Women's All Mountain bike

dhooper7

Managed to get my gf into riding this year, she's currently getting shaken on a Specialized Myka HT Elite and now wants a full sus. Personally, I think she's ready.

Got our eye on either a Giant Trance X W or a Lapierre Zesty 314L, 125mm and 140mm respectively.
She's only 5'2" and weighs 8st. Not looking for anything outside of a women's specific frame.

The bike would be for trail centres such as Afan and Cwmcarn with maybe an eye to progress onto a cheeky uplift in the future.

Any thoughts on either of those bikes?
Any other suggestions?

Cheers

The Rookie

Most 'women's specific' bikes use the same frames as the mens in different colours, it's the finishing kit that is tweaked for the women.....

As the women's specific will often cost you more I'd get a mens in the right size and change what needs changing....saddle and grips and possibly stem.

dhooper7

I'm afraid that isn't true.
Women's specific bikes have different geometry as women have longer legs than men in proportion to their overall height.
Both of the bikes I mentioned are female versions of men's frames, if you compare the geometry you'll see that they have a reduced top tube length for less stretch to cockpit.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the two bikes?

poppit

Canyon? http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3031

The Rookie

dhooper7 wrote:

Women's specific bikes have different geometry as women have longer legs than men in proportion to their overall height.

Last year MBUK did a review, and on many bikes, what I said, was true, after all leg length is irrelevant as the seatpost is almost infinetly variable, it's the cockpit length that is hard to adjust without causing other issues.

dhooper7

I'm looking for information on women specific bikes, not whether or not women need specific frame geometry.

If their legs are long in proportion, then their bodies are going to be shorter, therefore women need shorter top tubes.
Look in to figures for women specific frames and you'll see that top tube lengths are shorter than men's comparable to the seat tube length and standover.

pilch

Whilst I appreciate what you are saying my other half rides a std Ht (29er) and a std FS, she has not suffered because of this, or been uncomfortable riding (believe me, I would have been the 1st to know)..

She races XC and rides all kinds of natural & trail centre stuff... never seems to be bothered that she's not on a female specific bike... just a thought, could save you a few £

miss notax

It'll be a frame-size issue with your girlfriend - i'm 5 ft 4 and I struggle to ride a small blokes bike. It's easier to make a small frame 'bigger' than make a too large frame 'smaller'....

I ride a Orange 5 Diva (14" frame) which I would massively recommend for trail centre / techy riding. It's a really competent little bike and mine has done everything from xc races to downhill runs in the Alps. If i could only have one bike, this would be it. You get a few come up on Ebay peiodically - might be worth keeping an eye out?

By the way, if you're thinking of the odd uplift day I would personally avoid the 125mm travel bike - I would much rather tackle stuff like that on 140mm

dhooper7

The reason she wants a female specific frame is because of her height. Small blokes frames are too much of a stretch.
She loves the Orange Five Diva but we're trying to keep it under £2000.
Gonna have to hide that post from her!

Probably gonna go for the Zesty. I favour the extra travel and slightly better spec and think she'll progress better on it

The Rookie

dhooper7 wrote:

I'm looking for information on women specific bikes, not whether or not women need specific frame geometry.

If their legs are long in proportion, then their bodies are going to be shorter, therefore women need shorter top tubes.
Look in to figures for women specific frames and you'll see that top tube lengths are shorter than men's comparable to the seat tube length and standover.

Suggest you think about what you said then you'll realise I'm right, you came for buying advice and I tried to help with buying advice, still your money.

I have 2 daughters, one 5'3" and she rides an XS mens frame with other components tweaked and finds it very comfortable.

miss notax

dhooper7 wrote:

The reason she wants a female specific frame is because of her height. Small blokes frames are too much of a stretch.
She loves the Orange Five Diva but we're trying to keep it under £2000.
Gonna have to hide that post from her!

Probably gonna go for the Zesty. I favour the extra travel and slightly better spec and think she'll progress better on it

Ebay is your friend.... They do come up fairly frequently. For what it's worth I bought mine a few years ago as a 2007 frame (but never built, it had just sat in a store room) and built it up with new but last years stuff for well under £2k. I tried to spec up a new one for insurance purposes and I stopped when I got to £3.5k.... I know it's a bit more faff bit it really IS worth it!!!!

But I realise you will probably not want to hear this and will hide this post too

supersonic

dhooper7 wrote:

I'm looking for information on women specific bikes, not whether or not women need specific frame geometry.

Look in to figures for women specific frames and you'll see that top tube lengths are shorter than men's comparable to the seat tube length and standover.

They vary though. Some use the same geometry, some brands mens are shorter than other brands womens bikes. if you can tell us what geometry you need (roughly) ie top tube length and so on then it would be easier to recommend frames. WSD just varies too much to say they will do the trick.

dhooper7

miss notax wrote:

Ebay is your friend.... They do come up fairly frequently. For what it's worth I bought mine a few years ago as a 2007 frame (but never built, it had just sat in a store room) and built it up with new but last years stuff for well under £2k. I tried to spec up a new one for insurance purposes and I stopped when I got to £3.5k.... I know it's a bit more faff bit it really IS worth it!!!!

But I realise you will probably not want to hear this and will hide this post too

Yeah some cool stuff does come up on eBay but she's looking into 0% finance at the moment.
It's her money at the end of the day, so if she really wants a Five I'm not going to stop her!
Thanks for the advice though

dhooper7

Does anyone know if the Zesty 314L has ISCG?

I cant find an answer anywhere!

miss notax

Phone up a Lappierre dealer and ask them to check one?

Alibran

I'm also a woman and the same height as your gf, so I totally know where you're coming from with the women specific frame. It's all about the effective top tube length. In addition to that measurement, you also need to look at whether she is currently using a straight or layback seatpost, and how long the stem is on her current bike. This will give you a clear idea of what range of effective top tube lengths she can consider.

The Beginner is right that manufacturers do use the same frames, but I'd argue with "most" and say (based on my obsessive and extensive research) that some use the same frames. Some manufacturers even use the same frames for some models and different frames for others. It's also true that some unisex frames have shorter ETTs than women's frames in the same nominal size, depending on the manufacturer.

I can't comment on specific bikes because my budget was lower than your gf's when I was looking recently, and after much to-ing and fro-ing, I ended up buying another HT, but I think the same principles apply. Don't let anyone push her into buying a bike where the ETT is too long for her. It gives you a horrible feeling of having "too much bike" to keep control of, and makes you lose confidence very fast.

supersonic

Even ones that are different can be very small. Take the Zesty for instance - the ladies version, in medium, is just 5mm shorter. Which backs up my previous point that a different brand in a nominal medium or 18" could be a lot shorter with men's frame than the other brands ladies frame.

paul.skibum

A friedn of mine rides a ladies trance - she is barely 5'2 and probably weighs in at 50kg or less. I had a little ride on it and liked it - very wallowy for my 20 odd kg more weight but sized to fit her and definitely well put together. I wouldnt know whether it was radically different to an xs/s trance mens but it was good for her.

The Rookie

Trance, Mens small is 16" and 56cm TT, ladies small is 16" and 53.6cm so a significant difference, but then the next ladies size up has a TT of 56.5cm so if a ldie falls between the 2 then the mens may be a better fit. In that specific example, also they make a womens XS but not a mans.