Bikes on Show - Interbike 2015

 If you have heard the industry grapevine, specific marketing to women is needed, and one of the fasted growing segments of the biz. The bikes are no different.

 Well the XXsmall frame sizes help as my wife is 5'2. She is currently on a XS giant XTC Race and the stand over touches "my" favourite place too much.

 Liv bikes are actually completely different from their Giant counterpart. The top-tube length on Liv bikes are shorter (in addition to the grips/saddle/color) which benefits most women who tend to have longer legs compared to their torsos. Julianna and Santa Cruzes are the same, I think the reason being carbon molds are about 100k a piece...

 Funny, most women I know who ride opt for the men's version over the women's when they have the choice, because it's harder to resell a women's model - you cut probably 80% of the market out. Resale value is always an important consideration. This highlights another part of the problem with the bike industry - sooooo many freakin' models - now double it so you have one of each in women's colors; what an inventory nightmare! It's not like we make women specific cars, and when bikes start costing $7k+, it's not that stupid of an analogy. I don't see why the brilliant marketers can't come up with a better way to attract women besides putting a pink stripe on the bikes. Off the top of my head, why not just offer a women's fit kit (saddle, stem, grips) and then through in a pretty jersey or something? Probably a lot cheaper to sponsor a couple women riders (hear it's pretty hard to be a woman pro) and do a couple ads than make a whole flippin' line of bikes.

 @trillot "It's not like we make women specific cars"

We do, haven't you heard of the CUV? Rav4, CR-V etc. I can assure you, as a 6'3 dude with an imaginary beard that loves thrills, these vehicles are NOT made for me.

 Yes, my imaginary beard loves thrills.

 @scottzg I was about to ask if your beard was the one...

 Business perspective.

 And these Liv colours... Omg... I like pink myself and my wife hates it... What makes sense is geometry variations fitting to women needs and suspension tunes to the lower weights. Propain Cycles already give their women bikes a free damper tune so the damping works better for lighter women...

 Poor Norco! No women's specific bike, just an xxs size of a "regular" bike - how will women even turn the pedals with a man's bike like that?

 Once again, marketing for women means putting a vaguely sexual name on something: "Lust." Men's bikes have names that evoke adventure or excitement, womens bikes have names that make sure they know their job is to be attractive for the menfolk (points to Santa Cruz for not falling into this ingrained social habit.)

 @groghunter Cove had the Men's bike names covered for adventure years ago with Handjob, Foreplay, Hustler and for excitement the Hummer. Then again they named one for the women, the G-spot but the men could never find it in the garage!

 richierocket- lol!! literally

 Brands are not above putting crap components on women's bikes (cause "oh, they won't know any better.")

 GT women's product manager here. Actually, no. The men's versions of those GT bikes are spec'd EXACTLY the same as the women's.

 Good for you guys! (though my point stands, there are brands that put crap components on women's bikes without the commensurate price drop.)

Now stop putting triples on your bikes.

Edit: Also, points to you for not falling into the women's marketing trope I mentioned above.

 Yes, please don't name your bikes insulting things like Giant has done. I had my wife look closely at Giant's LIV line and she thought the names were a joke. She ended up buying a "men's" stumpjumper.

+1 for getting rid of triples. They are terrible in every situation. It seems like a 1x drivetrain would be cheaper at the OEM level and a 28 or 30 x 42 is plenty of range.

 @ryan83 @groghunter thanks. I believe women want to (and do) ride just as aggro as the men, so spec/names/etc reflect that. We sell bikes globally so while one market might agree that 1X is the way to go, others think 3X is the best one. On the higher end, a lot of our bikes we sell 2X but ship with a 1X ring in the box.

 Obviously not in product but I like Commencal's approach to 1x drive trains in OEM. They basically did what consumer's do to convert to 1x. I can't see how sourcing the front shifter/der. would be more cost effective than this approach?

As an aside I switched my wife's bike to 1 x because it virtually eliminates the possibility of dropping a chain and simplifies riding (one less button on the bike). As a novice she was concerned about pedaling the 1000+ feet climbs with a 1x. She rode mine and immediately changed her mind. Plus let's be honest, it just looks better!

 Keep in mind from a product manager perspective, pricing is not as simple as it is for us. Those look like FSA cranks, it's possible that FSA gave them a really good price on them, in order to keep that product in the catalog, for example. A lot of brands have been making some aggressive moves in the OEM market recently, as SRAM has been eating their lunch due to their vertical integration(you can spec an entire bike with parts from SRAM these days, & SRAM has been using that to their advantage.)

 Big segment of the market right now so it gets a bigger representation

 I thinks it's more a matter of there being nothing else of note at Interbike this year. Other than the Women's bikes there was, what, some new colored clothes, aerodynamic roof rack bars, and a foes with different size wheels? Did I miss anything?

 @Jimmy0 - It looks like you missed a good chunk of our Interbike coverage. There were a total of 36 articles from the show, and a grand total of 6 of them were dedicated to women's products.

 @mikekazimer stop bringing logic and fact to the comments section. We like our comments ignorant and patently ridiculous with an underlying current of "White males in America - the REAL victims of sexism and racism" conspiracy.

 Sorry mike. Looks like I just went on pinkbike at the right times

 Steel ent dead, 26" wheels ent dead. I love my 456!! ;-)

 I must be a dinosaur because I ride a steel hardtail with a 3x9 setup... Still, thumbs up for brands like Norco for continuing to make 26in bikes!

 get over it. seriously. no one cares anymore

 Steel frames, I'll always have one. 26" wheels, I'll always have some! 3x9 gears, sorry I'll be 2x10 on all bikes this time next year. As for wheel size, I'm hopping this time next year I'll only have one 26" wheeled bike, that will be the steel framed bike, with the 2x10 gears! The other 6 bikes will be 29" and 650b, but alloy frames and no carbon. ????????

 GT Make a bike with a more forgiving rear end. It's called a Sensor.

 Well they advertised the Avalanche as a trail hardtail, but in reality its made for XC (it technically has the same geo as the Zaskar, except the Zaskar has a tapered headtube). I wasn't expecting a plush ride since its an HT, but damn the thing just picks up trail chatter like magnets.

 My thoughts exactly! This hobby is gone mad! What's the average price from above bikes? $4000? $5000?
Average Joe cannot afford these bikes! It's like all of the car magazines showing off Lambos and Ferraris on their cover! Doh!