Why are women's bike different?
Women's bikes: a real need or a marketing stunt?
Women's bikes have always been adapted to their morphology. The top tubes of the frames are much lower than those of men. Historically, this frame shape was created so that women could ride their bikes in dresses or skirts. This frame shape is still adopted today for women's city bikes. Over the last few years, mountain bike and road bike manufacturers have developed a range of models for women. The reason for this is quite simply that the future of cycling lies with women as well as men. Whether on a road bike or a mountain bike, more and more women are taking up cycling!
As these differences between bikes are not visible to the naked eye (not all women's bikes are pink), we decided to take a look at the elements that characterise a woman's bike.
The frame: the main component of a women's bike
As you may have understood from the introduction, women have a different body shape to men. Women have a smaller upper body than men, slightly longer legs and a wider pelvis. It's for these reasons that women's bikes have different frame sizes. There are also mixed bikes that are equally suitable for women and men, depending on their size. Whether it's a road bike or a mountain bike, frames are characterised primarily by the length of the top tube. Manufacturers such as Trek or Santa Cruz, under the Juliana brand, offer bikes with a much smaller reach, but with the same seatpost height. This technology is even suitable for a woman electric bike. The position will be much more comfortable and adapted to different body shapes.
You can also identify them by the sizes offered. Generally men's bikes are available in sizes S - XL, women's bikes are available in sizes XS to L.
The saddle: a wider saddle for a woman's bike
For women's bikes, you'll notice that the saddles sold with the bikes are wider than the men's models. Once again, this is to accommodate women's morphologies and their wider pelvis. A women's bike saddle is 150 to 155 mm wide, compared with 138/142 mm for men. Women should also look into saddles with a pressure relief channel if they have pain around their soft tissues where the contact between the rider and the saddle takes place.
Now you can find the right bib shorts for you, ladies!
Today's cycling shorts are adapted to the shape of women's pelvises. The pad is wider and more comfortable. With a wide saddle and cycling shorts specially designed for women, you've got the winning combination of comfort on the back of your women's bike.
Women's bike handlebars
With a smaller shoulder width than men's, the handlebars mounted on women's bikes are are slightly narrower. Mountain bike or road bike, the choice is yours, depending on your morphology. When it comes to road bike handlebars, it's more common to select a size that the exact width of your shoulders<.strong>, between 36mm and 42mm for women (or even smaller). For mountain bike handlebars, it's a different story. A short handlebar will be responsive to bends and hairpins. It also makes it easier to breathe when climbing. Wider handlebars give you give you stability on steep descents and jumps. It's up to you to judge according to your riding style.
Insights into the place of women in the world of cycling
Women's road bikes
The UCI vowed to make women cycling mainstream by broadcasting their races more and more and in 2023 we got the second Edition of Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift which took place in July this year. Women's Cycling is growing and sponsors are pushing for more. All it needs to grow even bigger is a better professionnal circuit and better marketing. Women cyclists attract less sponsors and the difference in budget between the top teams and bottom teams is immense, making is impossible to have a big rivalry in Grand Tours like we have in men's.
The future of women's cycling is bright and many youngsters hope to, one day, be part of the sports' legacy.
