# WSD bikes



## physasst (Oct 1, 2005)

Okay, so I am a rather knowledgeable cyclist and know a lot about bikes, but little about the new WSD bikes. My wife is interested in taking up cycling, at least somewhat, maybe not to the extremes I have. She is even interested in maybe completing a Sprint Tri next year, I am trying not to push her, but have offered to buy her a bike. She is 5'8" and rather normal dimensions, so my question is, does she even require a WSD bike, and if so, what entry level one have you women had success with or would recommend? I don't want to spend much more than 500 bucks, because I don't know for sure if she'll stick with it, and I don't, and can't look at a poor bike sitting there not being ridden. Any thoughts Ladies?

Thanks,

Mike


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

At 5'8 she should be able to make due with a regular bike. Ultimately it depends on her proportions. If she's short armed or long torsoed you might have to raise the handlebars a bit.

How about upping the budget to maybe $1200 or so? Maybe buy a bike off of ebay. This way you'll be able to get just about all your $$ back should you decide to sell it. 

And for goodness sakes, get her something light. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The rule in my house is that my husband can get whatever bike he wants as long as mine is lighter than his. I'm gonna be honest with you here. If my initial exposure to cycling had been a $500 bike I would probably have taken up knitting. nttawwt, etc...


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## lamazion (Sep 11, 2004)

My wife is 5'6" and could have fit a men's 49cm, however, the big thing for her was the design of the shifters and bar on the WSD. I agree on increasing the buget if you can. Originally, my wife wanted me to build up her 15 year old road bike. In the end, I told her to pickout what she wanted for her 40th bday. She wasn't sure at first, but now she loves her LeMond carbon. As a result, she rides more!


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## physasst (Oct 1, 2005)

*Well*



lamazion said:


> My wife is 5'6" and could have fit a men's 49cm, however, the big thing for her was the design of the shifters and bar on the WSD. I agree on increasing the buget if you can. Originally, my wife wanted me to build up her 15 year old road bike. In the end, I told her to pickout what she wanted for her 40th bday. She wasn't sure at first, but now she loves her LeMond carbon. As a result, she rides more!


I have tons of parts, including half an ultegra 9 speed gruppo, and an entire 8 speed 105 gruppo, so I'd rather stay cheaper and then swap out of my existing inventory whatever is needed. I was looking at the Specialized Dolce. Any thoughts on that particular bike?


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## RedT (Jul 24, 2007)

Why not take your wife down to a LBS who carries WSD and regular bikes and see which one she feels most comfortable on. The reach across the top tube is shorter on a WSD, so if she has a short torso she may prefer that. The smalller handlebars seem to make the most difference among my friends, but if you find a regular bike that she likes but with smaller handlebars your LBS may just switch out the handlebars for you

I am 5''7" and I ride a 2006 Giant OCR-1 medium, otherwise I usually take a 54cm (if that is helpful at all).

I would highly recommend checking your local craigslist as, it seems, a lot of guys buy their wives or girlfriends bikes, then put them on craigslist a year later for 1/2 price and with only 100 miles on them. I was able to get a one year old full Ultegra (but the front derailler is a 105) bike for me (my Giant) and a full Ultegra bike for my husband (2006 Motobecane Century Pro) for under $600 each off of Craigslist.


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## aliensporebomb (Jul 2, 2002)

*Thinking thinking.....*

Hi.

We just bought my wife a bike and believe me, it's such a personal choice
that it's almost impossible to recommend something and guarantee that she
will like it. Definetely let her try a bunch of bikes out - make a fun time of it.
I was along as technical advisor and just enjoyed seeing her try a bunch of
rides out. In our case, we didn't get a WSD bike but she's short and rides
a 50 cm frame, we added a WSD seat and handgrips a bit later.

In our case I was trying to spec out bikes with decent drive trains, we ended
up getting her the least expensive decent bike with Shimano 105 that we could
find. At first we were looking at comfort bikes but they were so slow with low
pressure tires and just were big, heavy and clunky. She gave those thumbs
down.

I tried encouraging her to get drop bars for the variety of hand positions (and
I have to admit there was a bit of "it would be cool if she got a full blown road
bike right away") but she gravitated to flat bars since she's used to them from 
her mountain bike and in retrospect it was the right choice.

I recommend getting one of the great end of season discounts that are out there
but sizes and quantities are somewhat limited. The bike we ended up with was
actually something I'd never seen before but....

In her case, they happened to have a Raleigh Route 66 in her size, it has 
Shimano 105 rear der, I'll eventually swap the FD out for a matching 105 FD,
thumbshifters, flat bar, Truvativ crank, Kinesis forged aluminum frame, carbon fork. 

It's light, too. Not as light as my 17 pound race bike but probably in the low 
twenties. And about 15 pounds lighter than her dual boinger mtb and about 20 
pounds lighter than her tank of a recumbent. So when she got on it, it was like
she was shot out of a cannon and went on an extended test ride - I knew this
was what she was going to go for.

It's just a little on the small side for me but I tried it out and it's a fast little bike. 
She's already put close to 200 (odometer 192.2 as I type this) commuting miles 
on it already and is riding into work 3 days a week. 

The key? It needs to be something she'll want to reach for and ride all of the
time. I could tell if we got her a drop bar bike she wouldn't ride it as much - 
and she's definetely into this bike. I don't blame her, it's actually very nice.

Another thing - the seat. The seat that came with it was gone the day we
bought it. The second seat she tried lasted about 150 miles. She now has
another new seat (she was able to return saddle #2 and apply it for credit
for #3 which is a Specialized Jett). We'll see how that one goes - she 
already has positive (and negative) things to say about it. We also got 
her some more cycling shorts and tops and a roomy messenger type 
bag because (in her words) "I don't want to weight down my light fast 
bike with a bunch of clunky pannier hardware"). OK.

Questions? Let me know. But...ultimately, it's got to be her choice and
she might pick something you personally would not. Also, you're going to
need to give her time to ride. She may find this attractive as I know you 
have kids, it could give her some "me time" - you can be babysitter in the
meantime or get a trailer and tow the kidlets as you go ride as a family.


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## southpaw533 (May 29, 2007)

FWIW my wife just bought the Specialized Dolce and loves it. She is short and bought the small size and it seems to fit her very well. Your wife will obviously need a larger size than that, but the Dolce has other women specific things like shorter reach levers etc. that my wife seems to like.


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## Doggity (Mar 10, 2006)

Bianchi Eros Donna...give it a look. Seems to have made all the right changes. My wife loves hers; I couldn't get her to get on another bike to even try it once she rode this one.


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## vonteity (Feb 13, 2005)

I am 5'9" and ride a between a 54cm and 56cm. Your wife should be able to ride men's geometry unless her proportions don't allow it. I have a long torso compared to most women and long arms, so I am able to comfortably fit on a standard frame.


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## Becky (Jun 15, 2004)

I'm very much the opposite of Vonteity- with long legs and a short torso. At 5'4", I need a 48-49cm frame in order to compensate for my torso length. WSD would probably suit me, but it's been a long time since I had a WSD bike. About the only WSD thing that I kept from that bike was the narrower, shallow-reach handlebar (which I love!). I prefer the fit of "square", classic geometry frames like my Bianchi with its steep seat tube angle. My commuter is a smaller frame, but has a pretty slack seat tube and consequently a longer reach.

My suggestion is to have the wife test-ride as many bikes as possible, WSD or not, and see what feels best to her.


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