# Woman specific frame



## Sparelink (Jul 5, 2014)

So my life is looking to get a road bike and get ride of her mountain bike with slicks. I am looking around and not seeing a lot in low to mid range bikes in the area that are woman specific.

I know that the geometry is a little different between mens or unisex but how much of an issue would it be if she got a mens or unisex frame? 

I can get a good deal on fuji Sportif 1.3 in her size but it is a bit of a drive and done want to make the drive and find out that she will be to stretched out.

I am looking for something with more of a relaxed/uplight fit. Any women ride a sportif?


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## aureliajulia (May 25, 2009)

Would help if we knew her height, inseam, leg length, arm length, and why you think she needs upright rather than more aggressive.


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## Alfonsina (Aug 26, 2012)

Unless she is very small, the women's frame thing is a bit of an excuse to add colour and cost to a less well equipped bike. You can compare geo charts to see how little difference there might be. Women are not all long legged people with short torsos and t rex length arms. Her proportions might be perfectly suited to a normal bike. 
You might ask HER? If she doesn't care enough to choose her own bike, she might not be very keen. Obviously you are aiming at an entry level budget road bike, is she?


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## Sparelink (Jul 5, 2014)

That's for the advise. Yes she is also looking for an entry level bike. Her budget is smaller than mine. We looked at a few bikes today and I spend a lot of time comparing get charts the last few day. From that I have noticed the main differences are handlebar width and stem lengths. 

We ended up picking up a bike tonight. It's a unisex/men's bike for a good deal. The only dofference between the nine we got and the men's is 2cm wider bars and 10cm long stem. She needs a longer still anyways so it works fine. She's not super keen on the color but she can live with it.


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## oldcannondale (Jul 23, 2011)

Alfonsina said:


> Unless she is very small, the women's frame thing is a bit of an excuse to add colour and cost to a less well equipped bike. You can compare geo charts to see how little difference there might be. Women are not all long legged people with short torsos and t rex length arms. Her proportions might be perfectly suited to a normal bike.
> You might ask HER? If she doesn't care enough to choose her own bike, she might not be very keen. Obviously you are aiming at an entry level budget road bike, is she?


I got back into biking about 6 years ago due to a heart bypass, I ended up with a 52cm Cannondale CAAD 7 which was a gorgeous bike but pretty small for me after riding it. I had bought my wife a cheap $100 mountain bike from Walmart. She rode that for some time around town and was very happy with it, until a couple invited us to ride with them and we began to ride 10 to 15 miles. My wife then asked me why I had a 1000 dollar bike and she had a 100 dollar bike, and I very frankly told her, 1. I didn't think she would use it? 2. I "knew" she didn't want to spend the money 3. I didn't think she would take care of it.

So knowing that I had been put on notice, I began to shop for a WSD, I found a very nice Giant Avail, in Baby Blue and White, and she absolutely loved it. We went to a couple of shops, and had salesmen and saleswomen talk to her. One put her on an extra small which I felt was to small, we let her ride a small and she thought it fit very well, while we looked at drop bars, she did not like the drops and liked the brifters even less, so she decided to buy the flat bar Avail, which she was very comfortable on, and fell in love.

My riding partner had purchased a larger heavier "fitness" bike for his wife, and she did not like that, but did like my wifes Avail. He ended up buying his wife a Defy, which is the mens Avail, and she really seemed to like it. My wifes boss decided she liked the Avail so much, that she purchased a medium in the same baby blue as my wife.

Long story short, I made several changes, color matching softer grips, and color matching platform pedals, and that bike is still in our living room, sold, as my wife decided she did like my Old Cannondale after I had gone to a larger frame, I rebuilt the Cannondale as a flat-bar at her stated preference, with 170mm Ultegra 6500 cranks, she loved the lighter, faster bike, and her bosses sister in law bought the Giant Avail after using it for several rides coming off a mountain bike.


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