We investigate the world of women’s-specific bikes, and find that the ‘shrink it and pink it’ stereotype is no longer true.
Some differences are fairly self-evident – female riders are, on average, smaller and have a lower weight-to-height ratio. Others are more contentious, such as suggestions that women are likely to ride less aggressively.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
If you’re thinking of buying a women’s bike, check which of the following it ofers:
- Female-specific finishing kit, including saddle
- Lighter shock tune
- Smaller sizes to suit smaller riders
- Dedicated frame geometry – both Canyon and Liv ofer this
Go back a few years, and it was easy to tell which bikes were ‘women’s specific’. They were short, tall, usually under-specced for the price and often sported a flash of a suitably‘girly’ colour. The design philosophy was simply to take a men’s – sorry, ‘unisex’ – bike and ‘shrink it and pink it’. That’s what every woman wants, right? We’ll totally overlook the bike’s shortcomings if you add a few roses, swirls and butterflies.
Then things started to change. The number of women competing in the national downhill series grew by 60 per cent between 2010 and 2014, according to British Cycling. That was mirrored by a huge rise in female riders out on the trails, training, racing and riding just for kicks. These days, you’ll find us on the uplift at BikePark Wales, exploring the remotest corners of the Scottish Highlands and heading off to the Alps. And bike brands are investing more heavily than ever to satisfy the growing women's market.
But what changes has that meant for women’s-specific bikes? And are they actually worth buying, or is a ‘unisex’ model a better bet for anyone above beginner level?
DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
Most brands now have women’s bikes in their ranges, whether they’re listed as a separate line (like Scott’sContessa bikes) or just labelled as being for women(Trek, Specialized, Cube,Yeti,Canyon and more all offer these).There are also a couple of dedicated women’s brands –Juliana Bicycles, sister company to Santa Cruz,and Liv Cycling, whichwas split off fromGiant in 2014.But there’s no agreed definition of what awomen’s bike should be.
There are a fewunifying factors.Almost all will have a wider saddle and, in the case of full-suspension bikes, a lighter shock tune,because female riders,on average,weigh less thanmen of the sameheight.Theymay also have narrower bars and shorter crank arms. What really sets the brands apart is their approach to framedesign.Sometake the easy route of kitting out a‘unisex’ frame with female-specific contact points, while others will create an entirely newchassis with bespoke geometry.Juliana,Scott andYeti all adhere to the former approach. Liv are staunch advocates of the latter,offering“products designed specifically for women,fromthe ground up”. And somebrands have shifted position, with Specialized moving fromwomen’sspecific to unisex design on the newStumpjumper (see page 58) and Canyon going in the opposite direction.
DATA ANALYSIS
The elephant in the room here is the question of whether female riders actually need awomen’s bike. Proponents point to the fact that there are physical differences between the sexes and argue that these need to be catered to in order to give the best performance and riding experience. Someare fairly self-evident – female riders are, on average, smaller and have a lowerweight-to-height ratio. Others are more contentious, such as suggestions that women are likely to ride less aggressively and with less weight over the front of the bike.
Both Canyon and Specialized have collected data through their fit systems that suggests some statistically significant differences between the average man and woman, including a slightly shorter reach and narrower shoulders. What’s different is how the companies have interpreted and implemented that data.
Specialized have adapted their ‘unisex’ frame design on certain key models to cater to both the male and female data sets, with gender-specific finishing kit used to fine-tune the fit. Canyon’s approach is based around giving women the same on-bike body position as men, which is something they’ve achieved by making the new Spectral WMN shorter than the standard bike and extending the size range downtoXS (and in somecases 2XS),among other changes.
But what of the previous bikes fromthese and other brands?Were they ever truly ‘unisex’?No, says Stephanie Kaplan, product manager at Specialized.“Unisex bikes have historically been designed around data and input frommale riders,and womenwere expected to adapt themselves to that,” she says.“Whenwe looked at the data of all the riders together,we feltwe’d better serve all riders on one shared platform.”
Luisa Plasczymonka, junior product manager at Canyon agrees.“Bikes were always developed around average male body proportions.The bike industry is quite male dominated and the engineers,designers, product managers and testers have almost always been men. This,of course,makes us question how a bike like that can be unisex.”
ON THE RIGHT PATH
Is awomen’s bike always the best choice for female riders? It’s a frequently asked question, and the answer is, of course, no.Womendon’t have to ride women’s-specific bikes, but many choose to and feel the benefit of it.“The bike has to fit the rider,”says Plasczymonka. “There’ll always bewomen who are better suited to a men’s/unisex bike, just as somemenwill findwomen’s geometry a better fit.”
At the very least, buying awomen’s modelmeans you won’t have to immediately swap the saddle and bar.And itmaymean having a bike that fits you properly, with suspension set up for your weight and geometry that puts you in a position that boosts control and confidence.
While it’s frustrating that there’s no agreement across the industry about whatmakes a goodwomen’s bike, the fact that brands are continuously researching and refining their approach is good news.The more girls andwomen riding, the more data there is towork from,and it’s unlikely we’ve seen the final state of play with female-specific bike design just yet.
“We’ll continue to gather data, talk to riders,and evolve…wherever that might take us,”saysKaplan.“We don’twant to make a product just to slap a ‘women’s’ label on it,wewant tomake the right product for the rider.”
For Canyon, the newSpectralWMN and Grand CanyonWMNmay be just the beginning. “The demand forwomen’sspecific geometry is definitely there and growing,”says Plasczymonka,“And it shows us thatwe’re on the right path.”
Ultimately, the bestwomen’s bike is the one she feels themost comfortable and capable on.To paraphrase a comment overheard at theTrek BicyclesWomen’s Summit,awomen’s bike is any bike being ridden by a woman.
MYTHS BUSTED
We’ve ridden and tested a LOT of women’s bikes, and some of the stereotypes just aren’t true any longer...
Myth: Women’s bikes are just for beginners.
Reality: Want a high-end carbon enduro bike or XC rig? You’ve got it.
Myth: Women’s bikes are under-specced and overpriced.
Reality: Most are now the same price as the unisex/men’s equivalent, with the same or comparable equipment.
Myth: Women’s bikes are pink.
Reality: This year, fewer than 10 per cent of the women’s bikes we’ve seen feature any pink at all, with black the most common colour.
Canyon’s new Spectral WMN has women’s-specific frame geometry, based on data collected from their fit system
Juliana only make women’s bikes, although they share their frames with Santa Cruz’s men’s/unisex models
