New bike rider

Red Bobbie said:

I'm new to the sport- going to buy my first bike. I will be road riding, i'm 5'4,
need a 29" stand over, 49cm-50cm size? i was told by bike shop. i would like
a bike specific for a woman- any suggestions?? best brands?? any help would
be great! RB

I just bought my first road bike after riding a hybrid for awhile. I really liked the Scott Contessa model for women yet my LBS did not have it in my size. It was very comfortable & had better components then comparable models. The Trek models are good but you should really try them first to see which one is comfortable to you. The problem I ran into is that not many LBS carry a lot of women specific models in stock so I didn't get to test ride as many as I had wanted. My LBS would have ordered a women specific model for me but we were able to tweak the standard Scott Speedster to fit. I am happy with my purchase after a few tweaks & adjustments.

Compared to a male of the same height, a female has longer legs, shorter body, shorter arms, smaller hands, wider pelvis and narrower shoulders.

The womans specific bike (WSB) has a shorter top tube so you can reach the handlebars easier, narrower handlebars to match your shoulders and give a shorter reach to the brakes, wider seat.

Some females ride male bikes, they usually put a smaller head on to shorten the reach and a wider seat to make sure they are sitting on the sit bones. The problem with this approach, is that they usually don't change the brake leavers, as this is expensive and then find that they can't reach the brakes from down in the drops.

Have a sit on a number of WSB's and see how they feel. If you know any females that ride, have a chat to them and see if they will let you ride their bikes around the block.

Have a browse thru the Womans forum, theres plenty of discussion there, particually about seats.

Depending on your budget, Giant have a range of WSD bikesfor different purposes, mostly with compact frames which will help with the stand over height.

Here is their site

giant-bicycles.com030.000.500.aspOpen ↗

and

giantforwomen.comgiantforwomen.comOpen ↗ which has a helpful bike finder.

Red Bobbie said:

I'm new to the sport- going to buy my first bike. I will be road riding, i'm 5'4,
need a 29" stand over, 49cm-50cm size? i was told by bike shop. i would like
a bike specific for a woman- any suggestions?? best brands?? any help would
be great! RB

Whatever bike you get, make sure it fits you perfectly before you buy. The LBS can make a lot of adjustments for you to get it just right.

kleng said:

Depending on your budget, Giant have a range of WSD bikesfor different purposes, mostly with compact frames which will help with the stand over height.

Here is their site

giant-bicycles.com030.000.500.aspOpen ↗

and

giantforwomen.comgiantforwomen.comOpen ↗ which has a helpful bike finder.

thanks for your help- i will look at these-
b

mikesbytes said:

Compared to a male of the same height, a female has longer legs, shorter body, shorter arms, smaller hands, wider pelvis and narrower shoulders.

The womans specific bike (WSB) has a shorter top tube so you can reach the handlebars easier, narrower handlebars to match your shoulders and give a shorter reach to the brakes, wider seat.

Some females ride male bikes, they usually put a smaller head on to shorten the reach and a wider seat to make sure they are sitting on the sit bones. The problem with this approach, is that they usually don't change the brake leavers, as this is expensive and then find that they can't reach the brakes from down in the drops.

Have a sit on a number of WSB's and see how they feel. If you know any females that ride, have a chat to them and see if they will let you ride their bikes around the block.

Have a browse thru the Womans forum, theres plenty of discussion there, particually about seats.

thank you for the practical advice- i appreciate all of it!
b

My mother is an avid cyclist about the same size as you described yourself as being. She tried both the Trek Madone 5.2 WSD, and the Specialized Ruby line of bikes and found them to be very comfortable and correctly sized for her frame. The Specialized line may offer more variety in components for the $$, but both have nearly the same frame geometries - focused on providing support and ease-of-use for women.

Hope this helps, good luck!