Sexist overpriced Swiss jizz merchants.

@BMMF would like some advice on artificially shortening reach to brake levers, I have largish palms but short levers and have my road bike setup in such a way that I'm reasonably aerodynamic on the hoods, so that I don't have to use the drops....because I can't reach the levers!, well can't get enough finger around them for soild braking...was considering researching women-specific levers...until i read that you know what to do....P.S. I've tried placing them in different locations on the bar.

Can't find pictures at the moment. You can also glue the rubber shim to the top of the lever instead of the hood body, if that works for your lever design better. Apparently the width of shim will cause about 3x difference in lever to bar distance e.g. 3mm shim = ~9mm shortening of lever reach.

found'em at JE James...will try.

Posted By: BringMeMyFixIt'll be interesting to see what Rapha's marketing team come up with (I'm assuming their women's range hasn't launched yet?). You'd expect them to be a little more well-informed politically, but then again, their target market seems to include a lot of total dicks.

As evidenced perhaps by glimpses of pink and blue gingham-style fabrics in previews of their new offerings.. new from Rapha/Gieves&Hawkes:

Article about BC survey for women.

Yeah, I started filling it out, then got fed up with clicking 'other' and gave up. My favourite comment on it comes from the Twitter feed of Minx Girl:

minxgirlcom: the British Cycling survey fails to list 'I enjoy it' as a motivation for women to ride. 'Lose weight' does however feature. Head/Wall/Hit

@ Rosie: Are you still working at the CTC? Considered applying & meant to ask you about it, but never got round to it. Assume they will have recruited by now.

will do, thanks. the main issue is for me I can't take on a full-time job for a while, so options are limited.

trust it's all going well for you over there, though.

you said Laydeez, that's a green light for me then.....

have a good one.

On the bike fit stuff: I have been proved entirely wrong by my colleague Chris Juden. I'm going to copy this email exchange in case it's of interest. It came about cos I was test riding a women specific bike for a review. He references a spreadsheet which was an attachment, I can email it to anyone if they're interested.

Hey Rosie
I just managed to read your report (seems to be different version of Word that needed a converter). One thing I'll have to delete is all that about women having shorter torsos than men the same height.
Like you've, I've read it so often in cycling mags and books that I used to believe it too! Then I did a group test of bikes with a panel of 15 women – and they did not seem to have any shorter torsos than men: they were just shorter all over. So I got hold of a copy of Adultdata from the DTI. It turns out that whatever way you measure it, average ratio of legs to stature is, in fact, near enough identical between men and women.
AFAICT cycling's leggy woman myth originated with Georgena Terry, who set up a womens bike business in USA in the 70s, after measuring a load of male and female racing cyclists. It comes as no surprise to me that the women in her sample had long legs for their height, since they were self-selected for their ability to pedal competitively using a length of crank that (except for minor tweaks of 5mm) is standardised for the average man, who is more than 5 inches taller than most women!
Anyway: as a press person and a woman, I think you ought to know about this, so I attach some figures I extracted from Adultdata a while ago.
As for WHY women nevertheless require the bars higher and closer: I think it's to do with the female pelvis. This structure clearly is WAY different between men and women, for obvious reasons. It's a common observation that women seem to sit differently on a saddle, do not tilt their pelvis forward as far and that women racers often ride with the saddle nose pointing downwards so they can get more aero. This, I'm pretty sure, is the actual reason normal women (as well as the leggy ones!) want their handlebars high and close.
If it were just the limb ratio, women would not need them high as well as close. Males with short torsos have their bars close too, but still just as low - often lower, since long arms tend to go with long legs (it’s a matter of hormone levels at the different ages when long bones and vertebrae are growing).

My response:
Chris,

This is fascinating! I've never thought about pelvises - but I have been (affectionately) teased by male riders for having my saddle pointing downwards, as they all seem to think saddles should be level and I've always been confused about why men WOULDN'T ride with their seats pointing downwards, because of course it makes you faster.

I was wondering about the high front end while I was writing the review. I don't find I need to be higher at the front to be comfortable compared to most men - in fact I much prefer a lower, more aero position. Do you think the height thing might just be another myth based on a notion that women generally prefer comfort over speed to more of an extent than men?

http://www.londoncyclesport.com/News/All_News/Team_Mule_Bar_Women_s_Team.html

Did you just eat a mule bar?

^sounds a bit rude

And Rob's women's sessions start on Sunday at the track.
Rob's women...sounds quite wrong :)

More like Charlie's Angels

Standards! Don't think Pinky's gonna quite cut the mustered down the track though, so can I rent a bike on arrival? Anyone got any advice or anything to say about Sunday would be much appreciated as it's all new to me! Yes, I've read the HH site. Cheers....

oooh what time are the sessions on Sunday?

I thought it was Youth sessions.

YAY i've been waiting for this since september!!

^There's often a line painted across the road, and a gruff bloke with a clipboard and a whistle.

yes to inductions and bike hire on sunday

4 - 6 on Sunday. Yay, come down! I can tell you what little I know about racing then. Basically turn up, wander around, try to work out what's going on, fail, have no idea what's going on, ride your bike, finish riding your bike, feel great/shit, go home. There is a women's 3/4 race at Goodwood next sunday, which would be a good start if you fancy. You'll need a race licence from BC which costs an arm and a leg.

Yay - looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday for some circles.

I'll have to hire a bike this time too. Bike building going way slower than I'd thought. And I'd forgotten to buy some crucial bits. (For example, tyres).

And may be up for racing in a couple of months.

(Emphasis on the may...)

In the words of Anna G:

"womens track sesh this sunday 9th may" 4-6pm

Oh goody. Racing on those fake roads was making me feel so...shallow

Yes, 1600.