The best day on the bike is when you've accomplished something a little out of your normal range, your muscles feel a little fatigued and the every other part of your body feels great. Nothing like riding a bike can make you feel like this and nothing can make you feel like riding a bike like having a good chamois experience.
The Chamois Experience
Unless you are a W.O.M.B.A.T., there are always at least two things between you and your bike. The Saddle and the chamois. We will definitely take more time out to talk about shorts and chamois. But for now we're going to focus on your engagement with the bike.
The idea behind your behind is that the less amount of friction between you and the saddle the better. Firmer saddles, form fitting shorts and the right chamois are all going to help. Chamois creme can help too. If there is going to be friction (you are going to do a century) the abrasiveness can be minimized. If you've never used chamois creme and you can't find a sample either of these products would be worth ponying up for.
DZ Bliss
DZ Nuts after paying homage to David Zibriski's soft tissue decided to create a women's specific product. DZ Bliss combined all natural ingredients to give you a product that is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and of course anti-chaffing. It's not supposed to be "tingly" but it is for about 15 minutes (not like Assos, which is long and strong on the tingly). Because it is somewhat medicated by virtue of having Menthol, Tea Tree Oil, Chinese Evodia, Masterwort from the Swiss Alps and Vitamins it can help to eliminate existing skin irritations and prevent more. Retail $24.00
and
Betwixt
Made in Berkeley, Ca this chamois creme boasts itself as 100% vegan. While Betwixt shares some anti-chafing ingredients with DZ it feels like a no frills chamois creme. Basic and simple. Absolutely no tingling sensation and full of vitamins. Neither product has petroleum which will degrade your clothing and never wash out. Retail $22.00
Friday, March 12, 2010
Ritchey's WS Saddle
Ritchey has been flirting with the idea of producing a line of Women’s saddles. To be honest, Ritchey is a little beyond flirting. They are actually testing performance saddles, taking the feedback and figuring out the potential details of mass production.
Every body is a little different and the way a body works with a bike to perform a specific function (a 140lb 5’10’ climber engages differently with a bike than a 110lb 5’2” sprinter) is going to affect their saddle preference. We can’t expect that any one company will be able to create the one saddle that will work for every woman. We can expect Ritchey to be very conscious of their design and produce a high quality performance saddle that works with a woman’s body.
I’ve been testing a model similar to the Ritchey Streem for about 4000 miles now. The padding and construction have definitely held up to some adverse conditions. The white top cover is still white! It’s been through climbs and sprints and long flat races and long flat easy rides. It has out preformed every other saddle I’ve ever ridden.
Shape and padding are the two most important things. If the number one thing was color, most saddles wouldn’t be black. Ritchey also does white though. The one I rode had a slight iridescence in the white on the rails too, a very classy touch.
SHAPE:
The part of a woman’s body that contacts the saddle really benefits from a flat interface. Heavier riders or riders who are top heavy will have a weight distribution that favors the saddle. In the same way that pedals interact with the shoes and feet, a bottom interacts with a saddle. The saddle needs to work with a body, not fight it. The over built shapes and inconsistent placement of cut outs we have seen in the past have characteristics that can work against a body in spandex.
The nose of the saddle is the appropriate length. There is nothing worse than having to compromise by using a men’s saddle and catching your spandex on the nose or have extra saddle to navigate around.
PADDING:
Ritchey was mindful in the placement of padding. They thought about where the body shape that was going to use it would be and put just enough to keep you comfortable over 6-8 hours of use.
When people figured that making a woman’s saddle was a good idea there was an assumption about what comfort meant. First it was extra padding. Then we figured out that extra padding absorbed energy and created friction. The padding became denser and harder but retained thickness. Then there was the cut out and varying widths. The cut out doesn’t mean anything if the rest of the saddle is still uncomfortable. The difference in sit bone width between the average American woman of any ethnicity who has given birth & any give just budding 17-18 year old girl is something like 12mm. *
The real innovation here is that Ritchey didn’t assume that most women who ride bikes are riding them in an upright position. The options we have seen in the past work really well on comfort bikes and road bikes with relaxed upright geometry. Quite simply, the design works well if you only sit right on top of it.
Ritchey has done well this saddle and while they don’t have an exact ETA for going to market, we do have a commitment to researching and developing women’s specific products.
The folks at Ritchey are really nice. If you want to see this saddle available for purchase or if you just want to give feedback to a company that is interested in you, let them know.
http://www.ritcheylogic.com/dyn_prodfamily.php?k=299419
Friday, March 5, 2010
Eddy Merckx EFX-1
Eddy Merckx is one of the few companies making a Womens Specific frame that you would actually ride. That's not to say others aren't doing it too. We'll get to them later.
It's just that historically, womens specific bikes have been fair adaptations of existing frame geometry. This isn't necessarily a bad way to begin to take on women's specific geometry. It does allow us to see what works and move forward with increasingly better information.
The demand for womens specific bikes is now beginning to push the market, we see womens specific branded bikes with higher end componentry. As a result of all this, we have the benefit of free market competition. More bike manufacturers will work harder for our dollar.
The developments in the world of womens cycling are pretty exciting. Thank you to every woman who rode for hours with a less than optimal saddle/chamois combo, uncomfortably bridging the expanse of an excessive top tube, forcing herself to become a better descender because getting to the brake levers was a stretch. If it weren't for you we'd never have a women's frame.
The EFX -1 is a carbon frame set that sold as a complete bike with components that are good enough to train, race and charity ride with. You can, of course customize the EFX-1 at wrenchscience.com When you take a close look at the geometry you can see that the top tube has been shortened but there are a number of significant changes that retain the ride quality the E-series line intended. This bike will excel at climbing/descending and distribute your sprint effort effectively.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Women's Bike Fit
Bike fittings can be tricky business, especially for women. There are just a lot of different frame geometries available; Traditional, Compact, Womens Specific. The materials we use to build bikes changes how we can put the materials together which changes the physical geometry of the bike frame.
The rise in female ridership has forced the market to support women riders. We are in a pretty interesting time in the sport of cycling with regard to women. As a result of all these changes and developments I have been researching, studying, and attempting the task of learning everything there is to know about fitting women to bicycles.
For those of you who have questions about fit, try the Wrench Science fit calculator. I can show you how to use the information to find the right bike.
About the Author:
My name is Mary. I started riding bikes when I was 4. My first bike was a steel commuter with durable tires, a nice fender and a basket. When I discovered it was the wrong size and sold it on Craigslist. Turns out it was something of a collectors item. Maybe I should have kept it.
My second bike was a women's specific model. IT was a Gray/Pink Murray with 24" wheels with gray knobbies that were a good on-road/off-road transition tire. After that, I found heavy duty hardtail MTB from Target. It's best feature was that I didn't have to lock it up. Ever.
I have done almost everything there is to do with bikes, including commuting, training, messengering, street racing, professional racing, wrenching, coaching, fitting, frame painting, traveling, making races, teaching mechanics, camping. It seems a darn shame to let that knowledge go to waste.
Welcome
Welcome to Wrench Science for Women. This is a blog for anyone who is interested in the womens specific side of the bike industry. It will cover women's specific design, share product reviews, discuss bike fittings, and look at industry development. It will cover technology and anything else the readership demands. You can leave comments and feedback so it will also be a forum for discussion about all of the above.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
