Found this great article about the challenges of fitting bikes for women. Interestingly, I've only recently discovered that my top tube (the one you stand over) is too long for me. Because it's too long, I have a really super short stem so I can reach the handlebars but as described in this article, that short stem makes the steering very twitchy which is why I struggle on the downhill and have to use a lot of force to hold still as every little movement with my arms, translates into a big turn of the front wheel (bad news when flying down a hill).
So I have money and friends who can build bikes, and want to either a) buy a new frame and gradually get nice components to go with it or b) buy a new bike if this ends up being cheaper - but the range of choice out there is overwhelming. Where do I start on choosing a frame?
First step was to get properly measured, and now i know that my height is 165cm, my inside leg measurement is 78cm and according to this website I should be riding a 53cm bike, whereas my recent bike measurement at Sportscare has me looking for a 50cm.
..complicated. It seems that the smartest thing to do is research well and work out a range of frames that are the right size, then go for some test rides and try to calculate whether its better value to buy a frame or a whole new bike...
I'll post another update as I go along.
Good post Rach. I know of a lot of people (women in particular) who have been sold / are still riding the wrong size bike. There seems to be a big push for "near enough is good enough". One friend in particular who is, well, 5 foot nothing, ended up on a medium size bike as the bike shop assured her it would be fine (she's actually an XS frame!). Anyways, to cut a long comment short, I've now owned 4 different "brands" of road bikes (and have had 2 different frames from the one brand) and can honestly say that they all handle very differently, not to mention feel very different. Subtle things on a frame make a big difference to handling and the feel of the bike, and that's before you even take set up into account. So on that note, you're welcome to borrow any of my bikes (I currently have 3 operational road bikes) and take them for a spin to test out the different geometries. Mine are all a size small frame (approx 52.5cm top tube). But I do warn you, once you've ridden my Wilier, you'll never want to go back... ;-)
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