WSD vs Men's frames

[Catrin]

I think much of this is marketing, but fit is paramount. Proportionally speaking I've long legs, and several reasons why I need an upright riding position + quite short reach. My one WSD bike was sold at a loss because it was too big - if Trek made the 7.6 FX in a smaller size would that have happened? Unsure, but since the bike was too big it is difficult to determine if the problem was from the design or the bike just being too large for me.

If it weren't for my short reach I would ride a 52 cm frame, but for fit reasons I ride a 46-48 cm frame. That being said, my two non-custom bikes are unisex, not WSD at all (LHT and Jamis Dakar). I think the fit will still need dialed in on the Jamis, but I need to get more comfortable on the trails before we figure that out...

The point is to try everything out there, and find what fits the best. If an LBS won't show you non-WSD frames, then take your money somewhere else. In the end you might well need WSD, but you need to try all of your options.

[ehirsch83]

ONE IMPORTANT thing that many of you are forgetting- you are all talking about the top tube difference-but most women's specific design have a taller HEADTUBE! so it will be a little more upright, not as aggressive- but also bring everything in closer.

[WindingRoad]

It all depends on your body. A marketing strategy, probably, but the truth is the WSD bikes work really nice for some women. But they also work really great on some guys too, lol. I sold a WSD bike to a very leggy and rather short man last week and though he was not crazy about the paint job he was smart enough to realize he could 'guy' it up a bit and also have the comfort factor too. It's kinda funny now since us girls are usually 'girling' our boring male oriented paint jobs up to make them more 'ours'. At our shop we go by Serotta's proportion fitting system and it will then pull up a whole list of bikes, sizes, manufacturers that have the best lengths and combos of tube to best fit that person. I won't say its a perfect system b/c everyone has different mobilities too.

All that aside I'm a girl and I ride a WSD. I got lucky and found a bike that worked really awesome for me. I did get a custom fitting done on it too where me and my fitter tweaked some things. See not perfect though! Fittings are just so important.