female specific?

[Veronica]

Fashion wise my biggest beef is color. It's hard to find a women's jacket that is a bright color - not dark blue, purple or black. Hint to clothing manufacturers - if I want to wear a jacket, it's a good chance it's overcast, raining or flatout dark outside and I'd like to be seen.

V.

[caligurl]

another ditto of the smaller frames and COMPONETS for smaller people! all three of my bikes are WSD cuz i NEED them to be!

as for clothing.... not every female who rides wants flowers and pink! i want nice colors.... but not the flower prints.... pink has to be done right... again.. no flowers or polka dots or spots or whatever.... i'm not 10! i don't do flowers! a nice solid or two-toned... a bit of contrast... tasteful but bold is good! makes us seen!

[Eaglewalker]

Ditto objections to the childish colors and patterns. I am a woman, not a girl.

Problems with fit: I am tall, big-boned, hourglass-shaped (long torso, short legs, big difference between hip and waist), and run to muscle. Men's clothes aren't built for this, nor are most women's. Anything that fits the hips is generally three inches too large in the waist. Anything that fits close to the torso (which I prefer) is too tight in the shoulders and arms. My problem with women's clothes is that they just aren't "womanly" enough. Everything appears to be designed with Alyssa Milano in mind.

(Shoes are beyond useless, but that's not a woman-specific problem. NOBODY makes ANYTHING in 8.5 EE/B for either men or women. I just figure I'm a mutant, and let it go at that.)

I ride a standard fit mountain bike. Women's bikes don't fit.

Pearl Izumi is great for the shorts, but I haven't yet solved the jersey problem yet.

[DirtDiva]

...Anything that fits the hips is generally three inches too large in the waist... Pearl Izumi is great for the shorts, but I haven't yet solved the jersey problem yet...

Heh, I'm guessing I may wish to stay far, far away from PI shorts: I have the exact opposite problem. Going by the size charts (and not just PI's), I need a L in the waist and a S over the rest of me. I don't bother trying on anything that's designed to come right up to my waist because it just ain't gonna work.

I've never ridden WSD, so I can't really comment on that side of things.

[Nanci]

I'm just coming off a period in my life when my measurements were all almost the same. You people with a waist ought to enjoy it!!! At least you can still fit into three inches too big. Three inches too small isn't happening :-(

Nanci