Do You Need a Womens Bike

Do You Need a Women's Bike?

BY SARA J. HENRY

When I started riding, there wasn't much to bike sizing. You bought any frame that wasn't too big to stand over. You rode bent way forward like the guys, and if it hurt, well, it hurt. Eventually, I switched to a shorter stem to ease the ache in my back, but that was the only concession I made. When other female riders complained of seat or neck or shoulder pain, I thought What wimps! and told them, "You'll get used to it."

Some did and some didn't. I was lucky. I was tall, with long arms and slim hips, so my bike fit better than most women's. But all women aren't built alike--and we're not built like men. Most women have proportionately shorter torsos and longer legs than men, plus wider pelvises and less upper-body strength, according to Andrew Pruitt, Ed.D., director of Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado. Dr. Pruitt knows cyclists and their fitting problems because he has worked for years with U.S. national team riders at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Even if a bike fits a woman's leg length, its top tube, stem, or crankarms may be too long and its saddle could be too narrow.

So what happens if your bike doesn't fit right? If you ride only a couple of miles around the neighborhood, probably nothing, says Dr. Pruitt. But if you crank up the mileage, you can experience back, neck, hip, or butt pain in varying degrees of severity. And your pedaling efficiency can suffer just as much. Thankfully, these problems are now well-understood, and more manufacturers are answering the need for bikes that fit women better. These are some of their considerations.

1. Frame. Because of their proportionately shorter torsos, women usually need shorter top tubes. But if the rider is quite small--say, under 5 foot 4--the top tube can be so short that it brings the front wheel too close. This causes the feet to overlap the wheel when either one is fully forward in the pedal stroke. The result can be contact and a crash during slow riding, when the wheel may be turned sharply. Some manufacturers resolve this problem by using a smaller-diameter front wheel. Georgena Terry, founder of Terry Precision Cycling for Women, is a leader in this area. Her company makes its smaller road bikes with a 24-inch front wheel and a standard 700C wheel in back. This trick also allows these bikes to retain a relatively normal head-tube angle for proper steering behavior.

It's also important to have the correct seat angle to ensure that your saddle (and subsequently your legs) is in the correct fore/aft position above the crankset.
(Moving your saddle back and forth enables you to fine-tune this.) Generally, people with longer thighs need a 72- or 73-degree seat angle, and shorter-thighed folks do better with a slightly steeper angle that moves them farther forward over the crankset.

2. Stem. The oldest trick in the book is to compensate for an overly long top tube by installing a stem with a shorter forward extension. This brings the handlebar closer to the saddle. Several manufacturers make very short stems. Your local bike shop can order one for you if they're not in stock.

3. Handlebar. Women's shoulders tend to be narrower then men's. A bar that's right for a guy may be too wide for you and cause pain in the shoulders, upper back, and neck. Terry offers 36- and 38-cm drop-style road handlebars to more precisely correspond to a woman's shoulder width (measured from bony end to bony end). Most flat handlebars found on mountain bikes and hybrids can easily be shortened with a pipe cutter at a bike shop.

4. Crankarms. Look on the back of the arms and you'll see a number stamped in the metal. Arm lengths of 160 or 165 mm, rather than the standard 170 mm, are a better fit for women (and men) who have an inseam of less than 29½ inches (measured from crotch to floor in bare feet). Keep in mind that mountain bike crankarms should be 5 mm longer than those on road bikes. The extra length gives you better leverage for steep climbs and slow-speed maneuvers. So the best size for your mountain bike will probably be 170 mm.

5. Saddle. Because women's pelvises are slightly wider than men's, the part of the pelvic bones we sit on (the ischial tuberosities) are farther apart. To support these bones and keep weight from resting solely on our genitalia, we generally need saddles that are a little wider in the rear. You can usually find these so-called anatomical saddles in stock at your local shop, because sooner or later, many women want them in their quests for greater comfort.

6. Brake levers. With smaller hands and shorter fingers, many women can benefit from short-reach brake levers for their road bikes. Check at a shop for the models currently available. Usually, mountain bike levers don't need to be replaced, because most have adjustment screws that let you shorten their distance to the bar.

The Bottom Line

So, with all of these component options to alter an off-the-rack bike, do you really need one that's designed from scratch for women? Some women like me--5 foot 9 with long arms--can do fine on a standard frame as long as the top tube is at the short end of the size range. Racers and triathletes striving for the most streamlined position are likely to prefer a bike that stretches them out more. You can adjust any bike to fit better as long as the standover height is correct (about 2 inches for a road bike; at least 3 inches for a mountain bike). You can get a shorter stem and wider saddle. You can move the saddle forward a bit and tilt the handlebar up. You can install shorter crankarms and shorter-reach brake levers, or a taller stem that lets you sit more upright.

But trade-offs exist. A saddle shoved too far forward can cause inefficient pedaling and knee problems. A very short stem can result in squirrelly bike handling--as I learned when I switched to a bike with a shorter top tube and longer stem and discovered that I wasn't the rotten bike handler I had thought I was. If your bike setup is maxed out, you may not be able to make additional adjustments should your cycling style change. And for some women, all the adjustments in the world to standard bikes won't make their discomfort disappear.

Also, there are real advantages to getting a bike that is designed for women. For example, several major manufacturers offer models engineered specifically for the women most likely to have serious problems fitting on standard bikes--those under 5 foot 4. Bike models change every year, so check at shops to see what is currently available for women in the brands they carry.

Georgena Terry has built her women's cycling business by offering bikes that fit women from 4 foot 10 to 5 foot 11, not just those under 5 foot 4. No matter how tall a woman is, she notes, "her muscles are not only generally smaller than a man's but are also distributed differently, resulting in more force on joints. A slightly more upright riding position eases those forces."

No, not every woman needs a women's bike. But every woman needs a bike that fits, particularly in the critical distance between the saddle and handlebar. A woman's bike may be the best place to start looking.