Ladies Mountain Bike

Why Choose a Ladies Mountain Bike?

Living in the city has led to many ladies looking for new ways to get out and get some exercise, this has led to mountain biking becoming a growing sport among women. Choosing the right ladies mountain bike can take a little time and effort to make sure that you get one that suits your needs and fits you properly. Once you have the right bike you can go out and not only get plenty of exercise but join a growing number of women who are currently enjoying a growing sport.

Before getting started you need to realize that there are some important differences in ladies mountain bikes as compared to those made for men. Of course the biggest difference is one that you will notice right away, that a ladies mountain bike is somewhat smaller than a man's bike. This is simply because the average woman is not as tall or heavy as her male counterpart and the bike size has been adjusted accordingly.

Like other ladies bikes, women's mountain bikes do not have a horizontal cross bar like a man's mountain bike, instead it is angled downward. This has absolutely no effect on performance and if this does not seem right to you, you can always select the right size of men's bike to fit you.

To accommodate the shorter reach of most women the distance from the seat to the handlebars is a little shorter and in some cases a shorter seat tube may be used to reduce the distance to the pedals.

Other slight adjustments that may be made to a ladies mountain bike can include shorter cranks and narrower mountain bike pedals to accommodate both shorter lower legs and smaller feet. The hardtail mountain bike would be the one to buy in this case.

This will make it easier for the female rider to get more power out of every cycle of the pedals. Moving up to the front of the bike the handlebars are usually a little narrower due to the fact that not too many women have the same broad shoulders as her make counterpart.

To help with braking, the brake levers may feature a shorter reach allowing for smaller hands to be able to apply the same amount of pressure to the mountain bike v brakes resulting in the same amount of stopping power.

V brakes or center pull braked are used to make sure that even braking pressure is applied to both sides of the rim giving the rider smooth even braking and reducing the distance needed to stop.

While it might be easy to say a woman needs a ladies mountain bike this may not necessarily be the right or best answer. In some cases it may not be possible to get a ladies bike that will fit, it might be a better idea depending on the rider to start with a man's frame and make a few modifications to make it fit the lady in question.

Simple modifications such as a shorter seat and handlebar stem can help with fit even if the lady in question is relatively tall. Remember buying a mountain bike is more about fit than it is about whether it is a ladies or men bike and the right fit can make the ride so much more fun.