How tall are you? (Women only, please)

[KnottedYet]

5'11". It is a pain sometimes when I am trying to find nice pants! Otherwise, it is great!

For jeans, may I respectfully recommend Diamond Gusset jeans? Loooong inseams available, and the fit is very kind to cyclists' bodies. www.gussetclothing.com

[BadgerGirl]

Thank you Knottedyet! I love this website because everyone is so helpful!

[KnottedYet]

Thank you Knottedyet! I love this website because everyone is so helpful!

I finally got around to writing my review of these jeans: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=23285

[three]

5'3" and a tad...

My past professional fit taught me that I don't need WSD due to my long reach and flexibility. Since the fitting, I started working at a bike shop (so I can get a nice big discount on a new road bike)...and I have yet to see a female customer shown anything but WSD bikes. I also have yet to see a female customer come in for road bikes who doesn't say something to the effect of "I heard there are bikes specifically for women".

I think this is a result of: a) great marketing of the notion that "women need women-specific bikes", and b) a push from the bike companies for shop employees to push the WSD stuff. My opinion is that this has resulted in a lot of women riding cute bikes that don't allow for their most optimal positioning. Remember, bike folks work on commission. During the training for my shop, it was repeatedly stated that if a customer has their heart set on something - you sell it to them, regardless of whether or not it's the best bike/shoe/____ for them. Couple that approach with commission, and you get lots of employees pushing WSD bikes and lots of female customers thinking they need them. And no, this is just not my shop - this is at a lot of bike shops around the country.

If I go lingering around to other shops in town and act like I don't know what I'm doing, they always focus on WSD. The only two times I've been shown non-WSD bikes were with the two shops where I had a personal connection with an employee.

It drives me nuts. I've chatted about it with 3 different (locally well-known) professional fitters and they all said that only about half of women are ideally sized for WSD bikes. These are guys who fit for local competitive teams and have worked with national/international teams. If I look at the notable women racers in town, none of them ride WSD (and one of the top local racers, who also competes nationally, is not even 5'2").

Yes, some women fit better on WSD - but if you have above-average reach or flexibility (as many athletes and women do), the compact geometry of WSD doesn't make sense to me...unless you're never using the drops.

Don't buy into the marketing hook, line and sinker - please. Make sure you really need the compact geometry. What is most important is not that the bike "is made for women", but rather - that you are on the right bike for you. If you fit better in men's jeans...do it. Jeans are jeans, right? Bikes are bikes.

Side note: thanks for letting me vent. This topic touched on a pet-peeve of mine and I had to let it out.