Mountain bikes for women... specifically designed for your riding needs? Seriously, you'd be mad not to get your hands on one.

OK, you've got the riding bug. You've ridden against the guys and you've beaten them... but the bike fit was bad enough to put you off doing it ever again. Sore butt, shoulders and neck, not to mention the legs.

mountain-bike-women-championships

The problem, is you're riding bikes designed for guys, and guy's bodies work differently. Just getting the smallest frame size isn't going to solve the problem. However, riding a women's specific bike will improve matters considerably for your shoulders, neck and butt. Unfortunately, you can't do much about the sore legs, they come with the territory.

"What's so special about these mountain bikes, that I should even consider getting one?"

Let's get down to the basics. The truth is, there are 4 key anatomical reasons;

  1. You tend to have shorter backs and longer legs than the guys. This has an impact on the length of the Top tube, which should be shorter and therefore effects your reach. (Unfortunately, over the last couple of years the trend here has been to lengthen the Top tube, making things even more uncomfortable for women.
  2. Your hip movement is different to the guys. You girls tend to bend and swivel in a different way and this effects the basic bike geometry of mountain bikes for women.
  3. The anatomical requirements of your butt is also important. Your hips tend to be wider and the padding is more specific to your requirement.
  4. Unless you're an Olympic swimmer you'll probably have narrower shoulders than the guys too. So the bars are smaller, as are the grips, for the smaller hands.


"OK, so is there a full range of bikes, or am I going to end up with something that's cheap and cheerful and pink?"

I'm glad to say, the days of "shrink and pink" are behind us. Most of the serious manufacturers now have a good women's mountain bike range that are marathon and race capable. They also have some very good trail bikes.

And it's not just restricted to Hardtails. Fullies are out there too, with manufacturers like Specialized developing rear-shocks specifically (you tend to be lighter) for their range of bikes.

Manufacturers to watch are Scott, Specialized and Trek.

  • The Scott Contessa range provides excellent Hardtail (Scale) and Full Suspension (Spark) rigs.
  • Trek also provide the 8000 WSD (HT) and Fuel EX8 WSD (FS).
  • As of going to press Specialized have reduced their line of women's mountain bikes down to two, the Safire (FS) and the Myka (FS + HT versions).

I can't promise you, but there may still be some mountain bikes for women out there in the inevitable...pink.

By Nick Mutter

Are you thinking of buying one of the many mountain bikes for women? Before you choose, join us at http://www.Epic-Mountain-Bike.com and get your free women's mountain bike reviews and Free personalised Alpine route maps. Nick Mutter has been riding mountain bikes since 1989, leading Epic mountain biking expeditions in the French Alps and Norway.
"Tackle Mother Nature head-on!"

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