Bikes for women…What’s the difference?

iPad

My other half and I went for a particularly pleasant pootle round Derwent Reservoir on Saturday morning, as a result she has decided that it would be an excellent method of exercise for her and that she should buy a bike.

I suggested that she should get a hard tailed MTB, but the question is would she be better off with a women’s MTB or a man’s.

The main benefit of her getting a man’s frame would be that I could ride it..!

So the point of this post…is the difference between men’s and women’s bikes, just the angle of the top tube (making them easier to mount), or is there something else?

Thanks

always_tyred

There is now a widely held belief that women are allowed to wear shorts. :shock:

So, the top tube thing doesn't really apply...certainly not in relation to mtb's.

Main difference is shorter top tube in relation to seat tube. Women tend to have proportionally longer legs, shorter torsos and shorter arms.

For some reason, men working for bike companies also like to spec womens' bikes with huge armchair like saddles and pastel coloured graphics.

Soul Boy

Thought the only difference is they come with basket mounts, but could be wrong...

It's ok, I have my coat already.

roger_merriman

women tend to have longer legs for their height etc, but really your better half needs to try some bikes, and see what fits.

linsen

AT is right, it has to do with frame geometry.

With abnormally short legs, long body and long arms for a woman, I ride men's bikes as the geometry suits me better.

I also don't like riding pink bikes with flowers on

lost_in_thought

As mentioned, they have a shorter top tube. However, this assumes all women are exactly the same. Until Stepford Wives is a reality, however, some of us are longer in the leg and some in the back.

And yeah, they're in stupid colours.

What we're all really wondering is why on earth you're subjecting her to a hard-tailed MTB?

Agent57

lost_in_thought wrote:

What we're all really wondering is why on earth you're subjecting her to a hard-tailed MTB?

What's wrong with a hard-tail? Both my MTBs are hard-tail (or rigid in the case of the older one). I wouldn't recommend a FS to anyone unless the type of riding they're likely to do made it a good idea.

always_tyred

Agent57 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

What we're all really wondering is why on earth you're subjecting her to a hard-tailed MTB?

What's wrong with a hard-tail? Both my MTBs are hard-tail (or rigid in the case of the older one). I wouldn't recommend a FS to anyone unless the type of riding they're likely to do made it a good idea.

You get more for your money with a hardtail and have to be going over some pretty rooty/rocky terrain at speed to really need the rear suspension.

Gary Fisher still gets out and races his bike with NO suspension, just to prove a point I think.

iPad

Always Tyred wrote:

Agent57 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

What we're all really wondering is why on earth you're subjecting her to a hard-tailed MTB?

What's wrong with a hard-tail? Both my MTBs are hard-tail (or rigid in the case of the older one). I wouldn't recommend a FS to anyone unless the type of riding they're likely to do made it a good idea.

You get more for your money with a hardtail and have to be going over some pretty rooty/rocky terrain at speed to really need the rear suspension.

Gary Fisher still gets out and races his bike with NO suspension, just to prove a point I think.

That's it in a nut shell, the sort of riding we will be doing will not be sufficient to justify the extra expense of a full sus mtb.

holybinch

I think LiT's input was more along the line of "what drives you toward a MTB when you could go for a hybrid/flatbarred/CX/Roadie?"

Stevo_666

holybinch wrote:

I think LiT's input was more along the line of "what drives you toward a MTB when you could go for a hybrid/flatbarred/CX/Roadie?"

Beat me to it.

If you're going to do riding where you're going to need suspension at one end, then a post in the MTB buying section will get you some good suggestions: in here you will probably get a lot of attempts to dissuade you from getting one of those horrid, heavy off road things

iPad

holybinch wrote:

I think LiT's input was more along the line of "what drives you toward a MTB when you could go for a hybrid/flatbarred/CX/Roadie?"

Good question, however...

It would need to be a flat bar, because she wouldn't like the leany forwardness of a drop barred bike.

The terrain we are looking at is rough paths (with rocks and stuff sticking out) more ideally suited for walking than cycling, so a bit too much for a commuter.

This would be the sort of thing that I'm talking (although I will admit this would be the more extreme end of the scale)


I hope that makes more sense now.

wgwarburton

Hi,
In theory, a women's bike should come with a more suitable saddle (typically shorter but wider is supposed to be more likely to fit a female pelvis properly).

In practice they are probably more likely to come with some oddity that a male designer thinks might appeal to a female buyer, but which isn't very suitable at all....

Cheers,
W.

Stevo_666

iPad wrote:

holybinch wrote:

I think LiT's input was more along the line of "what drives you toward a MTB when you could go for a hybrid/flatbarred/CX/Roadie?"

Good question, however...

It would need to be a flat bar, because she wouldn't like the leany forwardness of a drop barred bike.

The terrain we are looking at is rough paths (with rocks and stuff sticking out) more ideally suited for walking than cycling, so a bit too much for a commuter.

This would be the sort of thing that I'm talking (although I will admit this would be the more extreme end of the scale)


I hope that makes more sense now.

That has made it a lot clearer - you are definitely in MTB territory there. See my post above about getting some recommendations for a decent HT

iPad

Stevo 666 wrote:

holybinch wrote:

I think LiT's input was more along the line of "what drives you toward a MTB when you could go for a hybrid/flatbarred/CX/Roadie?"

Beat me to it.

If you're going to do riding where you're going to need suspension at one end, then a post in the MTB buying section will get you some good suggestions: in here you will probably get a lot of attempts to dissuade you from getting one of those horrid, heavy off road things

I did think of doing that, but I wanted to know whether or not there was much of a differnce first (plus I wanted to build up the courage first, before I posted with all the rugged off-road types).

They would all be like "you call that a rough surface, last night I was riding down a sheer rock face covered in spikes and broken glass, and I didn't cry once..!"
[OK, I'll admit I've never been on the MTB forum, and I'm sure they're all very nice people and all]

Clever Pun

I want to ride that trail

need a bike first mind

supersonic

Different manufacturers have different methods. Some even run the same frames as a mans bike, but simply alter the components. Others will shorten the top tube, and slacken off the head angle to reduce the chance of toe overlap.

Commonly you will see narrower bars, thinner grips, lighter sprung forks, shorter cranks and female specific saddles.

The upshot? Try them out, including mens. A WSD may be more likely to fit, but testing is the only way to see what works for you.

I wrote an article on this in this months What Mountain Bike.

PS a hardtail looks fine for that terrain.

iPad

OK, panic time..!

The cycle to work scheme expirted on Friday, after some frantic converations with HR, if we can get an order to the C2W comapny by 5 pm today we'll be OK, but the GF only has 30 mins for lunch, and neither of us have a car at work, so no way of gettign to the LBS.

We've had a look on line at the LBS and come up with this

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/trek-skye-sl-disc-womans-mountain-bike-id53657.html

What do you think?

To be honest, she's not going to be doing more than 15 or 20 miles in any one go, and it's never going to be high performance stuff.

[I must confess, my commuter bike was chosen because it looks good, so I'm applying the same rules here]

supersonic

Not the best value, but if she likes it then that is all that matters.

Can you get down to Halfords? The Carrera Kraken is the MTB to have at this price.

iPad

supersonic wrote:

Not the best value, but if she likes it then that is all that matters.

Can you get down to Halfords? The Carrera Kraken is the MTB to have at this price.

Looks nice, but I thought getting a bike from Halfords was a no no (unless you can rebuild it properly), but you're right it does look like really good value (but not enough black on it for my liking).

Eau Rouge

I think rushing to get a C2W order in for a bike you have only seen online and don't actually know if it fits or not could be a false economy. It might be better value to wait and find a bike that fist her and she likes.

supersonic

I think he is local to Je James. Though:

wait and find a bike that fist her

Is maybe taking WSD saddles a bit too far

supersonic

iPad wrote:

supersonic wrote:

Not the best value, but if she likes it then that is all that matters.

Can you get down to Halfords? The Carrera Kraken is the MTB to have at this price.

Looks nice, but I thought getting a bike from Halfords was a no no (unless you can rebuild it properly), but you're right it does look like really good value (but not enough black on it for my liking).

Some Halfords are very good - all depends on the staff, like any bike shop. The bikes are great value, really are getting so much more bike. Even if you have to take it for a check over else where, is money saved.

NGale

I am part of the long legs, short torso brigade so the womens spec bikes are best for me. However I get a little peed off that when I go for a womens spec bike it's all pinks and excessivly padded saddles. Sometimes us girls want a bike which looks the same as a guys bike just with the adapted geomotery.

rolf_f

iPad wrote:

OK, panic time..!

The cycle to work scheme expirted on Friday, after some frantic converations with HR, if we can get an order to the C2W comapny by 5 pm today we'll be OK, but the GF only has 30 mins for lunch, and neither of us have a car at work, so no way of gettign to the LBS.

We've had a look on line at the LBS and come up with this

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/trek-skye-sl-disc-womans-mountain-bike-id53657.html

Don't panic! As long as you fix the shop and the amount, you should be OK. My voucher is still sat in my desk draw despite the fact that I received it (and started paying on it) 6 months ago. Various practical problems caused loads of delays. The point is that the voucher is for an amount of money but, aside from that, the exact model of bike shouldn't be an issue.

So, apply for a voucher for the max amount you are prepared to spend at the LBS and make the decision in your (and the shops) own good time. Obviously, check with the shop that they are OK with that - no reason why they shouldn't be.

Kieran_Burns

NGale wrote:

I am part of the long legs, short torso brigade so the womens spec bikes are best for me. However I get a little peed off that when I go for a womens spec bike it's all pinks and excessivly padded saddles. Sometimes us girls want a bike which looks the same as a guys bike just with the adapted geomotery.

which equates to pinks and padded saddles....


Oh, and tassles. Can't forget the tassles.

whyamihere

Eau Rouge wrote:

It might be better value to wait and find a bike that fist her and she likes.

*immature sniggering*

jimmypippa

iPad wrote:

My other half and I went for a particularly pleasant pootle round Derwent Reservoir on Saturday morning, as a result she has decided that it would be an excellent method of exercise for her and that she should buy a bike.

I was there with my kids (9, and 11).

Great weather.

Gussio

I did some research on this issue during tonight's commute. It seems that the difference is that bikes for women go slower

Kieran_Burns

Gussio wrote:

I did some research on this issue during tonight's commute. It seems that the difference is that bikes for women go slower

Paging LiT to the thread

lost_in_thought

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Gussio wrote:

I did some research on this issue during tonight's commute. It seems that the difference is that bikes for women go slower

Paging LiT to the thread

Thank goodness I don't have a women's specific bike...