# Fitting Questions for the Ladies



## SamDC (Mar 22, 2002)

First off, I will state that I am a guy (if that matters or not). On to my question.

I have a friend who's doing her first triathlon in September. She doesn't want to throw down the money to buy her own bike because she's still on the fence about the whole cycling thing, so I've volunteered my bike to her for the cycling component. We're both 5'10" but she's got a much longer cycling inseam than I do but shorter arms. I apologize that I can't provide more anatomical measurements.

I wanted to get women's opinions on whether she can fit on my bike, which has a roughly 55.5 cm top-tube? Seat tube is irrelevant since she has a longer inseam than I do AND it's a compact bike. 

I don't know much about bike fitting but I get the impression that she needs a horizontally shorter, vertically taller bike. In the meantime, we're just trying to get her through her first triathlon with my bike (for those wondering: her current bike is a POS... heavy, rusty, front hub that seizes, etc.).

We've been to a couple of bike shops and have received different answers. One guy said the current set up (with a 12 cm) stem is fine and that moving the seat forward is all that is needed (he might be correct in that that configuration will work in a tri). Another guy offered a half-assed attempt. Both, however, were diligently trying to persuade her to buy a new bike.

Also, since I've been trying to fit her on my bike, I've been doing some reconnaissance of other women's road bikes, and noticed that on a lot of them, the stem is about even with the saddle. Is this due to differences in anatomy or are these women simply newer to cycling and thus don't have quite the flexibility (just like men who are new to cycling).

Thanks for any assistance!


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## JayTee (Feb 3, 2004)

A stem swap might be in order. Anyone who proposes reducing reach by sliding the saddle forward on the rails is not a particularly well informed bike fitter. Now, if she wants her saddle forward for biomechanical reasons, that's another matter.

I'm betting that once she gets the saddle up where she wants, not only will the reach be long but the bars may be lower than she prefers.

Is your 12 cm stem on a threadless setup, I assume? Can you get some additional rise in the bars by flipping it? That can make a pretty dramatic difference.


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

Or, when he's buying a new stem for her, just make sure the rise angle is greater than your current one to bring it to a level that is comfortable for her.


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