what is the difference between men's and women's bikes?

Question

frame design, angles etcetera

Answer 1

Women's bicycles are built with a geometry that is designed to take into consideration the frame difference between men and women. Specifically:
- Shorter top tube (crossbar). This is to account for the shorter torso and pelvic bone difference
- Narrower handlebars. This is because of narrower shoulders
- Different seat due to seat bone difference
- Shorter levers because of smaller hands
These differences are suppose to make riding more comfortable for the average woman. My build is broader than alot of females so I am fine on a guys bike with just changing the seat.

Answer 2

Usually, women's bikes should be lighter. Women have different body proportions (leg lenght vs torso), so womens bike usually have shorter top tubes, making the distance from the handlebar to the saddle shorter. Women also usually have wider sit bones, so wider saddles, shorter cranksets.

Here is a link from Titus. Those bikes are great, but a little expensive, but it has good info on what you're looking for.

http://www.titusti.com/womensfit.html

Also, not all women benefit from women specific designs, or some men could use a WSD (well, if it was not painted pink ;) ).

I think that shorter women tend to benefit more from WSD than tall women.

Answer 3

Women's bikes used to have a much lower cross-bar so they could mount whilst wearing a long frock. Not sure if that is the case any more, as women are more like men these days.

Answer 4

The top tube length is shorter. A 17" mens MTB is bigger than a 17"womens MTB. Strange but true. I ride a womens because it fits better.

Answer 5

the cross bar is lower.