How to get more women into cycling

[Owlie]

This makes me nuts. I am 5'10" and get steered towards WSD in shops. I don't fit WSD anything. Unfortunately many shop employees look at a female customer and instinctively point her in that direction. It's great that there are so many options available for women in the sport, but education around what FITS, vs. what the marketing hype is about would go a long way.

SheFly

* Normally if a woman comes in and wants a road bike, I start with the WSD frames, but I will certainly try them on unisex frames if it looks like the WSD doesn't fit.

I think it works the other way around too, especially with women just getting into it. I hear "I need a women's road bike" from someone who looks like she'd have better luck with the unisex frames quite a bit. I'll show them the women's stuff, of course, and then try to persuade them that they look cramped and perhaps suggest that they try a unisex frame. It doesn't always work.

I don't know if it's the paint scheme ("But I want the fun colors!") or an ingrained preference for the "appropriately-gendered" item (and marketing playing on that), or what.