Road Bikes for a shorty mcforty!

My lady is looking for a new bike. She had been riding an old 45cm Fuji bike with 700c wheels. It worked great as her first bike but after being stolen we figured it was a good time for her to upgrade to a ‘nicer’ bike. She had proved to herself that she enjoyed riding a lot and wanted to pursue it further.

We went to see Joe LoPorto at FitWerx to get a pre-fit so that we could figure out which bike frame might fit her. Often people will buy a bike that seems to be a reasonable size and then go from there. The problem with that is if you later decide to ride races or want to put aerobars on the bike for a triathlon you might find yourself far from ideal position.

Joe did his usual magic of finding a good fit. We were also educated about the pros and cons of women’s road bike frames (Lindsey wants a road bike primary and occasionally put aerobars on it for triathlons). Over the last few years road bike manufacturers have been discontinuing their frames with 650c wheels and altering the geometry to allow them to fit 700c frames.

Some great reading:

Some science and thoughts on the two wheel sizes:
http://www.rodbikes.com/articles/650-vs-700.html

A few notes from my favourite bike manufacturer:
http://www.cervelo.com/en/engineering/ask-the-engineers/what-is-your-opinion-on-650c-vs-700c-for-smaller-cyclists-.html

Another good read:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Bike_Fit/Choosing_a_Tri_Bike_via_Stack_and_Reach/The_Problem_with_Women_3440.html

And one more for good luck:

Click to access Lava_June2012_RIp650c.pdf

Lindsey’s options were basically:

1. Buy a 700c bike and live with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to get into an aggressive bike position ever
2. Buy a custom frame made of steel with a carbon fork. That would have 650c wheels although would be a bit heavier than the carbon frames available.
3. Buy a junior road bike made of aluminum

After trialling a couple of 700c road bikes Lindsey decided to go for the custom Guru frame size. She is currently awaiting it to be built and is very excited. In the meantime she’s passing the time on a Felt with 700c wheels.