Not long ago, there were many bikes exclusively made for women when consumers entered a bike shop seeking a bike meant especially for ladies. These bicycles ranged significantly; some had women-specific saddles and narrower handlebars, some had different color schemes than unisex versions, and some were even ground-up with women in mind.
Still, few firms provide women-specific bikes these days, save from Liv, a brand targeted on women's cycling. To better grasp the background of women-specific designs and investigate why women's bicycles are not as prevalent as they once were, we spoke with some important industry players, including American pioneer Georgena Terry, Liv Cycling founder Bonnie Tu, Ribble Cycles product development manager Kathy Beresford, and Canyon's worldwide communications manager Ben Hillsdon.
The Evolution of Women's Bicycles
Many people attribute Georgena Terry as the creator of bicycles tailored especially for ladies. After graduating from college, her love of cycling started a few years later. Combining her mechanical engineering expertise with her handcrafting of her own bicycle frames in a Pennsylvanian basement in the early 1980s,
"Once I started doing this, I found that many of the potential customers were women, and they all had very similar complaints," Terry said. Terry pointed up two main issues. First, shorter ladies couldn't straddle bicycles with the horizontal top tube style that was common at the time. Their inability to reach the front wheel from the lengthy front-to-rear wheelbase proved the second challenge.
"So I began to wonder, Why should I compete in a market with so many men's bicycle makers? Nobody was particularly producing anything for women; this should be my focus. The reaction was rather favorable when Terry initially began building bikes for ladies. "I felt that launching Terry Bicycles set off a trigger," she said. "People often placed orders before even riding the bikes when I visited different trade displays and consumer events to highlight the products."
Terry has created and constructed thousands of women's bicycles since the 1980s, including mass-produced models manufactured abroad between 1985 and 2012 and custom frames she continues to handcraft. Beyond the frames themselves, Terry developed a line of women's cycling clothes and accessories, including award-winning saddles.
Moving Towards the Mainstream
More manufacturers started to reconsider their approach to design in the years after Georgena Terry's groundbreaking creations. Early in the 2000s, big companies began launching women-specific product lines ranging from the symbolic "shrink it and pink it" approach to whole distinct bicycles built and sold for women by women.
Bonnie Tu started Liv Cycling in 2008 as a sister brand to Giant, one of the most well-known producers. Originally Chief Financial Officer for Giant, Tu rode a bike tour around Taiwan with founder King Liu. "I couldn't believe the options for women's bicycles and gear were so few as I got ready for this ride. Liv found inspiration in that, Tu added.
Product, experience, and opportunity turned out to be three main pillars for the new company, according to Tu's team. With an eye toward a cheerful and welcoming atmosphere, they not only set out to design bicycles, clothes, and accessories for women but also to interact with them regarding their store experiences. To guarantee a female-centric company focus, Tu also exclusively hired women in key roles in the new organization.
"Women's specialized items were few at that time, usually merely scaled-down versions of men's models with varying paint jobs. We decided to go different ways. Great design, we think, depends on empathy," Tu said.
Liv first got good comments, and Giant realized internally that the product range lacked something. Liv started testing the Taipei city market, and following a great reaction, the brand grew into other markets and riding forms in the next years.
From urban commuters and electric bikes to road racing bicycles ridden in WorldTour events, advanced mountain bikes used by the Liv Factory Racing team, and high-end models for triathlons, gravel races, cross-country, and mountain bike racing, Liv is a global brand today, providing a complete range of premium bikes.
Based on women's body data as well as comments from editors, professional athletes, and regular users, Liv bicycles include unique frame geometry. Women-specific saddles, shorter reach, lower standover height, and narrower handlebars set the most clear distinctions between unisex or men's frames. Tu said, "Riders tell us a Liv bike feels correct as soon as they get on it. You will know it when you experience it.
When considering Liv's influence on the cycling sector, Tu noted it goes beyond simply offering women size-inclusive components and bikes. "I'm proud of the number of women and the possibilities Liv has brought in different ways of doing business," she remarked. "It's part of a larger commitment in the expansion and future of cycling, not only about the gear. At Liv, we support women's cycling—products, events, education, and community building.
Reflecting on the Future
Apart from Liv, few big companies still have women-specific bikes in their lineup. Is there more to the tale? Or does this suggest they no longer appeal to women?
One of the largest participants in the worldwide bicycle market—Specialized—no longer offers gender-specific products, claiming they will only make men's or women's particular items depending on the data supports the decision and it truly results in a performance benefit.
The firm used to create women-specific models, but all changed after Retül, a bike fitting and data collection firm, was acquired recently and the "Beyond Gender" idea was introduced by Specialized in 2019.
Specialized's engineers discovered from a database of more than 8,000 bike fit data points globally that gender variations were not as pronounced as first believed. "We learned that the variances between two male riders could be greater than the differences between a male and a female rider," Head of Human Performance Todd Carver said.
One data point does, however, clearly demonstrate a difference between sexes—sit bone breadth. Based on information from more than 95,000 riders, Specialized discovered that women often measure wider—no surprise, given women need to give birth—while men have an average sit-bone width difference of 2 cm.
Specialized continues to provide a range of saddle widths for both unisex and women-specific models given the great variation between men and women; the narrowest 130mm width is only offered on unisex seats, reflecting the results from their bike fit data.
This result also guided the design team to offer bikes of all sizes with 143mm or 155mm saddles. Smaller bikes, 52 cm or less, with larger saddles—which are more often ridden by women—have specialized equipment. Specialized research indicates that this fits 85% of riders.
If you fall outside that 85%, though, we regularly discuss in our bike evaluations whether brands enable free component swaps, which is a mixed scenario. While some companies leave it up to dealers or stores, some offer it as a brand policy and others not. For Specialized, the later holds true.
Some stores provide component exchange services on new bikes at no additional cost; nevertheless, if you purchase straight from Specialized online, you will not have this choice, thus you might have to pay more for the appropriate components.
Moving toward Neutrality
Another big brand that no longer makes women-specific bikes—formerly identified as "WMN"—is Canyon. Beginning in the 2010s, the manufacturer started significantly supporting women's professional sports, including the ongoing sponsorship of the CANYON/SRAM Racing Women's WorldTour team.
"At that time, (women-specific road and mountain bikes) helped educate the entire industry on the needs of female riders, as the bike industry wasn't explicitly focused on women back then, especially in terms of performance," Canyon's Global Communications Manager Ben Hillsdon said.
Hillsdon says now, by sponsoring elite women's racing and concurrently promoting women-specific products, you can see the results in more choices and greater representation. Canyon discovered, however, that fit data, sales data, or athlete feedback did not support the plan of supplying WMN models across its product line.
"Our future direction is to assess bikes case by case, offering more gender-neutral options with a wide range of sizes—many models start at XXS to ensure we can cater to riders of all sizes," Hillsdon added.
Canyon designs based on size split by compiling bike fit statistics from female consumers. "Across all categories, we are quite conscious of the kinds of bikes female customers are looking for and ensure we have great choices in size and style," Hillsdon said. "It's simply that some bikes are no longer called 'WMN.'"
Everyone is Different
While the British business Ribble Cycles does not create gender-specific bikes at all, it offers great bike customization. "The discussion around women-specific has always been an ongoing topic, especially regarding changes in product range, and our stance has remained the same—let the rider decide," Product Development Manager Kathy Beresford said. "Our bikes can be fully customized for every rider."
With no additional expense (assuming like-for-like exchanges), Ribble's frame range extends from XS to XL, and configurations can be totally customized, including handlebars, crank length, seat post type, handlebar shape and breadth, and saddle (including women-specific options).
"We also have experts in our four showrooms to help you through the process of selecting the correct bike and components, as well as experts available via one-way video calls throughout the day," Beresford said.
Apart from the extensive spectrum of component choices, you can pay extra to utilize Ribble's CustomColour program to build your fantasy paint job, whether it is a pink sunset gradient or a design not at all pink.
As Georgena Terry underlined, the evolution of bike fitting is the main change influencing men and women during the past few years. There were just three or four basic tests in the 1980s to determine whether a bike would fit you; today, it is quite scientific with highly qualified experts.
Terry remarked, "I believe (bike fitting) has indeed made the bicycle industry more sensitive to the various fitting needs of women and men, so motivating manufacturers to examine this matter more closely."
Personal Impressions
From a personal standpoint, after looking at several women-specific Liv bikes, I felt they would be quite fit for me in their basic form (I am 165 cm tall). I have also rode some unisex bikes adjusted or customized depending on my bike fit data. Usually, these bikes provide the same—good—degree of performance and comfort.
The problem we can run up as consumers is having to alter standard components post-sale to meet our fit, including changing a setback seat post for a straight one or modifying handlebar length or breadth, which can raise expenses. More brands should be able to provide this choice right at the moment of sale.
Less new bicycles are especially made for women these days, which presents a PR issue for brands and the whole sector. For instance, we decided to write this paper since the market lacks enough new women-specific bikes to establish a competitive and worthwhile yearly bike awards category.
Based on the bike fit data used by various brands, the most recent scenario mostly demonstrates that body variances depending on gender are not as clear-cut as once believed. Therefore, there is optimism that regardless of your size and gender, you may find an appropriate and comfortable bike at all performance levels thanks to bike fitters and other industry pros.
