# Women on mens mountain bikes?



## jgo47 (May 7, 2008)

I have been lookingat some bikes for my wife. I have compared the mens and womens fuel ex6. the geometry on both 15.5 inch frames seem the same. so my question is what is the real difference. They say it is a shorter reach but if you look at the specs they are the same. So are there any women on mens small framed bikes and whats your opion on women on mens bikes. Thanks


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## MtbRN (Jun 8, 2006)

*Yes*

I have never owned a "woman specific" bike. I've owned 3 mountain bikes and one road bike, all in men's frames. They fit me fine with a little tweaking of saddle position and stem length on a couple of them.

As you've astutely noted, a lot of manufacturers paint a bike a pretty color and call it womens specific without making any changes to the actual frame geometry. Other manufacturers do shorten the reach and make changes to accomodate the average female proportions. It is all about what fits your wife best. She might be fine on a mens frame or might be more comfortable on a womens specific frame. Hope that helps.


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ Same for me. I just think of them all as mountain bikes, rather than "men's" and "women's". Just find one that fits.


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## 2WD (Mar 11, 2007)

Ditto here too. And that "pretty" pink colour costs more and usually the componentry is less than what would be on a "mans" bike too.


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## connie (Mar 16, 2004)

Out of at least a dozen mountain bikes that I've owned (that I can think of off-hand), one of them is women's specific (I just bought the frame and built the rest of the bike so the componentry wasn't an issue). And the rest have fit just fine. Some "women's" frames are identical to mens frames, others are designed with a shorter top tube to accomodate women who have proportionally longer legs and shorter torsos than the average man. That's about the only typical difference. And you can add a women's specific saddle or shorter cranks or things like that to any bike if you need them to fit better.

Best bet is to try some out and see what works. Definitely look at both unisex and women's frames - don't restrict yourself to just women's bikes.


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## miatagal96 (Jul 5, 2005)

I know a couple of guys who fit women's-specific bikes very well. It's mostly about relative torso length. If the frame specs are identical, maybe they just jacked up the price and put pink accents on it. They might put a shorter stem, WSD saddle, or narrower bars (note that per a previous thread, there are a lot of girls riding with wide bars).

All of my bikes are unisex and they fit great. I'm 5'8" and usually take a medium. For me, it's all about effective top tube (ETT) length. My bikes are all in the range of 22.8" - 23.2" ETT. That's what I have found works for me. So I women's or unisex, the size I start looking at is the one that has the ETT in that range. The number of women's-specific bikes are so limited, I wouldn't limit myself to just those bikes unless, through test driving, that they fit me better.


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## smoothie7 (May 18, 2011)

my girlfriend doesn't like all the "Girly" colors on the womens bike and normally looks at the mens bikes anyways. If it's comfortable, ride on!!


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## Wylie (Mar 19, 2007)

I know one of the Trek WSD reps, so I'm a bit biased, but because of that I know they also don't have a "shrink it and pink it" mentality about their women's lines either. If you compare the Fuel Ex6 specs across the regular and WSD lines, there are actually key differences in areas like effective top tube length, seat tube length, head tube length, and standover. They also offer a 14.5" frame just for women. They tend to spec them with slightly shorter stems, different bars, etc. And that Fuel Ex6 WSD is grey and white, no pink to be seen... 

In the end though, it just comes down to fit. I've had one WSD bike, but for me I'm tall with a crazy inseam and arm reach, so I tend to buy regular bikes and adjust components to get exactly the fit I like. Buying a WSD bike doesn't guarantee a good fit for a woman any more than a guy randomly buying a non-WSD bike...


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## Picola (Mar 21, 2011)

I think most of the differences are minor things like seats and stems length which you might need to change anyway. That said, the stock seat on my Fuel EX WSD fits me really well unlike the seat on my husband's bike. But I'm sure that it won't fit every girl the same way.

I'm also really small and need a XS or XXS frame so usually WSD is my only option.


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## jgo47 (May 7, 2008)

Thanks everyone for the info. Thats prety much what i thought. We will just find a frame that fits her and that she likes of course.


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## formica (Jul 4, 2004)

Some WSD products have significant differences over the male counterpart, and I know for some women this makes a huge difference based on their body type. Just do your homework.


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## jaclynj (Jun 11, 2007)

One of my bikes is women specific...yes it is bright pink...yes it would have come with shitty parts if I bought it as a whole bike. I ended up buying the frame and putting my own parts on it. 

I've found that most "women specific" bikes have crappy parts on them. Apparently the most of the bike producers think we're okay with riding lower quality parts as long as the bike is pretty.


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## boardguru (Oct 3, 2009)

Just got my wife on a Ibis Mojo HD size small. She loves it! I don't think Ibis makes a WSD bike. She is 5'3". fits her fine with over 6 inches travel.:thumbsup:


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## mabelle (Jun 14, 2011)

I think women's bike is made specifically for our comfort and etc. although you can't notice any major difference, but I guess it's the saddle for women's bike that you should focus on.


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## rideondirt (Jun 13, 2011)

I was just shopping for a new bike and looking at Trek's. The only difference b/w the mens and WSD frames was the stem length and the seat. I actually need a mens frame with a longer reach and they were sold out. Fortunately they had a WSD so we swapped out for a longer stem and flat bars and it fit perfect!


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## connie (Mar 16, 2004)

rideondirt said:


> I was just shopping for a new bike and looking at Trek's. The only difference b/w the mens and WSD frames was the stem length and the seat. I actually need a mens frame with a longer reach and they were sold out. Fortunately they had a WSD so we swapped out for a longer stem and flat bars and it fit perfect!


That's almost true as a general rule - but many of the Trek WSD frames have slightly taller standover than the equivalent unisex frame of the same bike, which effectively makes the reach shorter (proportionally - since the rest of the bike stays the same). Don't know which bike you have and it varies by frame and size.


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## chuky (Apr 3, 2005)

jaclynj said:


> I've found that most "women specific" bikes have crappy parts on them. Apparently the most of the bike producers think we're okay with riding lower quality parts as long as the bike is pretty.


Heh. Hardly. No one at a bike company says "hey, let's put crappy parts on this chick bike!".

What they do say is, "The actual women's market for quality bikes is maybe 10% of the total market. So, while it costs us exactly the same amount of money to make and develop the product, it will take us 10 times longer to recoup the costs. Because of this, this product has to cost more and will be priced out of most people's price ranges with a high end spec. To make this frame affordable to dealers and riders, we will have to down-grade the components."

There are a lot of smart people in the industry who would love to take advantage of a robust women's market. None of us presume that women are stupid or any more distracted by shiny things than the average rider.

Cheers,
C


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## connie (Mar 16, 2004)

chuky said:


> Heh. Hardly. No one at a bike company says "hey, let's put crappy parts on this chick bike!".
> 
> What they do say is, "The actual women's market for quality bikes is maybe 10% of the total market. So, while it costs us exactly the same amount of money to make and develop the product, it will take us 10 times longer to recoup the costs. Because of this, this product has to cost more and will be priced out of most people's price ranges with a high end spec. To make this frame affordable to dealers and riders, we will have to down-grade the components."
> 
> ...


Well, and not only that, but I don't think the whole "more expensive/lower end component" thing is necessarily true anymore (or at least not with all manufacturers).

Look at a Trek Top Fuel 9.8 vs. a Top Fuel 9.8 WSD. The price is exactly the same, and the only component differences are things like different brake levers, WSD saddle, slightly different frame geometry (on some sizes bikes anyway), and a wider range of smaller sizes (a 14.5 and a 16.5 that are not available in the unisex version).


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Not sure if this is of interest to anybody but on vintage bikes, I've had no trouble fitting on any bike except maybe an older Yeti Fro with a 23" tt. If anything, they've all fit quite well with the relaxed headtube. Quite fun if any ladies are interested. Definitely helps a person work on technique on a full rigid or hardtail.


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## Cary (Dec 29, 2003)

One other thing to note is that some women's bikes will also have narrower bars. When we were shopping for a FS bike for my fiance, she rode both the "women's" and "men's" version of the same Stumpjumper. At 5'8" and having relatively wide shoulders for a female, she much preferred the fit of the "mens" bike. A simple saddle swap to a Terry Butterfly and she was happy as pie.


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