I went to a spheel on Trek's Women's Specific Designed Bikes...here is my comment/thought/belief with WSD bikes...i finally figured it out. MAYBE i believe it...MAYBE i don't...know what I want?? I want the physics equations that analyze the differences, and account somehow for differences in centers of gravity. I want an experiment that takes a woman, fits her on a WSD bike and looks at power output and then fits to the same 'male' equivalent model in a bike manufacture and compares the power outputs. I want to know why they are different. I want to know really truly if they are different. A woman selling me the bike...maybe I believe her...maybe I don't believe the male bike fitter who swears its a load of crap...maybe I do...but at the end of the day...i want numbers. I want to know WHY. And by WHY, I want more of an explanation of "The top tube is shorter". I want: because the top tube is shorter, for a woman this puts her in a bla position and if you look at the numbers you can see that there is a difference in power out put. I understand how the bikes are different, I just want the proof...on paper...not a lot of 'explaination'. The explaination sounds nice and warm and fuzzy...it makes ya feel good that something really is different but at the end of the day I want the data. Show.me.the.data.
I am sure lots of people have anecdotal evidence of "i tried this bike and it fit better"...that's a good thing. Don't get me wrong. But I ride a 'male' bike. (Whatever that means) Should I? Should I not? Am I missing out on power output? Or would a good bike fit do the same thing? I'm a skeptic...that's why they call me a scientist. I don't believe it until I see the numbers so for the record I don't really believe it. But I don't really not believe it either(ummm...double negative). Its a possibility in my head. And that is ok.
I am rambling and not really looking for other people to answer my questions. This is what us scientists like to do. We pose some questions and think and ponder and chew on the question. Here is my framed question: What is the power output difference between a woman on a WSD trek and the equivalent 'male' bike?
They said tonight that the only difference between two of the lines they had for a model was the geometries....SHOW.ME.THE.NUMBERS. I know comfort can't be factored in and I know some women have been more comfortable on these bikes...i'm not arguing that...but the idea put forward that a WSD bike recruits more power because of the geometry differences...that is easy to test...gimme some numbers. Hmmm...maybe i should write Trek...interesting thought.
