Long-legged woman.

[slowmotion]

My daughter actually, aged twenty. She has the same inside leg as me, about 34". I bought her a bike about five years ago and it got nicked within about five weeks due to inexperience. Since then she has had a series of clunkers. I would like to give her the chance of discovering bikes but I'm not pushing it in any way. I have a pretty good hybrid from a few years ago that might suit her given that we both are about the same height and leg length. It is a "man's bike" however. Does it actually matter? Does a horizontal top tube rule out female riders. I would be really grateful for comments by those who know about these things.

Thank you.

 

[summerdays]

You don't have to have a woman's bike, it becomes more important at the shorter end of the scale. I'm not in the 34" league but I'm fine on a men's bike. Woman's torsos tend to be shorter, so my inside leg measurement is close to my husbands even though he is 6 inches taller. I can ride his bike but it is too stretched out to do anything other than ride it to the LBS.

If she is of a similar height then I'm sure it will be fine. The horizontal top tube will rule out skirts probably

 

[John the Monkey]

Nope. All anyone should have is a bike that fits, regardless of the sex the manufacturer thinks it's suitable for.

I can never find it when I want to, but Gerard Vroomen debunked a lot of the ideas around sex specific bike geometries in an article a bit ago - the thrust of his article was that shops should worry about fit to *that rider*, not whether they were selling a "mans bike" or a "womans bike".

 

[MrWill]

Never understood the sloping top tube of 'womans' bikes.

Women tend to be more flexible than men, so shouldn't it be the other way around?

Or are women meant to cycle in skirts, and the sloping top tube is so that they don't give us a peek when they climb on?

 

[fimm]

If your daughter is shorter than you, then her torso must be shorter than yours if her legs are the same length. So she may have a problem with reach. You might be able to improve matters by replacing the part that connects the handlebars to the top of the forks with a shorter one (what is this part called?). None of my bikes are female specific, and the only one that doesn't have a horizontal top tube is the Brompton - which is the only one I want to ride in a skirt anyway.

 

[AndyRM]

Nope. All anyone should have is a bike that fits, regardless of the sex the manufacturer thinks it's suitable for.

I can never find it when I want to, but Gerard Vroomen debunked a lot of the ideas around sex specific bike geometries in an article a bit ago - the thrust of his article was that shops should worry about fit to *that rider*, not whether they were selling a "mans bike" or a "womans bike".

This one? http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/3/15/2052263/talking-cycling-with-gerard-vroomen-of-cervelo

 

[John the Monkey]

I... the part that connects the handlebars to the top of the forks with a shorter one (what is this part called?).

That's the stem - you have to be slightly careful here, as changing them can affect the way the bike handles.

 

[Over The Hill]

Another thread that needs pictures

 

[slowmotion]

If your daughter is shorter than you, then her torso must be shorter than yours if her legs are the same length. So she may have a problem with reach. You might be able to improve matters by replacing the part that connects the handlebars to the top of the forks with a shorter one (what is this part called?). None of my bikes are female specific, and the only one that doesn't have a horizontal top tube is the Brompton - which is the only one I want to ride in a skirt anyway.

She's an inch shorter than me, about 5'10", so I think she should be OK if her her arms are about the same as mine.

 

[gbs]

That's the stem - you have to be slightly careful here, as changing them can affect the way the bike handles.

I think that comment may be unduly off-putting. After a cycle-fit I changed the stem on one of my bikes from 120mm to 80mm with no apparent increase in "twitchiness".

 

[John the Monkey]

I think that comment may be unduly off-putting. After a cycle-fit I changed the stem on one of my bikes from 120mm to 80mm with no apparent increase in "twitchiness".

Possibly - I tried to hedge it "slightly careful" "can affect"..!

I've gone from 100 to 120/130 on a couple of bikes, and the difference was noticeable - it's possible that the bikes were "twitchier" to start with though (both were compact framed "race" bikes.