Information needed to Build a Female specific Bike!

[TeamBathHumanPowered]

Hi all,

We are Team Bath Human Powered at the University of Bath in England and are working on a partially faired recumbent bicycle optimised for women. Our aim is to enter and compete the World Championships with a female powered bike and use the lessons we learn here to design a bike better suited to women. To do this, we thought there would be no one better to ask then current women in the sport. All comments about the title above will be greatly appreciated (things like how you make them more comfortable or better suited for women) and feel free to mention anything you as a female rider would want incorporated on a recumbent bike. If you would like to give us a brief summary of how you got into the sport that would be helpful as well.

If you would like to keep up to date with the project our Instagram is @TeamBathHumanPowered and our LinkedIn is @TeamBath Human-Powered. Again, feel free to write any comments or get in touch with us if you have thoughts that might be helpful.

Many Thanks,

TBHP

 

[Boreen bimbler]

I was under the impression the only truly women specific (non marketing) thing on a competitive bike was the saddle. As that isn't an issue on a recumbent I'd be genuinely interested to see any replies to this. Good luck with your project. I know Bath quite well as it's the only city I could ever live in for any time.

 

[TeamBathHumanPowered]

Hi Boreen,

Absolutely the saddle is a major factor but we are also looking into smaller more niche things such as handle bar size and width, whether gear ratios could be optimised or how the seat angle is in relation to the cranks to optimise power due to the differences in anthropomorphic proportions. Saying this, we understand this is not an exact science so information like if someone had to use a bit more padding on their saddle is useful to us as we could try that with our focus group and maybe that would alter our design. Thanks for your support!

TBHP

 

[roadhog]

Hi Boreen,

Absolutely the saddle is a major factor but we are also looking into smaller more niche things such as handle bar size and width, whether gear ratios could be optimised or how the seat angle is in relation to the cranks to optimise power due to the differences in anthropomorphic proportions. Saying this, we understand this is not an exact science so information like if someone had to use a bit more padding on their saddle is useful to us as we could try that with our focus group and maybe that would alter our design. Thanks for your support!

TBHP

I suppose Maria Parker is the person to answer this.

 

[Beano]

A wider Q factor to reflect that woman have wider hips.
Extra short crankarms, >150mm so need less torque to turn the crank
Also because women tend to be shorter therefore a longer crankarm can lead to knee issues - q angle ,
Lower gear ratios to put the load on the CV system rather than muscular.
Also to enable the rider to spin up the most steepest of climbs, women have a lower threshold then men so pushing a large wattage through a lower cadence can lead to exhaustion quicker - spin to win.

 

[IyhelM]

A wider Q factor to reflect that woman have wider hips.
Extra short crankarms, >150mm so need less torque to turn the crank

Wider hips relatively to size, sure, in absolute measurement not so much.
And I’m not trying to sound pedantic but just for clarification: the torque is not ‘needed’ but applied. Actually one could argue that to make up for reduced force, less powerful cyclists would need longer cranks - then there are the biomechanical limitations of knees as you point out.
Debate is still wide open regarding the optimum crank size but in this instance (fully faired recumbent), women, with shorter feet on average, may have less room limitations than men for a similar frontal area.

 

[Maria Parker]

In our sales to women, the most important thing we've found is that women have shorter legs and need to be close enough to the ground to put their feet flat on the ground. We generally have sold smaller women smaller wheels, but we still try to put fast tires on. Also, on our bikes, with front wheel drive and adjustable size, it's important to get the handlebar below the face. Otherwise, just the recumbent position is huge for women.

 

[TeamBathHumanPowered]

Hi

Thank you for your responses we really appreciate taking the time you have given to think about this. They've been really helpful and have given us a lot of a insight. Feel free to keep responding if anything more comes to mind!

@Maria Parker and @Beano do we have permission to use your responses in our report formally please?

Thanks again,
TBHP

 

[Beano]

Hi

Thank you for your responses we really appreciate taking the time you have given to think about this. They've been really helpful and have given us a lot of a insight. Feel free to keep responding if anything more comes to mind!

@Maria Parker and @Beano do we have permission to use your responses in our report formally please?

Thanks again,
TBHP

yeah sure

 

[McWheels]

Hi there. Although I'm not a woman, I do have a Cruzbike S40 and only live a couple of miles from Bath in Winsley. If you want to inspect the normal-ish product from the factory to generate a baseline from which to work then DM me and we can work out where to meet.

 

[Debbie]

Hi, I'm a female Q45 rider in the UK. I've found there's so much adjustability in setting up position on the Q45 it's relatively easy to get a good fit. For my height I am long bodied, shorter legged. I did find the seat quite uncomfortable, pressure on the sit bones, and tried various 'extras' eventually deciding on an added layer of gel cushion.