Are women specific bikes necessary?

Most brands now make frames designed for female riders. But what is special about these bikes, and do women need them at all?

Cannondale SuperSix Evo Women Ultegra

A quick check of any bike retailer’s website will reveal a plethora of women’s bikes. Apart from softer colour schemes, which some manufacturers think will attract female riders, the geometry is often strikingly different. Longer head and shorter top tubes with differing angles, allied with a lower standover height, can make these bikes look squat and ugly.

So why are gender-specific geometries deemed necessary? One popular belief still circulated in some quarters, is that women have longer legs and shorter bodies, but this is not the case.

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