad the cycling scene is for women when I started out earlier in the year. I thought my LBS was taking the mick when I was buying the wife a pair of shoes and they were making a big noise about a pair of Shimano WSD's.............until I realised that up till recently women have had to wear mens shoes :? :roll:

It must vary from shop to shop? I have had women''s road and MTB shoes for years. Two of my LBS have an excellent range of women's clothes & shoes in at the moment. The range isn't as big as the men's range, but then I guess there are fewer women cyclists out there. There are also some very good 'women's' online retailers too.

I was wondering about the women's cycling scene in the UK - all my riding was done overseas and this year is the first year I've ridden in the UK. I do see a lot more men out than women.

Had to laugh at your comment about a "really cool present" for your wife. My husband thinks a "really cool present" for my birthday means a new stem, compact crankset and a turbo :roll: (Whatever happened to handbags and shoes!)

mididoctors

hand built viner made to measure... some very competitive pricing at epic for those viners..

GyatsoLa

Just a few comments based on my experiences over the last few years helping female friends get bikes (this is what comes from getting a reputation as a bike nerd).

1. The advice of 'try a few bikes and get the one that feels right' is pointless for the shops I've tried (lots around the UK and Ireland), because very few keep a good range of womens specific bikes in stock. I don't think its particularly good advice anyway because a lot of people ride bikes that aren't particularly well fitted and simply get used to them, so they repeat previous errors when buying new bikes.

2. Even in very good bike shops, staff are usually under pressure to shift existing stock rather than order in new stock, hence they tend to try to persuade female customers to buy the stock 'standard' bikes rather than order in a women specific model.

3. A lot of bike shop staff are even more clueless about advising women than they are when advising men.

4. There is no substitute for paying for a proper bike fitting measurement (there are a wide variety of different types), then using those proportions as your baseline when buying. In my experienced, it is much better to do this than buying 'the one that feels right'. Ideally you should go to a shop with female staff who are usually a bit more serious about fitting a womans bike better.

5. Properly designed womens specific bikes are about more than geometry and the saddle - a lot of women struggle with STI's for example, as they are just too big for female hands. A newbie friend of mine recently bought a Specialized Dolce and she said that what she appreciated more than the geometry was that lots of little things about the handlebar set up had clearly been designed by women or men who listened to women.

In general, I would say that its the big manufacturers who look after women much better than the smaller specialised ones (apart from womens bikes specialists, such as Terry's or Sweetpea). So there really shouldn't be much reason to look outside the Trek/Giant or Specialized ranges.

Escargot

Ands wrote:

Had to laugh at your comment about a "really cool present" for your wife. My husband thinks a "really cool present" for my birthday means a new stem, compact crankset and a turbo :roll: (Whatever happened to handbags and shoes!)

LOL Us men are pretty sad creatures really

A mate of mine was thinking about his wife's birthday a few years back. Now normally, when men think about their wives backsides you would normally think: gift = lingerie but instead he bought her a WSD saddle :shock:

warrior4life

As the OP my girlfriend has just bought an ex team planet x sl pro (pink) ultegre 6600 and a few other upgrades for £849..
I'm going to pick it up for her today, with the £1500 saved we'll probably get some carbon tubular planet x wheels... it should be very similar to this and all for £1250

Toonraid

Europeans seem to think WSD's are a sales gimmick and when you see all the pink frame it does make one wonder but having gone through the experience of fitting and helping my wife choose a frame I think they really work for women.

On average women tend to have longer legs than men - meaning 2 cyclist of same height on same frame but different genders will have different saddle heights (woman being higher) which means they have to stretch forward and low to reach the bars which is why WSD's uaually have a taller head tube (by 1 cm) and shorter horizontal top tube (by 1 cm).

We ended up with a Look 585 Elle (optimum) with Campagnolo centaur groupset and Neutron wheels. She loves it to bits and is a perfect fit - its much too small for me to ride over any long distance but even on a short ride I was amazed by how smooth it was, it was so good that I ended up upgrading my bike - its only 990g for frame and 300g for fork making it possibly the lightest WSD frame/fork out there and well within your budget.

Another frame that I can recommend is Ridley Asteria - which is basically a WSD variation of Ridley Damocles which is my current ride (and Pozzato's - 2009 Italian champ) - Emma Johansson as well as the rest of Red Sun team ride it. I'd say its faster, heavier and longer lasting than look but Look is lighter and easier on the hide.

leedsmjh

I've got a Look 585 Elle as well and I love mine to bits too.

On the WSD front ... I went with SRAM as I thought the hood shape would suit smaller hands and have found it great - no leverage or reach issues (unlike 105 which I struggle with a bit)