Quote Originally Posted by Seajay View Post
...64" = 5'3" So you are 5'2.5" I'd have to guess that 5'3" is a fair bit below average height for American women under the age of 60.
Even so, I just walked around our shop I'd say you have 22 choices here of various styles from Hybrids, Road and full suspension mt.
Um, no. 64" is 5'-4", not 5'-3".
I suspect that WSD bikes might have been created at that urging of shop owners who got tired of having to swap out wide handlebars for narrow, long stems for short, and of course shim the brake levers for smaller hands. It's easier if the bike already comes with those changes made, and many women actually do need those changes. For those who don't, there are unisex bikes. Many shops will have them in stock, unbuilt. Not every bike is out on the shop floor.
(I have to say, I love the modern style of stem. I'm a short-torso woman (5'-8") who has always had to swap to a shorter stem. In older road bikes with quill stems, it took more than an hour. With my new road bike, purchased last year, it took about 5 minutes.)
As for shops being welcoming or not, my biggest peeve is when they assume that I'm a newbie simply because I'm female. All the sales clerks have to do is ask a few questions to determine my level of experience (riding longer than some of them have been alive). I think the least welcoming shop I've ever been in was in Vancouver somewhere. Despite the fact that I was the one actually walking around examining the bikes, they only talked to my husband and ignored me completely.