[Closed] STWomen; your thoughts on sports kit and bikes please.

Don't think in terms of women's bikes, think in terms of fit. Few people are average. It's normal to buy a bike then tweak the fit. I have a mate with long arms and legs and a short body, he's a bloke. So he adjusts to fit.

Longer seat post, shorter stem, cut down the bars etc.

Full disclosure : I am not a woman. re:bike fit 'good reach too low' should be ok with a decent length seat post surely?

Woman's bikes can work if done properly. Just sticking a few flowers and a womens saddle on it is not so. Mrs TJ has a myka. The whole bike is set up for an average shaped woman. Thinner grips, shorter reach levers ( adjustable), narrower bars and different riding position to mens bikes

However IMO the overlap is more than the difference but by buying a womens bike it meant fewer components needed to be changed for Mrs TJ

Good womens saddles are essential IMO

Yeah, it's all about body proportions really rather than the bikes being women's specific.

Some do have different tunes on the shocks for lighter riders. My missus has had a mix of women's Cube bikes, Juliana etc, but she's had unisex/"mens" bikes too (Trek Top Fuel, Marin B-17, Pace RC127+).

She's 5'2" with average proportions, so mostly on the limit of small stuff, sometimes verging in extra small if available.

“We’ve never had a great deal of luck in the past with getting “mens” mtbs to fit i.e. Good reach/too low, good height/too long.”

This is just a long-legged human issue, not a female one. The chance of being one of these is no higher for women than for men but it is higher for people with African heritage than Northern European heritage. I don’t know if that holds true for all peoples to have evolved for hot vs cold climates.

Long seatposts (you can get VERY long droppers) and riser bars are the solution.

I am a women. I have a long reach so ride bikes designed for men. I do like a charge ladle saddle though, and use them on both road and MTB. I do think a bike fit might be the answer- it’s amazing what you can do with stem length. Oh and narrow handlebars! Particularly at the moment bars are crazy wide. I ended up cutting 8cm off my last ones.

Specialized seem to do some good women's saddles. My wife likes her's.
That seems to be the one massively important component that's often overlooked.

It did take quite a bit of measuring, and trial/error to find one that suited her though.

I forgot the different fork spring in the myka as well

As people have said, you don't want a bike that fits a woman, you want a bike that fits her. Some women just don't get on with women's bikes and some women's bikes are just men's bikes with a few spec changes and a different paint job. Get into a shop and try a few things.

I find it really difficult to get clothing and bikes to fit, at only 5'2 I'm at the smaller end of the scale. I'm currently riding a small fs Boardman but when my feet are on the ground my crotch is on the top bar, the reach is also a bit long and the handlebars were too wide. I bought mine with professional advice but I'd recommend trying before you buy

Surely “women specific” bikes are part of the problem, as usually they’re just lower-spec bikes with (as mentioned) flowers/painted purple or something. Obviously you can change saddle, cranks, bars, stem, shock pressure etc on any bike. However unless you know from experience you’ll probably need a bike fit/trial & error. A lot of places won’t let you swap components for an off-the-shelf bike, some proper bike shops & web places will though.

I'll also add to the 'avoid women-specific stuff' thing too apart from the seat (and undershorts if she wants to use them). I'm 5'8" and gangly and have mostly ridden small/medium 'mens' (aaargh!) bikes because BITD womens bikes were pretty much always shit and I like nice stuff. Charge Ladle seats FTW too.

This article, Womens specific design Bikes - Pointless or Innovative has an explanation of the different approaches:
Approach 1 (eg Liv) - WSD frames, so shorter top tube, etc
Approach 2 (eg Trek, Spesh) - standard frames, finished with WSD contact points
Approach 3 (eg Pivot) - standard bikes in smaller sizes

(Not a woman, but have succesfully chosen/fitted bikes for women and men)

but the choice still seems pretty bad (middle range bike with a short stem and some flower stickers).

Because (as others have said) you are essentially being asked to choose between stickers ('women', 'flowers') rather than bike fit.

We’ve never had a great deal of luck in the past with ... fit i.e. Good reach/too low, good height/too long...

Males also have wildly variable lengths/ratios in legs, arms and torsos. Same rules apply, ie measure up, study geo/spec of different manufacturer's frames then buy the nearest suitable frame-fit and then tailor for rider via adjusting contact points (seatpost, stem, grips, crank length etc

Also saddles seem to be a particular problem as she gets very uncomfortable very quickly.

Again, same problem with any sex. Saddles are highly personal. Get fitted. Try the 'assometer' at a Spesh dealer as a starting post.

So, which companies are doing this right; who do we give our money to?

See above, it's more about the fit, not the sex. What's her reach/inside leg etc. Hey, this is sounding like a stealth marketing survey!

Also what would you like to see regarding womens cycling gear

Regarding saddles - try out as many as you can (borrow). Get measured up on the speialized 'aresometer' and always wear padded shorts plus barrier cream.

Re bikes; My Santacruz Juliana was a wsb and absolutely fine. However I now ride a Turner flux in an extra small. Again get out on demo days and try out as many as possible, or borrow.

Re clothing: there is a lot of fab women's stuff out there now, but again you can be a certain size, but a completely different shape to the woman next to you in the same sixe.

As a woman who's been mtbiking for over 20 years, it's all been trial and error.
Getting the saddle right though is a must. For me specialized have been ok, with plenty of cut outs in all the right places.

In the old days I just wore men's gear and rode whatever I could afford. There is so much choice now, it's quite baffling.

Let's all be treated as individuals! What height is your missus? Would you consider second hand? Some brands have long tt's, others don't.

Well, thanks for all the replies on this; quite interesting as it wasn't what I was expecting.
Obviously, being male, it's not a subject I've needed to really consider much before, but I'm also conscious of not wanting to do the usual cycling-man thing of foisting my lack of knowledge and understanding onto my eye-rolling partner.
At the moment, money's tight, so it'll be a build, possibly a wide-tyred/gravelly/hybrid.
It seems to me the best compromise would be for us to look at less WSD bikes, but rather WSD contact points?

Proper saddle is pretty important IMO. I used to have a Cannondale Raven which eventually just fell to bits, got a WTB ones to replace it, but it's not the same, didn't know you could get thinner grips, so that's something to think about, and some brakes you can bring the lever closer to the bars, which was amazing when I found out about that.

I've never had a women's bike, I used to have quite a long reach and had various bikes that weren't women specific (inbred, scandal, croix de fer, brompton, stooge)

Now I've got a neck issue so can't ride as I did so have adapted the stooge and scandal to fit my new position and also have a titanium fargo to add to my collection. Fits a treat 🙂 I did love my croix de fer but this has been inherited by one of my teenage sons as I can't make it fit now my neck isn't so bendy

Whatever bike you have whatever gender tweaking it to fit is the most important thing surely.

As for saddles I have brooks on all.my bikes mainly cambium wider fit (can't remember the number)

For clothes I like merino and natural fibers where possible- some great stuff lately from morvelo And isadore. I am a fairly curvy female too and it fits brilliantly

It seems to me the best compromise would be for us to look at less WSD bikes, but rather WSD contact points?

Depends what you feel that she/the bike is 'compromised' by?

Like I said, get measured, choose frame type by frameset function and material (MTB/hybrid/road/gravel/wheelsize/alloy/steel etc) then choose a best-fit frame geo/size for body, then choose/swap/adjust contact points to fine-tune*. Not sure why any compromise necessary on account of being a female or working to a tight budget? Unless you mean new vs used? For example, I'd rather be compromised** by 'used frameset vs new frameset' rather than 'right fit vs wrong fit'.

*This is the ideal M.O. for anyone serious about choosing a bike, regardless of their sex.
** Some people are super-picky about colour. Again, not many serious about cycling would compromise correct fit for 'better colour'. Resprays are a feasible possibility. Changing frame geometry less-so 😉

My SO bought herself a nice bike to celebrate a significant birthday recently. There was a lot of info about women's specific things, and she got quite fixated on one or two points (especially standover - though why women's bikes would specifically need better standover than small men's bikes I don't quite understand).

In the end she got a men's bike, which she's recently got a women's saddle on - she found she needed fairly long reach, and is actually currently looking for a shorter dropper post as she can't run it all the way up.