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November 14, 2008
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The Ruby Comp (Courtesy of Specialized)
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Is a women's bike frame always the best fit?
— The Editors
Santa Fe, New Mexico
 "Always" is a scary adverb because there are as many female body types as there are bike frames. If you’re 5'9" with a 33" inseam, like me, you could probably get away with riding a men's frame and be perfectly happy with the fit. You don’t need to settle though. In the past few years, a lot of bike manufacturers, and especially companies like Specialized and Orbea, have invested a lot of time and energy into developing women’s specific road and mountain bikes.
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Do you have a question of your
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Because women generally have longer legs and shorter torsos, Specialized uses a women’s-specific geometry that has shorter top-tube lengths. And, since we generally weigh less than men, Specialized also uses lighter and thinner tube sets on their womens’ frames. The company also outfits bikes with gender-specific components. Their “Body Geometry Jett” women’s saddles, for example, help reduce pressure on your tender parts, while the brake levers on their women’s specific handlebars are closer to the bars, which makes it easier for small hands to shift and brake.
Sound better than the men’s bike you’re currently riding? Check out the Ruby Comp Triple ($2,700), which is in the mid-to high-end range of Specialized women’s road bikes. In addition to the advantages mentioned above, the carbon composite frame is race ready, but comfortable enough to ride in a century. Plus, it has a triple chain ring, which makes pumping up long mountain passes a bit less painful.
Another one of my favorites is Orbea's carbon Diva ($3,915-$6,504). The price might make you cringe, but the women’s specific design rides like a dream, and the svelte black-and-pink frame will make you want to hang it up on a wall and call it art when you’re not out riding.
Stephanie Pearson: The Gear Girl
When it comes to gear, contributing editor Stephanie Pearson lives by one rule: What you own, owns you. That's why the skier, hiker, biker, runner, canoe paddler, and sometimes yogini is on an eternal quest to find gear and clothing that will enhance her life rather than make her a slave to dysfunctional stuff. During her seven-year stint as a travel editor at Outside, Pearson received three honorable mentions in The Best American Travel Writing series for stories on Guatemala, New Zealand, and Bhutan. Now that she's no longer in the office at Outside HQ in Santa Fe, Pearson hopes to be on the road more and is always in search of functional and aesthetically pleasing gear that's easy to use or clothing that's elegant to wear. Pearson is based in northern Minnesota and Santa Fe. Her latest adventure was on the fringe of the Amazon Basin in Brazil.
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