Road bike for my wife??



price999

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Jun 30, 2007
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I'm looking to purchase a first road bike for my wife and am considering a couple manufacturers and bike in the $1000 - $1500 range. I don't know if she really needs a Women specific bike as she is not short at 5'7" with a 31.5" inseam. We took a look at the Trek 2.1 WSD bike for $1200 and the Bianchi C2C Via Nirone 7 $1500 which is not woman specific, but the top tube and seat tube measurements are very close to the women's version of the trek. She wants a road bike that will give her a comfortable ride and not a super laid out position. Can anyone comment on whether it's worth a woman to purchase a women's specific bike if they are 5'7" and would most likley ride a 53" bike? I see the benefit of the 5' woman riding a 47" inch women specific frame as the top tube would be too long on a male bike frame, but does the "women's" geometry difference become negligible when the bike sizing get's up to 53"? I hope that made sense. Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Clint
 
price999 said:
I'm looking to purchase a first road bike for my wife and am considering a couple manufacturers and bike in the $1000 - $1500 range. I don't know if she really needs a Women specific bike as she is not short at 5'7" with a 31.5" inseam. We took a look at the Trek 2.1 WSD bike for $1200 and the Bianchi C2C Via Nirone 7 $1500 which is not woman specific, but the top tube and seat tube measurements are very close to the women's version of the trek. She wants a road bike that will give her a comfortable ride and not a super laid out position. Can anyone comment on whether it's worth a woman to purchase a women's specific bike if they are 5'7" and would most likley ride a 53" bike? I see the benefit of the 5' woman riding a 47" inch women specific frame as the top tube would be too long on a male bike frame, but does the "women's" geometry difference become negligible when the bike sizing get's up to 53"? I hope that made sense. Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Clint



I think that made perfect sense. The best answer you'll get would probably be from a woman with a similiar build and been there done that. The way I see it there shouldn't be much difference. You can always change out the stem,seatpost for different lengths. My girlfriend bought a 16" mountainbike and likes the lower seat tube but she can still ride my 19' mountainbike just fine and she's 5,7 I'm 5,10. We have the same inseam.

Seems like you know what you want so maybe focusing on the best price and components would be your best deciding factors. It's funny how most salesman, folks nowadays readily admit that the top tube length is more critical that the seat tube hieght yet the manufacturers come up with this size based on the opposite or overall geometry. Personally I think that there's no such thing as perfect when buying noncustom built frames for the masses but I think most of us get pretty darn close. And once more if you're flexible and healthy and relatively normal in body type then the more you ride the bike you'll get accustom to the fit. I have four bikes, mt. bike doubles as a commuter and its easily the most comfortable upright bike I have but I also have a roadbike that is designed for more upright comfort and that bike is the most comfortable roadbike I have. I have a racing bike that is comfortable but takes some getting used to with a lower stem height than the other two bikes because I don't ride it enough. I do enjoy it more when I ride more, less soreness in the small of my back.
 
Thanks for the comments Gemship!

gemship said:
I think that made perfect sense. The best answer you'll get would probably be from a woman with a similiar build and been there done that. The way I see it there shouldn't be much difference. You can always change out the stem,seatpost for different lengths. My girlfriend bought a 16" mountainbike and likes the lower seat tube but she can still ride my 19' mountainbike just fine and she's 5,7 I'm 5,10. We have the same inseam.

Seems like you know what you want so maybe focusing on the best price and components would be your best deciding factors. It's funny how most salesman, folks nowadays readily admit that the top tube length is more critical that the seat tube hieght yet the manufacturers come up with this size based on the opposite or overall geometry. Personally I think that there's no such thing as perfect when buying noncustom built frames for the masses but I think most of us get pretty darn close. And once more if you're flexible and healthy and relatively normal in body type then the more you ride the bike you'll get accustom to the fit. I have four bikes, mt. bike doubles as a commuter and its easily the most comfortable upright bike I have but I also have a roadbike that is designed for more upright comfort and that bike is the most comfortable roadbike I have. I have a racing bike that is comfortable but takes some getting used to with a lower stem height than the other two bikes because I don't ride it enough. I do enjoy it more when I ride more, less soreness in the small of my back.
 
It's really going to depend on your wife's proportion of leg length to torso length if a women's specific design is necessary. The WSD bikes from Trek are designed with shorter top tubes because the "typical" woman has longer legs / shorter torso than a "typical" man. Having said this, how she feels on a 53cm WSD bike will be different than on a 53cm regular bike. Now, it's true that changing out stems can help with reach and stuff, but a bike fit always starts with saddle height, then fore/aft, then stem last. Bottom line is have her sized for a frame (approx .657 x inseam length in cm) then test ride the two and have a good local bike shop fit her.
 
It depends on what your wife looks like. I don't want to give you a perfectly good bike if your wife isn't that hot.
 

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