[Closed] Best Article Nominee: The trouble with women’s mountain bikes.

As the husband of a ferocious 5foot woman, this subject has become a 'thing' for me.

The biggest problem I've found is cranks. You can't buy anything (that's not square taper) shorter than 165mm. Which is great if you're 5'10".

(165 is only 6% less than 175, which means most people who try 'short' cranks don't notice much difference, so most people don't think crank length makes a difference)

"The biggest problem I’ve found is cranks. You can’t buy anything (that’s not square taper) shorter than 165mm."
maybe not cheap/common - but they exist: http://www.cranknuts.com/all-mountain-downhill-cranks/

Personally I think the brands have this wrong. I don't ride a 'mans' bike - it's just a bike. Pretty similarly I don't drive a man car, live in a man house or sleep in a man bed.

The industry as a whole needs to focus on making bikes more adaptable, tuneable and adjustable for a variety of sizes, weights and builds.

Several fairly enthusiastic cyclists I know, who happen to be female, just want a good performing bike, that fits and they have a wide selection to choose from. This isn't really there yet - unless they include so called men's 'bikes'.

Funnily enough, Whyte are releasing their 2016 models, the hard tails are either called "compact" or standard. The compact bikes have slightly tweaked geometry and contact points. No "female" v "male" bikes. (Road bikes, different case)

Every bike these days is coming with a 'very dropped' top tube
And from a male POV this is a good thing
I am not helping here am I

As the 'longer legs, shorter torso' theory has been de-bunked, and women's proportional variations are shown to be very similar to men's, but a bit shorter with more weight 'up top', I'm not sure that women need different bikes? OK, you might want a bit more compression damping on the fork, and bit less on the shock, but that is pretty easily sorted on bikes with reasonable forks and shocks. Most people who've ridden a bit have their choice of saddle/grips, etc. If you buy a complete new bike you make your mind up if you're going to change out the stock bits or not. It's one of the nice things about bikes, if you buy a complete one, it's really easy to unscrew some bits you don't like, and change them out for bits you do, or have someone do it for you, which any decent shop will, whether you're male or female.