Whoa.

There seems to be a bit o' confusion about "compact" and "WSD" etc. etc etc.

Here's a brief history of (recent) road frame evolution (from someone who's been selling bikes for ~9 years now....).

A long long (ok not so long) time ago Cannondale made pretty little (stiff!!!) frames in tiny little sizes (43cm, 45 cm, and 47 cm I believe). They had 650c wheelsets. They came in gender-neutral paint schemes, and although they fit very small women very well, they were also oh-so-easy to sell to height-challenged men and small junior riders too. They were marketed as Cannondale Compact frames.

Now Giant (being a well GIANT bike maker) decides to introduce a new-and-improved frame to the cycling public. They claim that this new frame geometry will be lighter and stiffer and (lo and behold oh so good for the bottom line) because *gasp* the bike frames will only be offered in THREE sizes. The beauty of this design is in the sloping top tube (borrowed from the mountain bike) which will allow many *average* sized riders to *fit* the bikes with simple (ha! I lived through the first wave....) swaps of seatposts and stems.

Oh and this new geometry shall be called....COMPACT (because of the compact rear triangle). Do we see confusion setting in? Yes we do.

Compact catches on and all kinds of bike manufacturers start making this style frame.

Now we have many many clueless (and mainly male) bike sales people fitting small (tiny even!) women on these new "compact" frames. Why? Because the dear woman has standover (which of course we all know is the most useless measurement in road biking....).

So we ended up with a bunch of 5' women riding these *small* (44cm I think the first ones were...) frames with ridiculously long (think 52cm+) effective toptubes. Which the ever ingenious salesperson would outfit with a ridiculous 50mm (think mtb "dual slalom") stem. Ugh. Can we say "twitchy"?


About this time a few companies wake up and smell the coffee and notice that a few human beings without penises might like to ride and race bicycles.

WSD is born.

Now, as nice as it is to be noticed and hence marketed to, it is slightly disconcerting to realize that the bike industry views women pretty much they way the beer industry does. We must all be long of leg, short of waist, large of breast, and narrow of shoulder.

Cannondale admits defeat as the "compact" frame idea takes off (it's actually a very nice geometry for racing and if you have short legs and a long torso offers fabulous fit) and they abandon the term and jump on the "WSD" bandwagon with their "Feminine" line.

And then along come the now-aging baby boomers. They fondly remember their Schwinn Varisty. They own "Breaking Away". They need to loose a few pounds and they want to ride again....but....they don't want to be all hunched over like they were in the 70's. And so now we have "Comfort Road Bikes" (also often notated with a "C" at the end of the name). These bikes have the now-familiar sloping top tube. Standover is good. They also have shortened top tubes and offer comfort features such as adjustable stems and suspension seatposts. Once again I can sell a bike with a short tt to a man with a short torso and I don't have to talk him into Seafoam Green or Silver Lilac. Life is good


Ok rant off.

Here's the important stuff:

"WSD"(et al): Works well for those who are short-statured and/or have the long-leg/short torso build. Even works well for men/boys with these dimensions; just don't tell 'em what "W" stands for.

"Compact":True "compact geometry" frames are great for crit racing. Fits those with short legs and long torsos very well. Very fit riders who just want to be "stretched out" love em too.Very short riders should beware being talked into these just because they offer "standover". If the shop has to put anything shorter than a 90mm stem on to make the bike "fit" run away.

"Comfort": Looks like a "compact" frame because of the sloping top tube, but offers a less aggressive riding position. Shorter top tube enables the rider to sit more upright. Features such as an adjustable stem, suspension seatpost or cyclocross-style bar-top break levers can be added to pretty much any bike, so don't buy a bike based on those features alone.

Sorry I wrote a book....