Road bikes designed for women

[Mama Beane]

RedRhodie,

Thanks, and yes, I am currently working with Stedman's. The place is fantastic. I had gone into another LBS in Newport, asked about steel, and was told "no one does steel anymore". Obviously not the place for me. Stedman's actually has a Waterford frame that's a year old which he is going to build up for me to see if I like it, and if it is the right size. If it's not, I'm planning on checking into the Gunnar sport. I would love to test ride one!
I have checked the Terry site, and will continue to do so. You can't have too many bikes, can you? Thanks so much for the link to circle a - I'm definitely checking them out as well.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I had gone into another LBS in Newport, asked about steel, and was told "no one does steel anymore".

Yes, I had a bike store OWNER in MA tell me that "they don't make steel bikes anymore, steel bikes are on their way out". Obviously he tells everyone that who comes in because he doesn't carry steel bikes and he wants to sell his inventory.

[Eden]

I found that the carbon fiber seemed to amplify the bumps in the road. It also squeeked a lot, like the frame was vibrating. The bike felt squishy to me, if that makes any sense. I was pretty disappointed because I have heard how great CF frames are. My husband has a CF mountain bike and loves it. Maybe at his weight the frame is more beneficial than at mine.

Kenda

Almost sounds like the bike you test rode was not put together properly....
I've ridden just about every type of frame there is to be had - except scandium. My impressions (and these are only from MY bikes - geometry can have loads to do with how a bike feels. I know a racer who had to give up her Ti bike because it was too harsh)

My old steel sport tourer and the aluminum/carbon bike that replaced it didn't acutally feel much different road feel wise, about the same amount of road buzz and pothole dampening. The steel bike was larger and had a longer wheel base so it tended to feel more stable and was a better stopper than any other bike I've owned, but it also didn't really fit and that was a pretty big issue.
All aluminum cross bike. Even with wide low pressure tires this one is pretty harsh, but one would expect that from an all aluminum bike. I didn't get it to ride long distances so I'm not worried about that. Super stable feeling for such a tiny bike.
My carbon racing bike is a dream. Its light, stiff, responsive, but doesn't jar me to bits. Very little road buzz unless I'm on some pretty harsh chip seal. I definitely noticed that this bike was livelier when I switched to it from the aluminum/carbon one. I'd never won a sprint before and the first week I rode this one I did. (I'd been second in a bunch of them......)
Ti rain/communter bike. Even smoother on the road than the carbon bike, but not quite as responsive. I wouldn't call it mushy, not by a long shot, but it just isn't as quick to accelerate. That may be from having a heavier wheel set on it. After I put the carbon seatpost on it I feel almost zero road buzz, which I like.
Now, I've never ridden a bike that I'd call wooden or dead feeling, so I'm not entirely sure what most people mean by that. All my bikes I still certainly can feel the road underneath of me, some of them just soak up the bumps better and some vibrate more than others, which I can really live without. I suppose it must be kind of like riding in a really quite luxury car with really good shocks?? I think I've driven a car like that once - a little disconcerting to not feel the road very much - more like floating just a touch above, but none of my bikes gives me that feeling.

[Jo-n-NY]

I second all that Edan said. I went from an all aluminum to aluminum with carbron fork to all carbon. I cannot see myself going back to an aluminum bike. My carbon bike is so forgiving on rough roads, extremely responsive which I did not know much about until I rode the bike. I would also consider it a dream to ride.

Just my 2 cents added.

~ JoAnn

[redrhodie]

Mama Beane, I'll make sure to check out the Waterford next time I'm in Stedman's. It's my home away from home. If you see a little red haired rat pestering everyone in there, that's me !

[Bklynmom]

It is hard to find a bike shop in NYC that everyone likes - maybe it's just that we new yorkers are fussy .

It is odd, because everyone I know loves the Jack Rabbit runnning store - the people are so knowlegeable, great and helpful. I wonder if there is some reason that there can't be a bike store as pleasant to go to.

Lisa

[KnottedYet]

Big thumbs-up for Waterford bikes!



(that's Flossie the Waterford X-12 in my avatar)