Women’s Specific Road Bikes

Women’s Adventure looks at four women’s specific design road bikes:

• Raleigh Intrigue 2.0
• Marin Treviso
• Trek Pilot 5.2 spa
• K2 T9 Alliance Road

Recently, I’ve had a few friends ask about buying a “real” road bike. They’ve been riding comfort/hybrid bikes for a year or so and they’re hooked. Now they’re ready for something a little faster or cuter or they’ve come to realize that just one bike isn’t enough!

I’m sort of in the same boat they are. I normally ride a steel touring bike and I have a hybrid for commuting to work. They both weigh in at about 28 pounds, which puts me at a slight disadvantage when trying to climb hills with my riding buddies on their under-20-pound road bikes. “Wait for me” is constantly forming on my lips.

I thought I’d give several women’s design road bikes a look. I tried out four bikes ranging from $900 to $3200. Way more expensive than that $300 comfort bike I started out with!

Why women’s design? Fit, fit, fit. It doesn’t matter what label you put on a bike, fit is the single most important factor when you pick a bike out. Just keep chanting to yourself, “It’s worth it” when you start looking, to get measured and fit to a bike by someone trained. If you go into a shop and all they want to do is have you stand over the top tube of a bike to make sure there’s adequate clearance, ask them if they do actual fittings. When you ride a bike that fits properly on a longer ride, the discomforts you’ve been putting up with on your old “one size fits many” bike become glaringly apparent.

What does women’s specific mean? In most cases, it means the range of frame sizes will start smaller, the length of the top tube will be a bit shorter in proportion to the height of the bike, the handlebars may be narrower, the brake/shifting levers may be smaller, the saddle will be a bit wider, the crank length may be shorter and sometimes, the bike color and decoration might be girly. Don’t reject women’s specific bikes if you are a taller, larger woman. Try them and see if they feel right. Remember, it’s all about fit, not labels.

Raleigh Intrigue 2.0

Aluminum frame, carbon fork msrp $950
A great “under $1000″ road bike - Click here to read more about the Intrigue!

When you switch from a hybrid or comfort bike to a road bike, you lose the shocks in the front fork and the seat post but you gain speed and maneuverability. And the Intrigue can move! Don’t worry that you’ll be uncomfortable, though. Lots of road bikes feature carbon forks, seat stays, even seat posts that help soak up the vibes without stealing your power to move. The carbon front fork on the Intrigue will help reduce the vibration that gets transmitted up through your hands and arms over rougher roads.

I was interested in trying the compact crank gearing – that means instead of the usual three rings, you have just two but they have a different range of possible gears than the usual road bike gearing, making it easier to climb hills in smaller gears just like you do with a triple. Forgoing the third ring makes the bike a little lighter and faster.

Just look at the colors on this bike! I had several people on group rides comment on how they liked the boldness. Both my fellow bike tester and I are tall so we tested the largest size (56) and found that the handlebar, crank and stem lengths had all been increased to suit that larger sized frame. The new Tiagra shifter, with the gear indicator window is fun – just glance down at your hands to see what gear you’re in rather than down and back to your crank and cog!

Not so great: at almost $1000, we wish the seat stay was also carbon. The road was a little rougher without that vibration dampening.

Marin Treviso

Aluminum frame, carbon fork and carbon seat stays msrp $1180
Click here to read more about the Treviso!

We loved this bike! We put the Treviso to the test on the Joliet Sudden Century this month and it performed beautifully over sections of wash-boarded road, into fierce headwinds, along a paved cycle path and up some serious hills (serious for Illinois, that is). You’ll notice the carbon front fork and rear seat stays on the Treviso right away. Carbon stops vibrations and having it in both places, at your hands and at your seat, means a smoother, more comfortable, less exhausting ride. Marin got the frame/component mix just right with a smaller width on the handlebar, smaller shifters, women’s design saddle, and the Women’s Fit Geometry frame. Don’t be afraid to try this bike if you’re a taller woman or don’t have the “usual” long leg/short torso build, though – both our taller testers felt right at home on the Treviso. The Treviso was very easy to control, cornered nicely, and felt intuitive in its handling. We enjoyed smooth, reliable shifting with the full Shimano 105 drive train, too. Even with a triple crank, the Treviso weighed in around 20 pounds, making us grateful on long slow hill climbs. This is a great choice for riders looking to upgrade from a hybrid bike and try longer rides or charity events without any sacrifice of comfort. We’ve probably put about 400 miles on this bike and the ride just keeps getting better!

Not so great: We sometimes wished for stronger brakes on the downhills.

Added bonus: Marin gives part of the profits on Treviso sales to Breast Cancer Research.

K2 T:Nine Alliance Road

Aluminum frame, carbon fork and carbon seat stay. msrp $1999 (Available through REI for $1799)

The Alliance Road (named the Tempest last year) was developed with the talent and advice of a group of women on the T:Nine Team. In fact, you’ll find their signatures on the top tube of the Alliance Road and you can thank them for some of the thoughtful features on this bike.

I wondered if I’d be as impressed with the Alliance as I have been with the other road bikes we’ve been testing this summer, and the answer is a resounding “yes!” The Alliance is a serious bike with high-end components, but it manages to still feel inviting and comfortable to a less experienced rider. This is a “second” road bike, the one you buy after you’ve ridden a season or two on an entry-level road bike and you’ve figured out that you want to ride faster, longer, more competitively, or you just lust for a really gorgeous bike. The Alliance Road has the carbon fork and seat stays you’d expect at this level, and some extras, too. The entire shifting system is Shimano Ultegra level, translating to smooth, reliable performance, which is especially noticeble when you shift under a load, climbing a hill. The FSA handlebars are narrower with a shallow drop and short reach for narrower shoulders and wrapped with a stitched leather-like bar tape. The stem height is adjustable, not with a heavy pivoting stem, but with a clever a sliding ring/ridge affair that doesn’t add weight but allows you to adjust the stem up or down depending on your preference for a heads down race position or neck-friendly position. Powerful FSA Energy brakes will stop you on a dime. They made me feel safe.

The icing on this jewel-blue cake is the American Classic wheelset. We know pounds count on a bike when you like to ride fast and the weight of the wheel has a big impact on how much exertion it takes to move the bike. It all adds up to a bike that likes to move. Fast. On hills, the Alliance actually made me feel like I could accelerate rather than just toil to the top. The handling felt precise and frisky but never unsteady at high speeds. I’d call the K2 a best buy - wonderful components, fantastic wheelset, a beautiful blue aluminum/carbon frame at a fair price. If you are going to upgrade from your hybrid and plan to reach a bit for a bike and keep your new road bike for a while, this may be the one for you. Put your favorite pedals on and you’ll be set for many happy miles to come.

Not so great: The Alliance Road comes in XS, S, and M sizes and we tried the medium, which is meant to fit riders from 5′6″ to 5′10″. We wish it came in a larger range of sizes that would allow a more custom fit.

K2’s T:Nine Alliance is another line that supports the Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Research Foundation with generous donations each year. The Alliance Road sports a little pink ribbon in tribute to this fact.

A very big thank you to Aaron at REI, Oakbrook Terrace, IL for building this bike for WA to test and to T.K. Malone at K2 bikes for going to extraordinary lengths to make sure we were able to include the Alliance Road in our road bike line-up this summer. Look for exciting things to happen with the 2008 Alliance Road!

Trek Pilot 5.2 s.p.a. WSD

Carbon frame and fork with elastomere rear suspension. msrp $3270.
Click here to read more about the Trek Pilot 5.2 s.p.a. WSD

The gorgeous crystal blue Pilot 5.2 s.p.a. WSD (Women’s Specific Design) just begs to be taken out for a ride. My test model even had matching blue water bottle cages!

Don’t be fooled, though. The Pilot 5.2 s.p.a WSD looks like eye candy, but you aren’t going to suffer for the sake of beauty. Once I was out on the Pilot 5.2, I fell in love with the smooth-as-silk ride. That elastomere piece in the rear is a hard rubbery cushion that keeps bumps in the road from travelling up into the seat without adding any additional weight like a traditional rear or seat post suspension would. So you have the vibration-absorbing carbon frame as well as the elastomere suspension to help you ride for miles and miles without a bit of bother. The more upright positioning helps, too, if you have any neck issues or just like being more heads-up when you ride.

The Pilot 5.2 s.p.a has high-end components you don’t always find on women’s specific bikes, so you can be speedy as well as comfy and beautiful all at the same time! Now how many of the boys can make that claim?

Not so great: Seriously pricey. If the cost is making you say “ouch,” the Pilot family also includes four other Women’s Specific Design bikes in a range of prices.

Many thanks to Trek’s Julie Kramer, who heads up the Midwest “Fit for Women” bike demo tour, for lending me the Pilot 5.2 s.p.a. WSD to try out for a few days.

Want to know more? Leave me a comment and I’ll give you the lowdown!