I'm becoming the anti-WSD rider...

[zoom-zoom]

Men's frame, men's shoes, and now a guy's saddle is on its way. I have high hopes. Men's/unisex stuff seems to work better for me (EXCEPT clothing--especially tops...there I am all girl with my small waist, boobs, and larger hips/butt). :p

[tulip]

Whatever fits. It doesn't matter what it's called.

[zoom-zoom]

Whatever fits. It doesn't matter what it's called.

Precisely...though it's amusing to me that the WSD so frequently doesn't fit me.

[Owlie]

Who cares how it's labeled, so long as it works for you? :D

I'm exactly the opposite. I need a WSD frame, provided it's properly WSD and not just a re-painted version of the unisex frame with a very slightly shorter top tube. (Cannondale and Giant, I'm looking in your direction!) I can handle a unisex frame if it has a sufficiently short top tube (Trek H3 Madone, maybe.)
Saddles...provided it's T-shaped with a cutout and wider than 140mm, who cares? I may eventually order that particular saddle if a Jett/Ruby doesn't work on my hypothetical Ruby. ;)

I'm with you on the clothes...my waist:hip is sufficiently small that men's jerseys ride up or are way too big.

[Kathi]

I remember the days when there were no cycling products for women. I almost quit cycling because nothing fit. I rode a 17" mixte frame because I was too short for the triangular frames of the time. I was in heaven when I found Koulius Zaard, one of the 1st women's line of cycling clothing. It fit and it meant no more riding in T-Shirts and shorts.

My first small bike was a Cannondale Compact. Smaller frame, 650c wheels, 165 crankarms. The bike was not marketed to women just small riders. Trek coined the term WSD.

When carbon frames came on the scene I asked a Trek rep why Trek didn't make a women's carbon frame, unisex had been around for several years. The rep told me there was "no market for women's carbon frames".

In those early years I drove my bike shop crazy looking for products designed for women always searching for a better fit.

Nowadays, many of those women's products don't work for me either. However, I know which brands do work for me and support those companies.
Unfortunately, I don't have options in the men's dept. either.

[zoom-zoom]

I hope people realize when I say anti-WSD I don't mean "anti" in the sense of against, but "anti" as opposite-of, as in antithesis...

I think WSD is awesome! Men's clothes certainly don't fit me, but with my short legs, long torso, and horribly wide feet women's hardware and footwear don't work for me at all. I'd probably wear men's running shoes if anyone made them in sizes small enough to fit. Thank heavens most cycling shoes start in smaller sizes in the men's styles!

[GLC1968]

I think WSD is awesome! Men's clothes certainly don't fit me, but with my short legs, long torso, and horribly wide feet women's hardware and footwear don't work for me at all. I'd probably wear men's running shoes if anyone made them in sizes small enough to fit. Thank heavens most cycling shoes start in smaller sizes in the men's styles!

I'll just ditto all of this. Me too. :p

(I do now have a WSD saddle because manufacturer's are finally learning that not all women have wide sit bones and that sometimes those of us with women shapped bodies actually do need narrower saddle options!)

[surgtech1956]

ZoomZoom, I'm with you. I had a WSD and it didn't fit me right, now I have a men's frame. I buy whatever fits/I like, I tend to buy mens tops, just because I don't like how skimpy some women's tops are(IMO), at least on me. I will also buy men's shoes sometimes, I wear a women's size 11. My everyday clothes are the same, a mix of mens & womens.

[Koronin]

Let's see I have women's shorts. I do have two women's jerseys, but the jersey's I typically wear are men's jerseys (they fit better) all my gloves are men's. My saddle on my road bike is a men's. My husband's old saddle is on my mountain bike right now and so far it's better than anything else, but not right...still looking on that one. My road bike is a men's frame and my new one when I can afford one will men a men's. The issue with that is going to be finding whichever Madone comes in a 47cm frame when I can afford to buy one. (Then figuring one which Trek dealer is going to be willing to work with me to get me the bike I want). Oh my shoes are women's shoes. With shoes I have to have women's. Depending on the brand I either wear a size 6 1/2 or a 7.
My everyday clothes are also a mix of men's and women's although most of my work shirts are women's, and actually the majority of those are the Columbia brand.

[Kathi]

One of my biggest disappointments was my Ride the Rockies jersey. Part of the ride fee includes the jersey. Only men's sizes were available. I had a discussion with the organizer who said the men's xs was sure to fit me and it just wasn't feasible to offer a woman's cut. The jersey could have been a dress. It came down to my knees, the sleeves were past my elbows and the shoulders hit mid arm. I wound up giving the jersey to my bike shop. The next year the ride offered women's cut in the jersey.

I envy woman who can chose between unisex or woman's specific clothing. I have no jersey's from any of the bike tours or rides I've been on because the cut of the jersey's, even woman's, are usually too big or xs is not offered. On tours I wear my generic Colorado or bike shop jersey's while other woman wear these neat jersey's from the tours they've been on.

I don't make it a habit to shop the kids dept but I found that girls Under Armour shorts fit me better than their women's as well as some REI girls clothing. It's getting so I can't find shoes in my size and kids are to wide. When I do find a shoe that fits I have to pay full price to assure that I get it. Fortunately, I'm retired so I don't need much in the way of casual clothes.

[zoom-zoom]

Kathi, what's crazy is that my MIL said that even RAGBRAI(!) doesn't offer women's cut jerseys?! Seriously...that's insane, to me. An event that big only offers jerseys that will fit half the participants well?

[TxDoc]

Men's frame, men's shoes, and now a guy's saddle is on its way. I have high hopes. Men's/unisex stuff seems to work better for me (EXCEPT clothing--especially tops...there I am all girl with my small waist, boobs, and larger hips/butt). :p

Hee-hee, I'm like you on bikes and components - and worse: WSD clothing does not work for me at all, so I wear men bibs and men jerseys too... :)

[Seajay]

We've run into a number of women who need the smaller sizes afforded by the WSD but do not need the short "cockpit." Thus we have gotten in the habit of trying slightly longer stems on the WSD bikes rather than going up a size or "forcing" a fit on the smallest "men's" bike.