speedplaya

You mean the local teams drag her along to the finish line and can't shake her? ....and then they want SPONSORSHIP??? You make me laugh! South African ladies are well sponsored. They don't need to steal the one(!) foreign competitors lunch money My point exactly Willehond Darkhorse - maybe you should meet Jennie before you lash out at her like this....and also read all the previous posts including Willehonds and mine that explain clearly why in the current setup of racing here there is no doubt that Jennie is adding great value to ladies racing. Also, she's been kind in sharing her experience & racing tips with myself and my fellow club team mates! ...so all your accusations fall flat

I've raced with Jennie(not the spelling - not Jenny!) this year and am in full support of AP sponsoring her. The ladies need more competition to improve and yes it would be great if there were more than 3 pro teams. But here we have a single rider who can do this against 3 teams! So Jennie is helping ladies racing and not running away with SA money And RE SA ladies racing - there are 2 things: 1) improve the level of the pro's to world class - can only happen by racing more overseas! Here we are lucky to have an overseas rider coming to race here - thanks Jennie 2) Get more ladies to SA pro level i.e. to get more than 3 pro teams ...and that's up to the club level riders to get to that level through proper training(yes maybe here $$$ does help) and just for them to make an effort to race with the pros(& if they showing potential, they'll get noticed!). Jennie keep up the great racing! SA ladies cycling needs you

It's the same case with me - I also need a short top tube - and I'm not that tiny(1.6m tall). I went through hell trying to buy a new road bike as I wanted to make sure I got the geometry & setup right due to numerous injuries! Not all the bike makes had small enough frames - for example the Felt(road)! I was then limited to giant and specialized(& I think Orbea was also OK) in the normal frames. I then looked at WSD to look at more options, but firstly, SA has very poor stock of WSD and secondly, some bike makes like the giant TCR 07 WSD were sneaky enough to have the exact same geometry as the mens bike!!! So I gave up with WSD and ended up going for the tarmac sworks - as it was literally the only carbon frame that was in stock in my size(fortunately its a damn nice bike! but wasn't wanting to spend so much)! And worse off is that luckily I did my homework as otherwise bike shops would have sold me the wrong size! So basically I'd say WSD(well the true WSD unlike the TCR07) is needed for us small people. Apparently its massive in USA, guess there more "small" ladies there!

WSD is beneficial to the avg women - obviously some females have dimensions that are more like men's and so would be better off on a std bike. WSD are big in the USA . I spoke to a bike setup expert there and he said the avg women should be riding a WSD. I should have been on a WSD based on my measurements, but it was impossible to get the right one in SA. The SA suppliers seem to bring in very few. Possibly due to the bike shops not marketing them properly and yes of course less female cyclists than guys. (oh but yes the WSD are often in shocking colours...pink, baby blue....but check the felt FW2...thats a winner..but they actually haven't even manufactured them yet in US..and sorry ladies, its not coming to SA ) But note that some bikes claim to be WSD like the Giant WSD 2007 - but its a fake, the geometry is exactly the same as the mens..only handlebars, levers etc different!!! The 2008 does have the correct geometry though! If bike shops are checking your measurements to see what frame size&geometry you need, then they should be recommending the WSD to most females, but for the shops who don't bother to do this(or the cyclist themselves who don't bother to get it done), then the shop will just try and sell whatever bike "looks" a right fit...usual lazy method is checking the standover!!! If I didn't do my homework I would have been sold a bike that was too big. After giving up on the WSD bikes, I had to settle for an XS mens and only Giant and Specialized had a small enough "XS"...my LBS said Giant SA didn't bother to bring in XS TCR's so I went with the specialized. So advice to ladies out there - go for measurements(from an experienced setup person) before you shop and don't be forced to buy something just cos its sitting on the shop floor!!